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Congressional Records on the Lewis and Clark Exposition held in Portland, Oregon in 1905.
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harbor op st. petersburg, fla.
Mr. MALLORY. Will the Senator from Oregon yield to me for a moment?
Mr. MITCHELL. I yield to the Senator from Florida.
Mr. MALLORY. I desire to call up for immediate consideration Senate concurrent resolution No. 15.
The concurrent resolution submitted by Mr. Mallory November 18 was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to, as follows:
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Secretary If War be. and ho is hereby, authorized and directed to cause a survey to be made of the harbor of St. Petersburg, on Tampa Bay. in Florida, with a view to securing an adequate basin at said point for loading and unloading ocean-going vessels, with a channel 200 feet in width ftnd 24 feet in depth from said basin to the main ship channel in Tampa Bay,
port hall indian reservation.
Mt. DUBOIS. Will the Senator from Oregon yield to me for a moment?
Mr. MITCHELL. I yield.
Mr. DUBOIS. By the courtesy of the Senator from Oregon, I ask unanimous consent to call up the bill (S. 23.23) relating to ceded lands on the Port Hall Indian Reservation.
I will say that a similar bill has heretofore passed the Senate; that it was unanimously reported in the House, and was recommended by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of the General Land Office.
By unanimous consent, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill. It provides that all lands of the former Port Hall Indian Reservation, in the State of Idaho, within 5 miles of the boundary line of the town of Pooatello, offered for sale at public auction on and after July 17, 1902, and which remain unsold after such offering, shall be subject to entry, etc.
The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.
the light-house service.
Mr. NELSON. I wish the Senator from Oregon would yield to me for a moment.
Mr. MITCHELL. I yield to the Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. NELSON. I am directed by the Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the hill (S. 2685) to amend an act entitled "An act authorizing the construction of additional light-house districts," approved July 26, 1886, to report it. It is a very short bill, and if the Senator from Oregon has no objection I would like to have it passed.
Mr. MITCHELL. If it leads to no discussion I shall not object.
Mr. NELSON. There will be no discussion.
There being no objection, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill. It proposes to amend section 4670 of the Revised Statutes so as to read:
Sec. 4670. The Light-House Board shall arrange the ocean, gulf. lake, and river coasts of the United States into light-house districts not exceeding eighteen in number; thatanylaw orregulation prohibiting the employ ment in the light-houses of the United States of persons of more than 45 years of age be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.
commission on international exchange.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid before the Senate the following message from the President of the United States; which was read, and, with the accompanying paper, referred to the Committee on Finance, and ordered to be printed: To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith the report of the Commission on International Exchange constituted under authority of the act of March 3,1903, in compliance with the request of the Governments of Mexico and China, for the cooperation of the United States in an effort to bring about a fixed relationship between the moneys of the gold-standard countries and the- present silver-using countries.
The attention of Congress is invited to the accompanying report of the Secretary of State, whose request for an appropriation of $100,000 for the completion of the work of the Commission in China, and other expenditures incidental to the work of the Commission, I heartily indorse.
Theodobe Eoosevelt.
"White House, December 15,1903.
exposition at portland, oreg.
Mr. MITCHELL. I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the bill providing for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair lays before the Senate the bill indicated by the Senator from Oregon, which will he read by title.
The Secretary. A bill (S. 276) to provide for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country by Capts. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean
in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806; and to authorize a commission representing the United States to hold at the city of Portland, in the State of Oregon, a national, international, and oriental exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the jiroducts of the rivers, soil, mine, forest, and sea in said State; and to provide and assist in the erection of a memorial building in said city of Portland, to be known as the Lewis and Clark Memorial Building; and to authorize an appropriation for all said purposes.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, during the first session of the Fifty-seventh Congress, on June 27, 190.2,1 had the honor of briefly addressing the Senate, when I called attention to the fact that the State of Oregon, and the people of the other Pacific States and Territories, which have been carved out of what was originally known as the "Oregon Country," were then engaged in making preparations for a national and international industrial exposition, to be held at Portland, Oreg., in the summer of 1905, in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the crossing of the continent in that memorable and historic expedition by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806.
In the remarks I then made I took occasion to say to the Senate that it was not expected that any Congressional action in recognition or aid of this enterprise would be had in that Congress, but that in the present Congress we hoped to be able to present such a state of facts, such a result of patriotic effort upon the part of the people and States of the far West and of the Pacific Northwest, as would not only elicit admiration and commendation of the people of the United States generally, but which would justify prompt and cordial recognition and liberal aid upon the part of the Congress of the United States.
It is my purpose at this time to show to the Senate, the Congress, and the country, what has already been done by the people and States of the " Oregon country," supplemented by the people of and several States never included in that country, in aid of a great national, oriental, and international industrial exposition, for the purpose and at the time and place stated.
The initiatory public act looking to the inauguration of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Industrial Exposition in 1905 was taken by the legislature of the State of Oregon in February, 1901, by the unanimous adoption by both houses of a concurrent resolution, approved by the governor on February 25, 1901.
This resolution expressed the belief that the holding of such an exposition would be of great benefit to the people of the Pacific Northwest, to the people of the General Government of the United States, and to all oriental countries, and it was therefore resolved that Congress he earnestly requested to make a suitable appropriation for a national exhibit at said fair, and also that proper acts be passed, and proper resolutions be presented to oriential countries and to other foreign governments and the Dominion of Canada, requesting them to make industrial exhibits at such fair. These resolutions further requested the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from the State of Oregon to use every effort in their power to secure the proper legislation by Congress to carry out the spirit and intent of the resolution.
Subsequently, on October 12,1901. a corporation was incorporated and organized under the general laws of the State of Oregon, under the name of the " Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair," for the purpose of carrying on a celebration and exposition, the purpose of all of which is to be the commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the " Oregon Country " by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, under a commission issued by Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States.
The capital stock of this corporation was fixed at $500,000, divided into 50,000 shares of the par value of $10 each. It was authorized to receive donations of money and of real and personal property in aid of the proposed exposition.
Up to November 1, 1903, this corporation had sold 41,510.7 shares of its capital stock, of the aggregate value of $415,107, and is now still engaged in selling additional stock at the rate per month of about 200 shares, valued at $2,000. In addition it has received donations amounting to $1,800, making the total amount of money available to this corporation alone at the present time, for the purpose of the exposition, the sum of $416,907.
legislative action and aid given by different states.
Affirmative action has heretofore been taken and aid extended, as I shall, show hereafter, in aid of this exposition, by the States of Oregon, California, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Missouri.
The legislative assembly of the State of Oregon, by an act approved January 30,1903, appropriated $450,000 for a State exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. This money is being expended under the direction of a State commission appointed by the governor.
Uimi ASSOCIATION OF PORTLAND, OK
Of this total appropriation, $50,000 is required by the act creating the commission to be expended in the erection of a Lewis and Clark memorial building at Portland, Oreg., provided that the said corporation shall appropriate $50,000 for said building.
Up to November 1,1903, the State commission had appropriated $300,000 (exclusive of the $50,000 set aside for the memorial building) toward the construction of buildings for the exposition. The name of the State commission and by which it is officially known is the "Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission."
The legislature of the State of California, at its session of 1903, appropriated $20,000 for a California exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. This amount will in all probability he increased at the session of 1905, while a considerable part of the St. Louis exhibit will be transferred to Portland.
The legislature of the State of Washington, at its last session, put a clause in one of the appropriation bills appropriating, I think, $70,000 in aid of the exposition. This bill, however, was vetoed by the governor for reasons, as I have been advised, other than opposition to the proposed exposition or to aid in its behalf, and it is confidently expected the next session of the legislature of that State will make liberal appropriations in aid of the exposition. In fact, the legislature has already provided for a Washington exhibit, but no appropriation is as yet available for the purpose. The State of Washington, it is understood, will aim to preserve the best of its St. Louis exhibit for transfer to Portland.
The legislature of the State of Idaho of 1903 appropriated $10,000 for an Idaho exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. This amount will also doubtless be increased by the legislature of 1905. Assurances to this effect .have been given, and also that the State exhibit at St. Louis will be transferred to Portland.
The legislature of the State of Utah, at its session of 1903, the present year, appropriated $10,000 for a State exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, and assurances have been given that this amount will be increased by the next legislature.
The State of Montana, by an act approved May 27,1903, appropriated $60,000 for an exhibit of the State's resources at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and further provided in section 8 of the act as follows:
That at the close of said Louisiana Purchase Exposition the commission shall cause ail exhibits which it maybe permitted to control to be transferred to the city of Portland, Oreg., for the purpose of having the same exhibited at the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Ori ental Pair to he held in that city in 1905, and for that purpose the sum of $10,000 of the appropriation hereinbefore made shall be available. The exhibits thus transferred shall be installed and remain under the control of the commission unless otherwise provided by law.
The legislature of North Dakota of 1903 appropriated $50,000 for a State exhibit at St. Louis and Portland, the St. Louis exhibit to be transferred to Portland.
The State of Minnesota, at the session of its legislature of 1903, appropriated $100,000 for an exhibit at St. Louis and Portland, the St. Louis exhibit to be transferred to Portland.
While the State of Missouri, through its legislature, by section 55 of an act entitled "An act to appropriate money for the support of the State government," etc., passed by the joint assembly of that State at its session of 1903, provided as follows:
There is hereby appropriated for the years 1903 and 1901 the sum of S10.090 to provide an exhibit of the resources of Missouri at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, to be held in Portland, Oreg., from May 1 to November 1,1905. The money herein appropriated shall he expended under the direction of the governor of Missouri.
Thus it will be seen nine of the States of the West and Pacific Northwest and as far east as the States of Minnesota on the north, and Missouri on the south, have already indorsed the proposed exposition and extended money aid in its behalf, amounting in the aggregate to $710,000 cash.
The total amount of money, however, made available to date, November 1, 1903, from all sources for the purposes of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition is $1,126,907, and from the following sources: Prom the sale of stock and donations, $416,907; from State appropriations. State of Oregon alone, $450,000; States other than Oregon, $260,000; making a total, as I have stated, of $1,126,907.
In this statement of funds available there is not included of course any estimates of revenue from admissions, concessions, or other sources, all of which will be used for exposition purposes.
preparations for the exposition.
A magnificent site has already been secured for the exposition, and great progress has been made in its preparation and in the distribution of its area.
This site is in the northwestern part of the city of Portland, Oreg., about 2 miles from the business center of the city and directly opposite the highest point reached on the Willamette River by Captain Clark in 1806. It comprises 185 acres of land and 220 acres of water (what is known as Guilds Lake). The lake is being dredged and diked, so as to give uniform depth of water and a straight alignment alongshore.
Of the land area 50 acres are to be used for buildings, 20 acres f concessions, 25 acres for a park, 5 acres for an experiment statio and the remainder for agriculture, dairy farm, stock shows, ai concession purposes. The park referred to contains over 40 var. ties of native trees and bushes.
The grading and landscaping have been practically complete and the water and sewer systems are well under way. The macadamizing is finished. The estimated cost of landscaping, grading, and the water and sewer systems is $200,000. The plan of the exposition contemplates the erection of 10 main buildings.' Plans and specifications for these are now under preparation and building work will begin in early spring of 1904.
the provisions of the bill.
In pursuance of the request embodied in the legislative memorial of the State of Oregon of February 25,1901, and of the earnest solicitation of the management, and following my own inclinations in the matter, I have presented for the consideration of the Senate and the Congress the bill now before the Senate, and I deem it appropriate and proper I should briefly explain the provisions of the measure before it isreferred to the appropriate committee. The bill, as you will observe, is entitled:
A bill to provide for the celebration of tbe one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the "Oregon country " by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1804,1805, and 1805; and to authorize a commission representing the United States to hold at the city of Portland, in the State of Oregon, a national, international, and oriental exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the rivers, soil, mine, forest, and sea in said State; and to provide and assist in the erection of a memorial building in said city of Portland, to be known as " The Lewis and Clark Memorial Building;" and to authorize an appropriation for all said purposes.
The measure recites that—
Whereas the State of Oregon has heretofore appropriated the sum of $500,000, and the citizens of the city of Portland in said State have subscribed an additional $400,000, and are raising an additional sum of $100,000 to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the " Oregon country " by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from the Mississippi Biver to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1804,1805, and 1805, and inasmuch as said exploration marked an epoch in the history of the United States and in the extension of its territory by prior discovery and occupation by American citizens; and
Whereas it is fit and proper that said anniversary be commemorated by an exhibition of the resources of the United States, their development, anil the progress of national growth upon the Pacific coast, and, furthermore, that such exhibition should be of a national, international, and oriental character, so that not only the people of the " Oregon country " but of the United States, and of all oriental and other countries interested in the development of the commerce of the United States upon the Pacific coast and in the Pacific Ocean may participate, and should therefore have the sanction and approval of the Congress of the United States.
The bill therefore proposes to enact by section 1 that an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the rivers, soil, mine, forest, and sea, as further provided, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the "Oregon country" by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806, shall be, and the same is, by the bill authorized and required to be held at the city of Portland, in the State of Oregon, commencing May 1,1905, and ending November 1, 1905, or, commencing June 1, 1905, and ending October 1, 1905, if said last-mentioned period shall be designated hereafter by the legislative assembly of the State of Oregon.
While by section 2 of the bill it is provided that a nonpartisan commission shall be constituted, to consist of seven commissioners, to be known and designated as the "National Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission," who shall be appointed within thirty days from the passage of the act by the President of the United States, and who shall also be subject to removal by him. Vacancies in such commission to be filled in the same manner as original appointments.
Section 3 of the bill provides that the commissioners so appointed shall be called together by the Secretary of State of the United States in the city of Portland, State of Oregon, by notice to the commissioners as soon as convenient after their appointment, but within thirty days thereafter. Such commissioners at their first meeting are to organize by the election of their officers, and they may then and there appoint such executive or other committees as may be deemed expedient, and a secretary at a salary of $3,000 per annum, and in addition to the salary of such secretary there is allowed, out of any money appropriated by the bill, to aid in carrying forward said exposition, the sum of $5,000 per annum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the purposes of defraying the clerical, office, and other necessary expenses of said commission.
It is provided by section 4 of the bill that said commission when fully organized shall appoint two of their number to act in conjunction with a like number appointed by the "Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair," a corporation organized and existing under the general corporation laws of the State of Oregon and having its office and principal place of business at Portland, in said State, said two to
be chosen from the executive committee of said corporation, and 1 like number from the '' Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission " of the State of Oregon, to constitute a hoard of arbitration, to whom all matters of difference arising between said national commission and said company concerning the administration and management or general supervision of said exposition shall he referred for determination; and in case of the failure of said hoard of arbitration to agree upon such matters as may be so referred said hoard of arbitration shall appoint a seventh member thereof, such seventh member, so agreed upon, to he then appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury; the decision of such board to be final in all matters presented to it for consideration and determination.
Section 5 of the hill provides that said commission he empowered to and it shall accept for the purposes of the exposition such site as may be selected and offered, at the expense of and tendered by the " Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair," a corporation, as I have stated, organized and existing under the laws of the State of Oregon.
While section 6 of the hill provides that the allotment of space for the exhibitors, classification of exhibits, plan and scope of the exposition, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall all he done and performed by the said corporation, the "Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair."
It is further provided by section 7 that after the plans for said exposition shall he prepared by said company and approved by said commission the rules and regulations of such corporation governing the rates of entrance and admission fees, or otherwise affecting the rights, privileges, or interests of the exhibitors or of the public, shall be fixed or established by said company.
While by section 8 it is stipulated that said commission shall provide for the opening and dedication of the buildings and
frounds of the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Ixposition and Oriental Fair, in said city of Portland, on the 1st day of May, 1905, or as soon thereafter as shall be practicable, with proper ceremonies; and that thereafter such exposition shall be declared open and continue open until the 1st day of November, 1905, or until the 1st day of October, 1905, if such date shall he designated by the legislative assembly of the State of Oregon as the date for the closing of the exposition.
Section 9 of the measure provides that whenever the President of the United States shall be notified by the national commission that provision has been made for grounds upon which such exposition is to be held he shall be authorized to make proclamation of same through the Department of State, setting forth the time at which such exposition will be held and the purposes thereof; that he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations copies thereof, with such regulations as may be adopted by the commission for publication in their respective countries, and that he shall in behalf of the Government and the people invite foreign nations to take part in such exposition and to appoint representatives thereto.
While by section 10 it is stipulated that all articles which shall be imported from foreign countries, or shall be in the country by reason of the exposition to he held at St. Louis in the year 1904 in celebration of the anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana territory, and upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, shall be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees, or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; hut that it shall he lawful at any time during the exposition to sell, for delivery at the close thereof, or to transfer from St. Louis as aforesaid for the purposes of the exposition at Portland, Oreg., any goods or property imported from and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings at St. Louis or on the grounds thereof, or at Portland, Oreg., subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe.
It is provided, however, by this section that all such articles when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the United States shall be subject to the duty, if any, imposed upon such articles by the revenue laws in force at the date of importation, and all penalties prescribed by law shall he applied and enforced against said articles and against the person who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal.
By section 11 of the bill it is provided that such commission shall make reports monthly to the President of the United States, showing receipts and disbursements, together with a general summary of the financial condition of such exposition, and a final report within six months after the close of the exposition, presenting the results and a full exhibit thereof.
And it is further provided that said commission shall cease to exist on the 31st day of December, 1C06.
All liability upon the part of the United States, except as to the amount of the appropriations made by the bill, is carefully guarded
by section 12 of the hill, which provides that the United States shall not in any manner nor under any circumstances he liable for any of the doings, acts, proceedings, or representations of the said "Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair," its officers, agents, or employees, or any of them, or for the services, salaries, labor, or wages of such officers, servants, agents, or employees, or any of them, or for any subscriptions to the capital stock, or for any certificates of stock, bonds, mortgages, or obligations of any kind issued by said corporation, or for any debts, liabilities, or expenses of any kind whatsoever, attending such corporation or accruing by reason of the same.
Further provision is made by section 13 of the hill that there shall he exhibited at such exhibition, by the Government of the United States, from its Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, such articles and materials as illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the Government in time of peace and its resources as a war power, tending to demonstrate the nature of onr institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the people.
Furthermore, this section of the bill provides that the Bureau of American Republics shall he invited to make an exhibit, illustrating the resources and international relations of the American republics, and space in the United States Government building is to be provided for the purpose of such exhibit. And to secure a complete and harmonious arrangement of such Government exhibits, a hoard, to he known as the " United States Government Board," is to he created, independent of the commission provided for by this bill, to he charged with the selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, installation, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of such articles and materials as the heads of the several Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution, the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and the Director of the Bureau of American Republics may, respectively, decide shall be embraced in such Government exhibit.
The bill also provides that the President may also designate additional articles for exhibition.
The board to be provided for shall be composed of one person to be named by the head of each Executive Department, one by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, one by the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. and one by the Director of the Bureau of American Republics. The President is to name one of such persons so detailed as chairman, and the board itself to appoint its secretary, disbursing officer, and such other officers as it may deem necessary. The members of such hoard of management, with other officers and employees of the Government who may bo detailed to assist them, including officers of the Army and Navy, shall receive no compensation in addition to their regular salaries, but they shall be allowed their actual and necessary traveling expenses, together with a per diem in lien of subsistence, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, while necessarily absent from their homes and engaged upon the business of the board, while officers of the Army and Navy shall receive this allowance in lieu of the transportation and mileage now allowed by law. Any provision of law which may prohibit the detail of persons in the employ of the United States to other service than that which they customarily perform shall not apply to persons detailed for duty in connection with said Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair. Employees of the hoard not otherwise employed bjMihe Government shall be entitled to such compensation as the board may determine. The disbursing officer shall give a bond in the sum of $30,000 for the faithful performance of his duties, such bond to he approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury, it is provided, shall advance to such disbursing officer, from time to time, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, a sum of money, from the appropriation proposed to he made by the bill for the Government exhibit, not exceeding at any one time the penalty of his bond, to enable him to pay the expenses of the exhibit, as authorized by the board of management created by the bill.
Section 14 of the bill provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall be authorized and directed to place on exhibition, in connection with the exhibit from his Department, upon such grounds as shall be allotted for the purpose, one of the life-saving stations authorized to he constructed on the coast of the United States by existing law, and to cause the same to he fully equipped with apparatus, furniture, and appliances now in use in all life-saving stations of the United States.
Section 15 provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a suitable building or buildings to be erected on the sites selected by the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair for the Government exhibits as provided by the bill, and he is authorized and directed to contract therefor as soon as convenient after the passage of the bill in such
manner as he may deem expedient, but the contracts for such building or buildings shall not exceed the sum of $250,000, which sum, or so much thereof as may he necessary, is by this section of the hill appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated to defray the expenses of erecting such Government building or buildings thus authorized.
The hill further provides that the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause such building or buildings to he constructed from plans to he approved by said Government board, and he is authorized and required to dispose of such building or buildings, or the material composing the same, at the close of the exposition, giving preference to the city of Portland or to the said Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair to purchase the same at an appraised value, to be ascertained in such manner as he may determine.
Section 16 of the hill provides that said commission shall he authorized and required to accept and receive from the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair the site in the city of Portland, upon which there shall he erected a building, to he known as the " Lewis and Clark Memorial Building," which said building and site shall be conveyed, donated, or dedicated to the State of Oregon, to he held in trust for all the people of said State and the nation for the following purposes: For the purpose of receiving and safely keeping therein the official records, archives, exhibits, literature, collections, and property of the Oregon Historical Society and under the control of said society, and for the purpose of receiving and safely keeping therein statues, works of art, publications, maps, charts, or other property that may be given, donated, devised, or granted to the State of Oregon in trust, as aforesaid, or authorized by the United States or any Territory thereof, or any foreign country, and for the purpose of receiving and safely keeping therein any works of art, library, or property that may he given, donated, granted, or bequeathed to the State of Oregon in trust, as aforesaid, by any person whatsoever, and for the purpose of receiving and safely keeping therein valuable paintings, works of art, or other property that may be loaned,donated, granted, or bequeathed to the State of Oregon in trust for the adornment of said building or the education of the people. And this memorial building is also to be in part a museum, devoted thereafter to history, literature, arts, sciences, and particularly as a repository of the history of the "Oregon Country," and is to be a memorial building in commemoration of the exploration of the " Oregon Country" by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806, and in and about which building shall he placed by the United States, acting by and through said commission, suitable and appropriate statues, of bronze, marble, or other material, of Thomas Jefferson, Captains Meriwether Lewis and "William Clark, and Thomas H. Benton and Lewis F. Linn, former Senators from the State of Missouri; also that of Robert Gray, the American navigator and discoverer of the Columbia River; John Jacob Astor, the American fur trader in the " Oregon Country," and such other great historic figures as have been connected with the acquisition and settlement of the "Oregon Country " as a part of the United States as may he designated by said commission, and such other works of art, manufactures, maps, charts, and publications as may from time to time he authorized or published by the United States.
This section provides further that plans and specifications for said memorial building shall he prepared by the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair; and there is by this section of the bill appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to assist in the erection of said building, the sum of $250,000; and to provide for said statues and other works of art and the contents of said building a further sum is proposed to be appropriated by this section of the bill of $100,000, or so much thereof as may he necessary.
The bill provides, as a condition to the appropriations provided for by this section, that the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair shall set apart, to be used in the construction of said building, the sum of $50,000, and that the State of Oregon, acting by and through the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission, shall have made available the appropriation toward the construction of said building in the sum of $50,000, as authorized by the act of the legislative assembly of the State of Oregon, approved January 30, 1903, it being the intention, as declared by the hill, that the appropriation authorized by Congress by this section shall he available whenever and as soon as said commission shall have been satisfied that the sum of $100,000, whether appropriated by the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, or by the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission, of Portland, Oreg., or both, has been used, or has been set aside to be used in the construction of such building; said
sum so proposed to he appropriated by this section of the hill tc-he available upon the order of the commission, payable as other sums are authorized to be paid by this proposed act.
It is provided, further, by this section that if said building shall not he completed on or before December 31, 1906, then the same shall he carried on to completion under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of^tlie Treasury.
It is provided by section 17 of the bill that the commissioners to be appointed by the President under this proposed act shall receive as compensation for their services and expenses the sum of $4,000 each per annum, the same to he paid by the Secretary of the Treasury, and deducted from any money appropriated by the bill for said exposition.
While section 18 provides that no member of said commission or of said Government hoard, whether an officer or otherwise, shall be personally liable for any debt or any obligation which may he created or incurred by said commission or by the United States Government board authorized by the bill.
Section 19 of the bill recites in the nature of a whereas that inasmuch as the State of Oregon has appropriated the sum of $500.000 to assist in holding said exposition, and the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Pair has created a fund of $400,000, with an additional fund to be raised of $100,000, to assist in holding said exposition, aggregating $1,000,000 raised by the people of the State of Oregon toward the celebration of this epoch in American history, and inasmuch as States and Territories of the United States and several foreign countries have already signified their intention to participate in said exposition, and have appropriated large sums of money to assist in holding the same, therefore it is provided by this section of the hill, that there shall be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $1,500,000, in addition to the sums thereinbefore proposed to he appropriated by the hill, to aid in carrying forward said exposition, to pay the salaries of the members and secretary of the commission by the hill authorized, and such other necessary expenses as may he incurred by said commission in the discharge of its duties in connection with said exposition, and to discharge all such other obligations incurred by the Government on account of said exposition, except for the erection of its own buildings and the making and care of its own exhibits at said exposition, and excepting also the sum proposed to he appropriated for the erection of the Lewis and Clark memorial building and to provide the contents thereof, as authorized by other sections of the bill.
This section further provides that the money thus appropriated shall be disbursed under the direction of the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, under such rules and regulations as may he prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and upon vouchers to he approved by such commission, acting, by and through its president and secretary.
While by section 20 it is made the especial duty of said national commission to provide a full and complete exhibition at said exposition of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mines, forest, and other resources of the Territory of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine Islands, and the oriental countries, and to illustrate the commerce of the Pacific Ocean; and to that end the President of the United States is authorized to designate any consul, vice-consul, or officer of the military or naval service of the United States to assist said commission in the collection of said exhibits.
By section 21 the Secretary of War is authorized, at his discretion, to detail for special duty in connection with the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair such officers of the Army as may he required, to report to the general commanding the Department of the Columbia; and the officers thus detailed shall not he subject to loss of pay or rank on account of such detail, nor shall any officer or employee of the United States receive additional pay or compensation he-cause of his services connected with such exposition from the United States or from such exposition.
Section 22 of the hill proposes to appropriate the sum of $25,000, or so much thereof as may he necessary, to defray the expenses of an exhibition of the Indian industrial schools of the United States, to he placed in charge and under the control of the officers in charge of the Chemawa Indian Training School, near Salem, Oreg., and to be expended at the exposition by such officials, under the direction of said commission, so as to illustrate the work of the Government of the United States in this field; and such officials are authorized and required by the bill to make a special effort to represent therein the Indian tribes of the United States, and particularly to represent the Indian tribes of the " Oregon Country," their relics, memorials, customs, religions, numbers, and history.
It is provided by section 23 that nothing shall be so construed in the hill as to create any liability of the United States, direct or indirect, for any debt or obligation incurred, or for any claim for
aid or pecuniary assistance from Congress or the Treasury of the United States in support or liquidation of any debts or obligations created by said commission.
Section 24 provides that medals with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptions commemorative of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and of the awards to be made to exhibitors thereat, shall be prepared at some mint of the United States for the board of directors of the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, a corporation; and in addition thereto such numbers of what is commonly called the " Jefferson medal," the same to be in facsimile of the medals bearing the medallion portrait of Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, distributed among the Indian tribes by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in their expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, as the board of directors of the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair may deem advisable, shall in like manner he prepared at some mint of the United States, for the board of directors thereof, the same to he distributed by sale or otherwise by such board of directors, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the " Oregon Country" by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark; and also facsimiles of the " beaver money of Oregon Territory " shall in like manner be prepared at some mint of the United States for the board of directors of the association, for distribution, by sale or otherwise, by said hoard of directors, which said " beaver money " was authorized to he coined by the provisional government of Oregon by an act of the legislature thereof of February 16, 1849 (all subject, nevertheless, to the provisions of the twenty-seventh section of the coinage act of 1893), and upon payment of a sum not less than the actual cost thereof; and all provisions, whether penal or otherwise, of said coinage act against counterfeiting or imitating of coins of the United States are made to apply to the medals struck and issued under this hill.
It is further and finally provided in the hill that the total appropriations provided for by the bill of $2,125,000 shall take effect and become available immediately upon the passage of the act.
A final provision of the bill is to the effect that the Postmaster-General of the United States shall be authorized and directed, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to grant to the commission to he created by this hill, and to the president, secretary, and director-general of the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, a corporation, and to said corporation, and to the president and secretary of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission of the State of Oregon, the franking privilege, by means of which the free use of the United States mails, until December 31, 1906, shall he enjoyed by said commission, president, secretary, director-general, and corporation aforesaid.
do national interest and patriotism and the general welfare justify the proposed legislation?
Such, Mr. President, are the provisions and extent of the bill submitted for the consideration of the American Congress.
In this connection the inquiry naturally suggests itself, Is the enterprise in whose interest the bill is drawn, and for the promotion of which the appropriation is asked, of such a national character as to justify the proposed legislation? Is the enterprise one which justly and properly appeals to national pride and the patriotism of the American people? Is it one which, if consummated, will he not only a fitting monument to the foundation builders of one of the grandest epochs in American history, but which will at the same time be an industrial exposition of arts, industries, manufactures, and of the manifold products of the rivers, soil, mines, forests, and sea of the far West, and of the great Pacific Northwest, which will give a tremendous impetus to the development and extension of the commerce of the Pacific Ocean and of oriental trade?
In answer to these inquiries it is respectfully and confidently suggested that no other historical event in our national existence of an individual nature has done so much toward the development of American occupation and settlement, American commerce, domestic and foreign, and American civilization as has the geographic, scientific, and military expedition across the then trackless American continent by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark one hundred years ago. In fact, since the beginning of time history fails to record any geographic and scientific exploration into the solitudes and dangers of an unexplored wilderness, and having for its purpose the reclamation from the dominion of the barbarian more than one-half of a desolate continent and savage empire, and the extension of the dominion of civilization, comparable with that planned by the immortal Jefferson and so successfully executed by his courageous and intrepid military officers, Lewis and Clark.
Indeed, so faithfully and successfully did these chosen military agents execute the dangerous and herculean task imposed upon
them that on its consummation President Jefferson made the following declaration:
Never did a similar event excite more joy throughout the United States. The humblest of its citizens have taken a lively interest in the issue of this journey and looked with impatience for the information it would furnish. Nothing short of the official journals of this extraordinary and interesting journey will exhibit the importance of the service—the courage, devotion, zeal, and perseverance, under circumstances calculated to discourage, which animated this little band of heroes throughout the long, dangerous, and tedious travel.
The character of this expedition and the mighty consequences flowing from it were clearly and succinctly stated by President Roosevelt in a speech at Portland, Oreg., on the 21st day of May last, when, during his visit to that city, he laid the corner stone, in its beautiful park, of a monument the people of Oregon are erecting there in commemoration of the great historic achievement of Lewis and Clark. Among other things, President Roosevelt said: .
We come here to-day to lay a corner stone that is to call to mind the greatest single pioneering feat on this continent—the voyage of Lewis and Clark— which rounded out the ripe statesmanship of Jefferson and his followers by giving to the United States all of the domain between the Mississippi and the Pacific.
The sailing of Columbus, with his three galleys and ninety men, from the port of Palos, in Spain, four hundred and eleven years ago on the 3d day of August last, in search of a new world, was an undertaking scarcely more courageous, venturesome, and daring, or threatened with greater possible hardships and dangers, than was the starting from the Missouri River of Lewis and Clark and their small hand of associates on May 14, 1804, on their perilous expedition across the continent.
The one expedition sought and found a new world—a then hitherto unknown continent and adjacent islands, while the other had for its purpose the reclamation of one-half of the continent thus discovered by Columbus from a state of deep isolation and dark barbarism, and its conversion to a high state of civilization. Each was a mighty undertaking. Each was menaced by manifold unseen dangers. Each was planned by a prescience, genius, and courage seldom possessed by man or exemplified by human action. Each marked the beginning of a series of events incomparable in importance and in the character and magnitude of their results. Each was the initiatory step in an epoch pregnant with consequences of the most gigantic and far-reaching character. Each was the beginning of a cycle that has hut few, if any, parallels in the world's history of physical development and human progress. Each marked the beginning of an era—the one in the history of the world's development, the other in that of America, incomparable in character, unparalleled in fruitful results, and inestimable in its value in the promotion of the general welfare and progress of the human race.
The conspicuous part taken by Thomas Jefferson in the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, and in inaugurating about the same time and subsequently carrying to successful completion the Lewis and Clark expedition, is in and of itself enough to keep the name of Thomas Jefferson among the immortals, enduring as the sun, and fadeless as the stars. To the author of the Declaration of Independence and the founder of the University of Virginia the present generation and all the unborn generations of America owe a debt of lasting gratitude, of momentous magnitude, and which can never be fully liquidated. And no less does this demand on a nation's and a people's gratitude result from the part he took in the purchase of Louisiana Territory and in the Lewis and Clark expedition than from the fact that he was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the founder of the University of Virginia.
While it is the intention of the management of the proposed Lewis and Clark Exposition—which, by the way, is in the hands and under the control of a large corps of able, energetic, wideawake, successful business men of the Pacific coast States—to have not only a national but an oriental and international exposition that will demand the attention and admiration and receive the consideration and generous support, not only of the people and governments of the Orient, hut of the people and governments of Europe, it is not expected it will be on the grand or extensive and expensive scale of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. That exposition, it is now conceded by all, will undoubtedly be the most elaborate and magnificent national and international industrial exposition the world has ever seen. But if the United States can properly and appropriately contribute, as it has already dono to the success of this grand universal exposition at St. Louis, the sum of $6,478,000 in honor of the Louisiana Purchase, then the great empire of the Far West—the people of the Pacific States and of the great Pacific Northwest feel warranted in expressing the belief that they are entitled to a fraction less than one-third of that amount in aid of an exposition that will exhibit not only to the people of this country, but European and oriental countries, the wonderful products of a land which one hundred years ago was a territory incognito—the uninhabited, unsettled " Oregon
Country "—and all in commemoration of the marvelous achievement of Lewis and Clark, by whose daring and courageous enterprise this great domain was rescued from barbarism, saved to this country, and brought within the pale of a high state of physical development, human progress, and advanced civilization.
appropriations heretofore made in" aid of the louisiana purchase exposition at st. louis, mo.
The total appropriations to date in the interest of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis, Mo., amount to $6,478,000. The sum is made up of the following items:
Expenses of the Louisiana Purchase Commission, act of June 6,1900. - $10,000 Aid to Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., act March 3,
1901___________________.........................................________ 5,000,000
Buildings, by same act___________...................................... 250,000
Government exhibit, act June 28, 1902................._............... 800,000
Life-saving exhibit, act June 28, 1902 .................................. 8,000
Buildings, act June 28,1902____......................................... 200,000
Indian exhibit, act June 28,1902 ....................................... 40,000
Agricultural exhibit, act March 3, 1903................................ 100,000
Alaska exhibit, act March 3, 1903 __________............................ 50, (XX)
Indian Territory exhibit, act March 3,1903________________........... 25,000
Expenses Senate committee, dedication of Louisiana Purchase Exposition ......_________________________......_________________........ 2,000
Expenses House committee, dedication of Louisiana Purchase Exposition............................................................... 3,000
Total, as above.................................................... 6,478,000
In this connection let it he borne in mind that in comparison with other sections of the country, East, Central, North, and South, the great West and the Pacific Northwest have not had much encouragement or aid from the General Government—none in fact in the way of aid to any industrial exposition.
the contributions of the "oregon country" to the national treasury.
, It is both interesting and instructive to consider the vast money contributions made to the National Treasury by the "Oregon Country " in the last fifty-two years, commencing with the year 1851 and counting to the present date.
The total customs receipts from Oregon alone for the years 1851-1903 was $13,715,043.12; from the territory included in the State of Washington, $6,015,362.71; and from that included in the State of Idaho, $627,098.17; making the total of customs receipts alone in the last fifty-two years from the " Oregon Country," not including contributions from those portions of the States of Montana and Wyoming which were originally parts of the " Oregon Country," 1851-1903, inclusive, $20,357,504; while the total internal-revenue receipts from the '' Oregon Country'' for the fiscal years 1863-1903, inclusive, covering the last forty years, was $14,-255,809.23; thus making a grand total from customs and internal-revenue receipts paid into the Treasury by the '' Oregon Country '' in the last fifty-two years, to say nothing of the large amounts paid in prior to that date, of $34,613,313.23; while the amount of cash received from the sale of public lands in the '' Oregon Country'' for the fiscal years 1854-1903, inclusive, amounted to $20,255,744.37, making a grand total of $54,869,057.70, all within a fraction of less than one-half of a century.
A balancing of the books, as will he presently seen, will show at a glance that the money contributions made to the General Government and the United States Treasury by the "Oregon Country'' are many millions of dollars in excess of the expenditures on the part of the Government for development, improvement, and maintenance in such territory, including appropriations for rivers and harbors, the construction and repair of public buildings, for the establishment of light-houses, revenue vessels, and other aids to commerce, surveys of the public lands, for maintenance of the Federal courts, and the Indian service, including salaries of all Federal officials. A careful estimate will show that the contributions exceed the expenditures in the sum of about $37,000,000.
Notwithstanding these large contributions to the Treasury of the United States by the " Oregon Country," and notwithstanding the fact of the great number of important rivers and harbors located within the '' Oregon Country,'' all in need of improvement by the National Government, there have been expended all told for rivers and harbors in that area since the beginning of the Government to the present time but $13,181,731.55, while the total amount expended in the balance of the area of the United States, since the beginning of the Government, for the improvement of rivers and harbors is $388,378,602.98.
While the amount expended by the National Government during the same time in the " Oregon Country " in the erection and improvement of public buildings was but $2,344,794.90; for the construction of light-houses and other aids to commerce, but $1,608,596.20; and for surveys of public lands, but $2,177,830.82.
The statement, therefore, that the great West, formerly known as the "Oregon Country," has not received that national recognition to which it is justly entitled, especially in view of the fact of its large contributions to the National Treasury, can hardly be questioned.
the "oregon country" has contributed $125,979,918.23 to the wealti of the nation in precious metals alone,
But in addition to this the fact must not be lost sight of thai the " Oregon Country " has, since its first settlement, contributed to the wealth of the nation, from the bowels of the earth, in the output of the precious metals, gold and silver, as follows:
That portion of the " Oregon Country" now included in the State of Oregon alone has contributed $27,465,639.47 in gold and $191,080.18 in silver; that portion now included in the State of Washington has contributed $2,217,781.19 in gold and $46,558.79 in silver; that portion included in the State of Idaho has contributed $42,161,108 in gold and $2,087,750.67 in silver; that portion of Montana formerly a part of "Oregon Country" has contributed approximately $40,000,000 in gold and $11,000,000 in silver, while that portion of Wyoming which formerly was a part of the " Oregon Country "has contribntedapproximately $800,000 in gold and $10,000 in silver, making a total contribution to the wealth of the nation in the precious metals since the beginning of the Government from the "Oregon Country," in gold, of $112,644,528.66 and $13,335,389.57 in silver, or a total of $125,979,918.23 in precious metals alone.
That the amounts shown by these statistics, which are taken from the Mint reports, are less to the extent of many millions of dollars than the actual output of the precious metals in that Territory, I think will be conceded by all familiar with the history of the mining industries of the Pacific coast.
Based upon these considerations, therefore, we feel justified in confidently appealing to the representatives of other sections of the country to aid in the manner and to the extent of the pending bill in a great national and international enterprise which it is believed will he of incalculable interest and benefit, not alone to the people of the " Oregon Country " but to the people of every section of the United States.
the exalted purposes of the lewis and clark exposition.
But the proposed exposition is not intended merely as a glorification over the progress that has been made in the physical development of the " Oregon Country," or of hilarious exaltation over the manifold and immensely valuable products of field, and mine, and forest, and river of the " Oregon Country," but above and beyond all this it must not be forgotten that the successful expedition of Lewis and Clark was the solving of a mighty geographical, political, and commercial problem which gave to this country and the people of this country an outlet to the Pacific Ocean, and the trade and commerce of the world; thus making it possible for the present and all future generations to realize and enjoy the political, social, religious, educational, and commercial advantages and blessings which flow from the very highest order of modern nncircumscribed civilization.
But not this alone. The planting and development in that vast region of ethical, social, educational, and religious germs, the door for all of which was opened by the grand expeditionary enterprise of Lewis and Clark, was a work of momentous character and of great national utility, whose authors are deserving of national homage and their acts of national commemoration.
the geographical extent, and title of the united states to the "oregon country."
The history of the manner in which the territory formerly known as the " Oregon Country " became a part of the public domain of the United States, and the nature of the title under which, we hold, its extent territorially, and its general characteristics, are all matters of the highest interest. Although the present State of Oregon includes within its boundaries an area of more than 30,000 square miles more than that included in the whole of the six New England States, it is but a fraction less than one-fifth in size of the original " Oregon Country " as claimed first by Spain, and subsequently by the United States. Something of its magnitude and territorial extent can he realized when it is remembered that after losing about 200,000 square miles by unprofitable and unwise compromise 285,123 square miles remained, and out of which three great States, and large portions of two others—namely, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming—have been carved.
The history of the various titles under which our Government asserted title to this vast domain in the prolonged diplomatic contest with Great Britain for the supremacy is highly interesting. Our title was of a triple character:
First. Discovery and settlement by Spain, to which title vre succeeded;
Second. Discovery in our own right in 1792, followed by the scientific exploration of Lewis and Clark, and subsequently by actual settlement; and
Third. Cession from France of the Louisiana territory.
The Lewis and Clark scientific exploration was one of the first steps following discovery by Captain Gray looking to its reclamation and settlement, and which was followed by the two Winship brothers, of Boston, who made the first attempted settlement on
the Columbia River after Gray's discovery. They sailed from Boston in 1809 in two ships, the O'Kaine, of which Jonathan was captain, and the Albatross, of which Nathan was master. The O'Kaine went direct to California, while the Albatross went to the Sandwich Islands and thence to the Columbia River, arriving there with 50 men on board early in the spring of 1810. The vessel proceeded np the river a distance of 40 miles, opposite the place now known as " Oak Point," where they disembarked, cleared a small tract of land, erected a building, and planted vegetables, all of which, however, were demolished and swept away by the June floods of the same year, when Captain Nathan Winship re-embarked with his men, joined his brother in California, and, learning of Astor's expedition, never returned.
This was followed by the establishment of the town of Astoria by John Jacob Astor in 1811. The war of 1812 coming on, the English captured Astoria, hauled down the American flag, and hoisted the English ensign, and changed the name of the fort from Fort Astor to Fort George; but at the close of the war in 1818 it was restored to the United States by the treaty, which stipulated the restoration of "all territory, places, and possessions whatsoever taken by either party from the other during the war.'' In this restoration the English denominated it "the settlement." However many may have been the occupants of this country, or those employed by the Hudson Bay Company prior to that, this was unquestionably the first permanent settlement made by white men in the valley of the Columbia or in the territory of Oregon, and this was by American citizens. The claim, therefore, to rightful settlement of the " Oregon Country," now comprising the whole of the States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming, can rightfully attach only to the United States.
The Lewis and Clark scientific exploration, therefore, and the acts of settlement which followed constitute one of the highest, if, indeed, not the very highest, element of the second claim to title to that country made by our Government in its prolonged diplomatic controversy with Great Britain, namely, that of "discovery in our own right in 1792, followed by scientific exploration and actual settlement."
In connection, however, with the proposed centennial exposition and the passing of the continent by the great explorers, Lewis and Clark, it is interesting to note briefly tbe respective claims made by the different governments to the " Oregon Country," and also to call attention to the character of the diplomatic controversies by which these several claims were finally disposed of and settled.
It is a matter of history that for nearly three centuries prior to 1790 Spain had been making claim, on account of alleged discovery, to all of the Oregon territory, extending from the forty-second degree of north latitude, not only to 54° 40', but to the sixty-first parallel, and extending from the Pacific Ocean eastward to the central heights of the Rocky Mountains. It was in dimensions a vast empire. Its geographic extent was about 760 miles from north to south and about 650 miles from east to west, embracing an area of about 494,000 square miles, or seven and one-half times greater than all of the New England States put together, two and one-half times as large as the whole of Spain, and more than 50,000 square miles more than all of Spain, France, and Portugal combined.
This claim of Spain dated back two hundred and seventy-seven years prior to 1790, or about three hundred and ninety years ago, the inceptive right being based by some on the alleged discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa in 1513, when he assumed possession of it as a private sea in the name and for the benefit of the Spanish Crown. But this claim had slight ground; indeed, no really good ground of support, though it was somewhat strengthened from time to time by the navigation of its coasts and the occupation of its territory by the Spanish navigators, Maldonado in 1528 and Earrello in 1543. In 1592 San Juan de Fuca, a Greek navigator in the Spanish service, entered the strait bearing his name, which now separates the United States from the British possessions. He then for the time supposed he had discovered the great northwestern passage connecting the two oceans. In 1774 the navigator, Juan Peres, sailed from San Bias January 25,landing first on the northeastern coast of Queen Charlotte Island, near the fifty-fourth parallel. Humboldt says lie was the first of all tbe European navigators to anchor in Nootka Sound, in latitude 49° 30'. This he named Port San Lorenzo. Pour years later it was by Captain Cook called King George's Sound. Heceta, the Spanish navigator, visited the coast in 1775, and Galiano and Valdes in 1792; that they explored the entire Oregon coast and even farther northward is an historical fact which can not be questioned.
Prior to 1790 the vague claim of Spain to this vast territory was not seriously disputed by any power, although Great Britain had been feebly making a claim scarcely less ancient, though based on a more fragile and less defensible title. This claim on the part of i
Great Britain rested originally (although subsequently that source of title was virtually abandoned) on the acts, familiar to all, of Sir Francis Drake, the English buccaneer and filibusterer, who in 1577 with five armed vessels had sailed from England, with the connivance of Queen Elizabeth, ostensibly for a voyage to Egypt, but in fact on a filibustering expedition against Spain. Two years later, in 1579, having reached the waters of the Pacific Ocean through the Straits of Magellan, his fleet encountered storms, reducing it to one schooner of 100 tons burden and bis naval force to sixty men. Just how far Drake sailed northward along the California and Oregon coasts is a matter of doubt, some historians asserting he went as far as 42°, others 43°, and some say as far as 48°. All agree, however, that having encountered storms, he returned to the thirty-eighth parallel and landed in a bay, now supposed to be either the present bay of San Francisco or the Bay of Bodega, where, as one historian tells us, he accepted from the savages of the far West, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, " coronation, scepter, and sovereignty." Great Britain, however, in her prolonged contest with the United States placed no reliance on the acts of Drake, but based her claim on the right of discovery of the "Oregon Territory" by Captain Cook in 1778, and subsequently on alleged discoveries by Captain Mears in 1788, and by Captain Vancouver in 1792, 1793, and 1794.
It was claimed, moreover, that Great Britain was the first to acquire what was termed a "beneficial interest in those regions by commercial intercourse."
Resting on these respective titles—that of Great Britain certainly lacking in every respect all those essential elements which constitute a real foundation for a valid claim of sovereignty—these two great rival powers, Spain and Great Britain, came into contention over their respective claims to and in this vast territory in 1790, resulting in what is known in history as " The Nootka Convention." The claim of England was then hardly one of sovereignty, but rather, as she asserted, " an indisputable right to the enjoyment of a free and uninterrupted navigation, commerce, and fishing and to the possession of such establishments as they should form, with the consent of the natives of the country, not previously occupied by any European nations."
In tbe assertion of these alleged rights on the part of Great Britain and the Spanish contention on the part of the Spanish Crown the conflicting and rival claims to sovereignty were attempted to he upheld, as one historian tells us, "by an occasional visit by vessels, temporarily trading with the natives, some fishing, and a few shanties." The Spanish authorities, denying the rights asserted by Great Britain, seized and confiscated her vessels and other property employed in the assertion of her claims to occupation, if not indeed to sovereignty. It was this conflict which resulted in the "Nootka Convention of 1790."
That Great Britain gained nothing by that treaty in respect of her alleged rights as to sovereignty, tenancy, or commerce in any of the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean is conceded by all historians. That her claims, both as to discovery and prior occupation, submitted to that convention were absolutely baseless as against those of Spain or any other power must be conceded. Even should we concede all that has ever been claimed by the most ardent historian in respect to the achievements of Sir Francis Drake and others, it amounts to nothing as against the Spanish claim; and so in reference to the alleged discovery by the British captains, Cook, Mears, and Vancouver, for the evidence is conclusive that this same coast had been navigated and the land discovered more than two hundred and sixty years before by the Spanish navigator Maldonado in 1528. If, then, Great Britain gained nothing in her claim either as to sovereignty or occupancy by the " Nootka Treaty " of 1790, as she clearly did not, she certainly had no right to complain.
When this treaty was submitted to the British Parliament, it was denounced by the opposition as a cowardly surrender. Sir Charles Fox said:
Nothing has heen gained, hut, on the contrary, much has been surrendered.
And speaking further, Mr. Fox said:
Our right before the convention, whether admitted or denied by Spain, was of no consequence, was to settle any part of South or Northwestern America not fortified against us by previous occupancy, and we are now restricted to settle in certain places only and under certain conditions. Our rights of fishing extended to the whole ocean, and now it is limited and not to be exercised within certain distances of Spanish settlements. Our right of making settlements was not as now a right to build huts, but to plant colonies if we thought proper. In renouncing all right to make settlements in South America we have given to Spain what she considered as inestimable and have in return been contented with dross.
But whatever rights Great Britain had by virtue of the'' Nootka treaty'' of 1790 were lost and totally destroyed when in 1796 Spain declared war against Great Britain, as it is a principle of public law that a declaration of war destroys all treaties between the belligerents.
The claim of Spain to all of the Oregon territory south of the sixty-first parallel was acknowledged by the Russian Government, the only power holding claims of any value which conflicted with
Spain. In 1790 complaints had been made to the Russian court against Russian subjects for invading Spanish territory south of 61° of north latitude. To this complaint the Emperor of all the Russias, through the proper channels, replied in the following words:
The Emperor assures the King of Spain he is extremely sorry that the repeated orders issued to prevent subjects of Russia from violating in the smallest degree the territory belonging to another power should have been disobeyed. _
This was a clear and unequivocal recognition of the sovereignty of Spain to all territory south of the sixty-first parallel.
The contention on the part of Great Britain that whatever rights the United States acquired in the Oregon territory in virtue of the treaty with Spain, known as the " Florida treaty" of 1819, were subject to certain rights of Great Britain as to alleged joint occupancy with Spanish subjects, existing in virtue of the "Nootka" treaty of 1790, was completely annihilated, first by Secretary Calhoun in 1843 and subsequently by Secretary Buchanan in 1845. They clearly demonstrated two propositions: First, that not only had Great Britain acquired no rights of sovereignty in virtue of the treaty of 1790 with Spain, but by that treaty the sovereignty of Spain was directly conceded; for the only rights fully recognized to Great Britain in that treaty were that her subjects should not be disturbed in landing on the coasts in places already occupied for the purpose of carrying on trade with the natives. Second, that the treaty of 1790 was abrogated by the declaration of war by Spain against Great Britain in 1796; that by that war it fell to the ground and was never resurrected, and therefore every right which Great Britain had in virtue of its provisions vanished. In their discussion the principle of public law that war terminates all subsisting treaties between the belligerent powers was discussed with great ability. It was clearly shown that the only exception to this general rule is in cases of a treaty recognizing certain sovereign rights as belonging to a nation which had previously existed independently of any treaty engagement—that is to say, those rights which the treaty did not create, but simply recognized, can not be destroyed by war between the governments constituting parties to the treaties.
The treaty of peace, for instance, between this country and Great Britain of 1783, wherein Great Britain acknowledged that the United States was " free, sovereign, and independent" is of this exceptional character—a right recognized, but not granted by treaty, and hence a right which can not he destroyed by war.
The claim of Spain to the " Oregon Country," that is, the territory lying on the Pacific Ocean north of the forty-second parallel, and extending to 54° 40', did not rest alone on discovery and settlement, but also as being embraced in and a part of tbe ancient Louisiana, ceded by Prance to Spain in 1762. and by a secret arrangement receded to France in 1800, then ceded by France again to the United States in 1803, known as the '1 Louisiana Purchase.''
Whatever claim, therefore, Spain had to the '' Oregon country'' in 1800, prior to her cession to Prance, in virtue either of discovery and settlement on the one hand, or by cession from France as a part of the ancient Louisiana on the other, vested in the United States by the Louisiana purchase. That Spain, therefore, was the real and sole sovereign owner of the whole of Oregon Territory as against Great Britain there can he no doubt, and the United States succeeded to all the rights which Spain ever had— first, by the cession from France in 1803. and, second, by virtue of the Florida treaty and cession from Spain in 1819.
the real discoverer oe the "oregon country."
Whatever may be said as to discovery, tenancy, occupation, exploration, and settlement of that vast region of the mighty West lying north of the forty-second parallel and extending to the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, or whatever may he the character of those claims on the part of any country, the glory of the actual discovery and of the real scientific exploration and actual settlement belongs to America and the United States, and on that high and unimpeachable title, irrespective of all others, has our country forever stood, and can forever stand, in its claim to the territory of Oregon. The only regrettable thing is that the United States should ever by compromise have bartered away unnecessarily any portion of that vast territory. The claim 54° 40', made by the Democracy in the campaign of 1844, should in my judgment never have been abandoned, but maintained to tbe bitter end.
The first real assertion of sovereignty in all that vast region occurred when on May 11,1792, Captain Gray, of Boston, an American citizen and navigator and naval officer during the Revolutionary war, master of the merchant ship Columbia, discovered and entered the month of that great river of the West. He ascended its waters a distance of 25 miles, remaining there nine days, and named the river " Columbia," in honor of his ship, planted the American flag on its shores, and took possession of the country in the name of the United States. Indefatigable were the efforts of Great Britain to wrest this honor from the United States, and in
support of this effort all manner of claims were from time to time set up. A suspicion had been entertained for many years. perhaps a century prior to 1792, in the minds of Spanish and English navigators that a large river emptied somewhere into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and the English navigators, Mears and Vancouver, had been instructed by their respective Governments to make every effort to discover it. They spent months in the years 1791 and 1792 in this effort, but without result.
" Mears," said one historian, " failed to find the mouth of the supposed river when he was led to explore for it in the Straits of Fnca, and made permanent record of his failure in the two titles he left there—' Cape Disappointment' and ' Deception Bay.' "
The same historian in speaking of Vancouver says: '' Vane ouver scrutinized that coast for about 250 miles and so minutely that the surf was constantly seen from the masthead to break on its shores. Thus he failed to discover the month of the Columbia, mistaking evidently the breakers on its fearful bars for coast surf."
This entry was made in his journal April 29, 1792, only twelve days prior to the date when Captain Gray made the discovery, and yet because the English navigator Vancouver subsequently sailed farther up the river than did Captain Gray, the latter directing him how to find the entrance, Great Britain insisted that he, and not Captain Gray, was the discoverer of the Columbia, and that all tbe rights which attached to such discovery belonged to England and not to the United States. In discussing this phase of the Oregon question, Professor Twiss, of Oxford University, in an elaborate paper said: " Captain Gray's claim is limited to the mouth of the river." The historian, Barrows, in commenting on this character of reasoning very pertinently says: " Thus the discovery of a river is made a progressive work by English claimants, as if one should discover the Mississippi at New Orleans, another at Memphis, another at Cairo, another at the mouth of the Missouri, and so on to the Falls of St. Anthony, as if the discovery of a lost cable were progressive as the separate links of the chain were hauled on hoard." "If," says the historian, "this had not been said by plenipotentiaries we should call it puerile."
Mears not only did not discover the Columbia River, but, on the contrary, he expressly declared there was no such river emptying into the Pacific Ocean. " We can now safely assert" said he in his report, "that there is no such river as that of St. Roque, as laid down on the Spanish charts." And, as if to emphasize the failure of his expectations, he named the promontory lying north of the inlet where he had expected to discover it "Cape Disappointment" and the inlet itself "Deception Bay," names by which they have been known ever since.
Gray's discovery and the purchase of Louisiana territory were quickly followed by scientific exploration on tbe part of the Government of the United States, as also by settlement on the part of its citizens. The expedition of Lewis and Clark organized before and sent out immediately after the Louisiana purchase was one of the most daring, difficult, dangerous, and at the same time successful, of all expeditions of which history of this or of any other country gives record. There seems to be some difference in the statements of historians as to the number composing tbat expedition. According to Barrows it consisted of 28 persons in all-Lewis and Clark voyageurs, 9 young Kentnckians, 14 United States soldiers, 2 Canadian voyageurs, and 1 negro, the body servant of Captain Clark. According, however, to the probably accurate notes of Doctor Coues to bis new edition of the history of that expedition, it consisted of 45 men from Missouri to the Mandan country, and of 32, including Lewis and Clark, thereafter across the continent , the others returning from that point, as was the original programme.
The authority under which Captains Lewis and Clark acted, as stated in the commission issued to them by President Jefferson, was " to explore the river Missouri and its principal branches to their sources, and then to seek to trace to its termination in the Pacific some river, whether the Columbia, the Oregon, the Colorado, or any other which might offer the most direct practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes of commerce."
The time occupied by these courageous men in consummating the important and hazardous duty assigned them by their Government was two years four months and nine days, during which time they traveled more than 9,000 miles through an unbroken and trackless wilderness.
The start was made May 14,1804, from their camp on the Mississippi near the mouth of the Missouri, and, returning, they reached St. Louis September 23, 1808. They discovered the headwaters of the Missouri and the Columbia, and followed the waters of the latter until they landed at Cape Disappointment , at the mouth of the Columbia River, in Oregon, November 15, 1805. They remained there in camp until March 23,1806, a period of more than four months, when they commenced their ascent of the Columbia River in their canoes on their return trip.
The hardships experienced by these brave men and by the courageous pioneers—men and women—who in the next half century followed in their footsteps and braved the innumerable hardships and dangers of the far West have never been, nor can they be, fully depicted by pen or tongue. To them are the people of America greatly indebted, for they have hewn out with willing hands, borne on stalwart shoulders, and set with stability in its everlasting resting place the foundation stone of one of the grandest pillars, upon which, in part, rests to-day the superb superstructure of American development and American civilization.
How strangely interesting and pathetic is the history, and how peculiar the vicissitudes surrounding the lives of some men! Both of these intrepid explorers subsequently became governor, at different periods, of Missouri Territory. Captain William Clark, seven years after his return from the great exploring expedition that has rendered the name of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark immortal, became governor of Missouri Territory, serving in that capacity from 1813 to 1821, and as superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis from 1822 until his death. While Captain Meriwether Lewis, after passing through all the untold hardships and perils of that memorable expedition, returned to serve a brief time as governor of the Missouri Territory from 1807 to 1809, and then at a comparatively early age, to find a lonely grave in the forests of Tennessee, either as a felo de se or as a victim at the hand of an assassin, just which, history has never yet definitely determined. But where or when or how they died, they can each exclaim with the blind poet of old, "Exegi monumentum aere perennius."
the united states coujpled scientific exploration and actual settlement with occupancy.
But not only by succession to every right which both Prance and Spain had to the "Oregon Country," either in virtue of occupation or otherwise, not only by the right of sovereignty which attaches to the discoverer of a new country, nor yet by those rights which follow in the wake of scientific exploration, did the Government of the United States rest its claim to the territory of Oregon; hut added to all these is that other accumulated right, which is the result not simply of occupancy, but of actual settlement. The law of nations recognizes a wide difference between those rights which attach to mere occupancy and those which attach to actual settlement. The natives of this territory in their wild, uncivilized state were mere occupants, mere tenants, they were not settlers. The Hudson Bay trappers and traders who invaded Oregon territory in pursuit of peltries and furs, were mere occupants, similiar in all respects in the light of the law in regard to territorial rights which result from such occupancy as those ■ which attach to the natives; they were not settlers within the legal signification of that term, nor did they attract to themselves those territorial and sovereign rights which international law accords to settlers. The interests of civilization, says the law of that civilization, can not permit a great empire of wild country to remain as such for the use of wild men for a game life; no less could the law of that civilization permit this great foreign monopoly, the Hudson Bay Company, to occupy such country for the sole purpose of accumulating and speculating on the spoils of the hunter, and without any effort whatever to either develop or increase the natural productions of the country, or locate or promote a single settlement.
It was, therefore, by mere occupancy and not by settlement that England sought originally to strengthen her claim and to ' acquire rights in the Oregon territory. With the United States and the people of the United States it was entirely different. With the latter occupanaywas coupled with that other and higher attribute of development and civilization, namely, scientific exploration and actual settlement.
Eor instance, Astor's project contemplated not merely the occupancy of this distant territory for purposes similar to the Hudson Bay Company; his purposes were of a much higher order; they embraced settlement, the establishment of civil society, the physical development of the country, the leveling of the forests, the construction of houses, the cultivation of the land, the building of homes, the erection of schoolliouses and churches, the making of towns and cities, the establishing of marts, the creation of commercial arteries, and the establishment of such civil institutions as would tend to attach the new territory with bonds indissoluble to tbe States of the American Union, and thus weaken and finally and forever sever every adverse claim, and at the same time expand and develop the country and the commercial and political prestige and power of the nation. Irving, in his "Astoria," summarizes the plans and expectations of Astor in these words:
He considered his projected establishment atthe mouth of the Columbia as the emporium to an immense commerce; as a colony that would form the germ of a wide civilization; that would, in fact, carry the American population across the Rocky Mountains, and spread it along the shores of the Pacific, as it already animated the shores of the Atlantic.
the hudson bay company—a powerful and influential agent of the british government.
That Great Britain, operating through divers influential channels, notably the Hudson Bay Company, reenforced as it was in 1821 by consolidation with the Canadian Northwest Company of Montreal, exerted a most formidable power against the settlement of Oregon territory by Americans, and the waves of whose influence reached Washington, and for a time threatened the loss of the whole territory, is an historical fact well established. That Daniel Webster, as Secretary of State, was by these influences at one time convinced that the whole territory was an unbroken waste of sandy deserts, impassable mountains and impenetrable jungles there can be no room for doubt. These powerful influences had been operating in divers ways prior to 1842 for more than a third of a century. Their effect on the individual and public mind in the East, and on the official mind as well in Washington, was marked in the highest degree. That Webster, as Secretary of State, had seriously contemplated including the whole of this territory in the Ashburton treaty, and subsequently in a separate treaty, in exchange to Ureat Britain for certain cod fisheries in Newfoundland, is beyond question.
The insidious and powerfully effective influences and the remarkably successful aggressions of the Hudson Bay Company are best illustrated by the triumphs it achieved in the face of what seemed insurmountable obstacles. Although its original charter dates back to Charles II of England, in 1670, by which it was granted certain important rights, forty years prior to that a similar charter had been granted to the Canadian Northwest Fur Company by Louis XIII of France. Prior to 1821 this company was in numbers, capital, influence, and power vastly superior to and a most formidable rival of the Hudson Bay Company; yet tbe latter, notwithstanding all this, through its superior management and great diplomacy, compelled the former in 1821 to yield to and accept its own terms as to union and consolidation, and from that date the Hudson Bay Company, thus reenforced in capital, numbers, and influence, and in the number and extent of its outposts, directed all its vast energies and immense powers to wrest from the United States and obtain eventually for Great Britain the whole of the " Oregon Country."
But notwithstanding these superior rights on the part of the United States, in virtue not only of occupancy hut also of scientific exploration and settlement entitling this country to exclusive sovereign rights in the whole of "the Oregon territory, the fact that the Hudson Bay Company had extended its operations into that region, and was engaged in trade there with the Indians, induced our Government to make the fatal mistake of entering into a treaty with Great Britain in 1818 providing for joint occupancy for a period of ten years. This stipulation was extended indefinitely by another treaty with Great Britain in 1827, promulgated May 15, 1828.
These treaties, however, were not intended, nor did they or either of them in any manner attempt, to determine the respective sovereign claims of the United Staies and Great Britain, or in fact those of any other government, to this territory; they were intended only, as expressly stated in the treaties, " to prevent disputes and differences among the occupants of that territory."
That the Government of the United States made a fearful mistake in ever consenting by treaty stipulation that Great Britain should, through its subjects, occupy the "Oregon Territory" jointly with our citizens for a period of twenty-eight years, instead of standing, in 1817, on our rights as sovereign and insisting that they should he respected, is now, I think, pretty generally conceded. The value of the furs of which this country was stripped by tbe Hudson Bay Company in that time was immense, amounting to many millions of dollars. In the four years, 1834 to 1837, the Hudson Bay Company alone, according to reliable statistics, killed in that region (the Oregon country) over 3,500,000 fur-hearing animals, including beaver, marten, otter, fox, musk-rat, bear, ermine, fitchew, lynx, mink, wolf, badger, and raccoon. The American fur traders could not compete with the Hudson Bay Company, as all the supplies of the latter came in free of duty.
But the fact that by the joint occupancy this great monopoly was enabled to strip the country of its wealth was as notliing compared with the powerfully hostile influence it constantly exerted against the settlement of the country by Americans and the foothold it afforded Great Britain, enabling that power to successfully postpone for nearly a century the final settlement of the question as to our rights, and which in the end compelled ns to compromise and deprived ns of that vast extent of territory lying between the forty-ninth parallel and 54° 40', the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Thomas H. Benton and many other leading men denounced this policy of joint occupation. Senator Benton, in 1845, referring to the treaty of joint occupation,said: "I have been clear against joint occupation for twenty-eight years as a treaty of unmixed mischief to the United States." Histo-
rians agree that this company stripped the " Oregon Country" of furs of the value of over $1,000,000 annually, amounting to perhaps $30,000,000 in the twenty-eight years of joint occupancy.
It was the entirely too ready disposition on the part of our Government at the outset, in 1824, 1826, and 1829, to compromise our rights in the Oregon territory which resulted eventually in a loss to this country of territory the value of which can not be estimated. Both Presidents Tyler and Polk were handicapped by the offer of settlement made to Great Britain under former administrations, in which the Government had consented from time to time to a compromise on the forty-ninth parallel. This, then, was the status of the " Oregon Country " from the date of our treaty with Great Britain in 1818 until our treaty of 1846, a period of twenty-eight years. It was one of joint occupancy in virtue of treaty stipulations between the two countries, and it was during these twenty-eight years that the great battle as to the ultimate ownership of Oregon was fought and won. It was not wholly, though in part, a warfare of men on the field of carnage. It was a mighty, a prolonged—in one sense a physical, and in another sense a diplomatic—contest between the vanguards of two civilizations and of two mighty nations, each contending with the other for the supremacy, and each also with the uncivilized, bloodthirsty savages whose country was being invaded, though for their civilization and ultimate good. Such was the political status, emphasized by treaty stipulation, as to induce the belief on the part of Great Britain that the ultimate right to the whole territory would he determined, not so much by the question of priority of discovery, exploration, and settlement, but rather by the character and extent of settlement in the years that should intervene during the period of joint occupancy, and before the final decision should be made by arbitration or otherwise.
During this period two processes seemed to inspire the Government of Great Britain as a means of ultimately securing to herself the absolute ownership of the whole of the vast "Oregon Country." One was to impress on our public men and the Government at Washington in every possible manner the alleged worthlessness of the territory; the other was to push forward unremittingly through the instrumentality of the great governmental organ, the Hudson Bay Company, actual settlements in the territory. That they succeeded in a very large degree in impressing many of the prominent officials of our Government that the whole territory was a worthless waste, not worth having, much less worth contending for, is made clearly apparent from the Congressional debates during the twenty-eight years of joint occupancy, and for many years thereafter, even as late as 1846.
In view of the present status of this mighty empire of civilization and human progress it would not be uninteresting, but rather amusing, to recall some of the declarations made in the Senate of the United States by prominent men who had been thus influenced by misleading representations and reports from these sources. For instance, Senator McDuffie, of South Carolina, in discussing in the United States Senate in 1843 the bill of Senator Linn, of Missouri, extending the laws of the United States over the territory of Oregon, and proposing grants of the public lands to American citizens as an inducement to settlers, wbich bill first passed the Senate February 3, 1843, said:
The whole region beyond the Rooky Mountains, and a vast tract between that chain and the Mississippi, is a desert, without value for agricultural purposes, and which no American citizen should be compelled to inhabit unless as a punishment for crime. "Why, sir, of what use will this territory bo for agricultural purposes? I would not for that purpose give a pinch of snuff for the whole territory. I wish to God we did not own it. I wish it was an impassable barrier to secure us from the intrusion of others. This is the character of the country. Who are we going to send there? Do you think your honest farmers in Pennsylvania, New York, or even Ohio and Missouri, will abandon their farms to go upon any such enterprise as this? God forbid, if any man is to go to that country under tho temptation of this bill.
Finally Senator McDnffie concluded his speech by saying: "If I had a son who was a fit subject for Botany Bay, I would urge bim to go there."
But not only leading statesmen of the country but eminent historians of that time were laboring under the fearful delusion as to the character and value of the Oregon country. Gresnhow, writing in 1844, in his " History of Oregon and California," after stating his knowledge and views as to the region included in Oregon Territory, says:
Thus, on reviewing the agricultural, commercial, and other economical advantages of Oregon, there appears to be no reason, founded on such considerations, which should render either of the powers claiming the possession of that country anxious to occupy it immediately or unwilling to concede its own pretensions to the other for a very moderate compensation.
Even Senator Benton, of Missouri, who subsequently became one of the great defenders of onr rights in Oregon, though unfortunately never to the full extent of our rightful claim to territory in the North, but only to the forty-ninth parallel, as late as 1825 regarded Oregon as not worth holding. In that year, in his place in this Senate, he said:
The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named as a convenient, natural, and everlasting boundary. Along this ridge the western limits of the Republic should be drawn, and the statue of the fabled god "Terminus" should be erected on its highest peak, never to be thrown down.
But, thanks to the brave pioneer heroes whose names and memories are rightfully forever embalmed in tbe affections of every true American, the western limits of the Republic were not drawn on the ridge of the Rocky Mountains. The fabled god "Terminus" was never stationed there. Providence had willed it otherwise and a brave and courageous people executed that will.
But still more startling is the fact that twenty-one years after Senator Benton made the declaration I have just quoted, Senator Winthrop, of Massachusetts, as late as 1846, quoted what Benton had said in 1825, and then remarked: _
This country will not be straitened for elbow room in the "West for a thousand years, and neither the West nor the country at large has any real interest in retaining Oreg'on.
Mr. HOAR. Mr. President-
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fulton in the chair). Does the Senator from Oregon vield to the Senator from Massachusetts? Mr. MITCHELL. Certainly.
Mr. HOAR. I should like to make a brief statement, if the Senator has no objection: and if he has, I will not have what I am about to say put into his speech, even after I have said it.
Mr. MITCHELL. I have no objection. I yield.
Mr. HOAR. But I should like to say, in justice to Mr. Winthrop, that that declaration of his was made one year before the discovery of the electric telegraph.
Mr. MITCHELL. That is true.
Mr. HOAR. To that extent Mr. Winthrop lived to see his mistake. The statements in question were made when a transcontinental railroad was considered a mere chimera, and there was no telegraphic communication known at that time.
If the Senator from Oregon does not object to having my statement in regard to Mr. Winthrop go into his speech, I should be glad to have it go in.
Mr. MITCHELL. That is all very true, and I have no objection to the Senator 's statement going into the Record. It should be borne in mind, however, that in addition to the lack of means of information the Hudson Bay Company, as the active agent of Great Britain, was constantly conveying the impression to the public men of the country that the Oregon country was a worthless waste.
Mr. HOAR. I suppose my honorable friend himself would say that lie has very grave doubt whether a union between the Pacific and Atlantic States could be maintained without railroad communication and without telegraphic communication.
Mr. MITCHELL. They are very important instrumentalities, great factors in consolidation and national cohesion.
The Hudson Bay Company, through whose active influence this false sentiment was mainly created, was in every essential sense the direct, active, and all-powerful agent of the British Government. It held its charter and its licenses from that Government. Its officers were superintended by a governor and deputy governor and a committee of directors resident in London, while a resident governor superintended and directed its vast operations in America. The officers and members of the Hudson Bay Company were, as a rule, under the domination of the home government. One grand exception, however, stands out in history. Dr. John McLaughlin was a true friend of the American pioneer. Brave, generous, noble, his bouse, his larder, his horses, his cattle were all at the service of the poor, travel-worn, weary, and discouraged immigrant. But for this disposition and these noble qualities he was ostracized by the company and by the British Government, driven into exile at Oregon City, there to end his days, yet respected, venerated, honored by the pioneers of Oregon and all who knew him and his history.
president polk's administration—54° 40' or fight.
Pending discussions in Cabinet and Congress at Washington as to the supposed-valueless character of the whole " Oregon Country," and as to the inadvisability of any particular effort being made to retain it, Doctor Whitman made his memorable ride across the continent in the winter of 1842 and 1843. The fame of this winter journey upon the part of Doctor Whitman extended throughout the nation, and the subject of Oregon and the rights of the United States in respect to the "Oregon Country" were matters of wide discussion in all political circles. Public sentiment was wrought up to the highest pitch, and as a result the Democratic national convention which met at Baltimore in 1844 had as one of its planks "Fifty-four forty or fight," and on this platform the Polk Administration came into power. The embarrassments, however, with which it was surrounded, growing out of the Oregon question and this particular plank in the platform, were many. President Polk found that preceding negotiations during the Administrations of his predecessors, Monroe, Adams, and Tyler, had not proceeded on the part of the United States on
the theory of our right to fifty-four forty; that the negotiations proceeded rather on the idea that they should treat the respective claims of the two countries in the Oregon territory with a view to establishing a permanent boundary between them west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and in this compromising spirit these Administrations had proposed to fix the boundary on the forty-ninth parallel.
To add to the embarrassment, many leading Democratic Senators, including Benton, of Missouri, scouted at the idea that our rights extended to fifty-four forty and insisted that we had no rights extending northward farther than the forty-ninth parallel. To add still further to the embarrassment of the situation, Great Britain, through her minister, on June 6,1846, before the Administration of Mr. Polk was cleverly launched, submitted a proposition, the same that was finally agreed on, of the forty-ninth parallel, qnd coupled with it the suggestion that it must be accepted at once and without delay, if at all. In this great political dilemma President Polk resorted to a course which, though adopted a few times in the early years of our Government, had not been resorted to for nearly one-half a century—that is, of asking the advice of the Senate of the United States in advance of action on the part of the Executive. Consequently, on June 10,1846, President Polk transmitted to the Senate the proposal, in the form of a convention presented to the Secretary of State on the 6th of that month by the British envoy, for its advice. Mr. Polk's message transmitting this convention concluded as follows:
Should the Senate, by the constitutional majority required for the ratification of treaties, advise the acceptance of these propositions, or advise it with such modifications as they may upon full deliberation deem proper, I shall conform my action to their advice. Should the Senate, however, decline by such constitutional majority to give such advice, or to express an opinion upon the subject, I will consider it my duty to reject the offer.
In other words, President Polk, encompassed on the one hand by the plank in the platform on which he was elected of "Fifty-four forty or fight," and on the other hand by the action of preceding Administrations in conflict with the proposition, his party leaders divided on the question, and the issue brought directly to the front by Great Britain, concluded to and did throw the whole responsibility on the Senate of the United States. Two days subsequently, June 12,1846, the Senate adopted a resolution advising the President to accept tbe proposal of the British Government, and as a result the convention was finally agreed to June 15,1846. So, although this memorable controversy had remained unsettled for nearly half a century, it is a remarkable historical fact that but nine days elapsed between the submission of the final proposition to compromise by Great Britain and tbe signing of the treaty.
Notwithstanding the fact that one hundred and eleven years have elapsed since the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray, one hundred years since the cession of Louisiana, and eighty-four years since our cession from Spain, the settlement of our title to a certain portion of Oregon was held in abeyance until October 21, 1872, only thirty-one years ago—that was the island of San Juan. The treaty of June 15, 1846, between the United States and Great Britain, which was intended to settle all questions relating to our northern boundary, inadvertantly left the question as to the title to this island an open one. The treaty in defining the northern boundary of the United States from a point in the Rocky Mountains on the forty-ninth parallel (from which point east the boundry line had been fixed by the second article of the treaty of Washington in 1842) read as follows:
Shall be continued westward along said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Van-convers Island, and then southerly through the middle of said channel and Fuca Strait to the Pacific Ocean.
This island is located in the " channel" mentioned in this treaty, and the question at once arose, and for a period of twenty-five years was a source of aggravating controversy between this country and Great Britain, at one time very nearly involving the two nations in war, as to which was the "channel" referred to in the treaty. Great Britain, true to a national tendency, insisted that the " channel" referred to in the treaty was on the south side of the island, while the United States contended that Haro Channel, on the north side of the island, was the main channel within the meaning of the treaty.
This minor boundary controversy was finally adjusted by the provision in our treaty with Great Britain of May 6, 1871, submitting the question to the arbitration of tbe German Emperor, who on October 21,1872, made his award, sustaining the contention of the United States; and thus after a period of nearly eighty years, dating from the discovery of the Columbia by Captain Gray, and after a period of nearly seventy years from the date of crossing the continent by Lewis and Clark, the whole question as to the ownership of the Oregon country was finally determined. Not, however, without a sacrifice of important rights as to our northern boundary in the interest of compromise.
the diplomatic controversy between great britain and the united states over the ownership of the "oregon country."
The history of the diplomatic controversy between the United States and Great Britain involving the Oregon country is highly interesting.
One contention of Great Britain respecting the Oregon territory which was very earnestly and with some degree of facetious-ness asserted by the British minister, Packenham, was that the different titles under which we claimed were conflicting, and therefore destroyed each other, namely, discovery by Spain, cession from France, and discovery and settlement by American citizens.
But Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of State, in his letter to Mr. Packenham, disposed of tbe assertion as follows:
It has been objected that we claim under various and conflicting titles which mutually destroy each other. Such might indeed be the fact while they were held by different parties, but since we have rightfully acquired both those of Spain and France and concentrated the whole in our own hands they mutually blend with each other and form one strong and connecting chain of title against the opposing claims of all others, including Great Britain.
While Mr. Buchanan, as Secretary of State, in referring to this phase of the case, said:
This is a most ingenious method of making two distinct and independent titles, held by the same nation, worse than one—of arraying flipra against each other, and thus destroying the validity of both. From the moment Spain transferred all her rights to the United States all possible conflict between the two titles ended, both being united in the same party. Two titles which might have conflicted, therefore, were thus blended together. The title now vested in the United States is just as strong as though every act of discovery, exploration, and settlement on the part of both powers had been performed by Spain alone before she transferred all her rights to the United States. The two powers are one in this respect, the two titles are one, and they serve to confirm and strengthen each other.
Again, Great Britain, through her plenipotentiaries, sought to discredit the effect of the discovery of the Columbia River by Capt. Robert Gray, for the reason, as suggested, that his ship, the Columbia, was a trading and not a national vessel. This contention, however, was speedily disposed of by Mr. Buchanan with this remark:
The British plenipotentiary attempts to depreciate the value to the United States of Gray's discovery because his ship, the Columbia, was a trading and not a national vessel. As he furnishes no reason for this distinction, the undersigned will confine himself to the remark that a merchant vessel bears the flag of her country at the masthead, and continues under its jurisdiction and protection in the same manner as though she had been commissioned for the express purpose of making discoveries.
In this long, interesting, and able diplomatic contest one of the most interesting questions discussed was as to what extent continuity of boundary furnishes a just claim in connection with those of discovery and occupation. This question grew out of the claim on the part of the United States that the Louisiana Territory extended to the Pacific Ocean. This claim was denied on the part of Great Britain. It was insisted, however, with great ability, by Secretary of State Calhoun, and subsequently by Secretary Buchanan, as follows:
First, that the claim was valid under public law; and
Second, that Great Britain having asserted the validity of the doctrine in reference to her possessions in this country as against France, even to the extent of going to war with that power in 1763, she was estopped from denying the validity of the doctrine as against the United States, especially inasmuch as our people had contributed so much to the result in that contest favorable to Great Britain; and it was further contended by our diplomatists that Great Britain, whatever may have been her rights in Oregon territory, relinquished all to Prance by the seventh article of the treaty between Great Britain and France at the close of that war in 1783.
The controversy in regard to the correct northern boundary of the Oregon territory, whether the forty-ninth parallel, as now agreed upon, except along the Straits of Fuca, or 54° 40' north, is familiar to all. Spain unquestionably always asserted claim as far north as the sixty-first parallel, but in her treaty with Russia 54° 40' was recognized. It was claimed, however, that by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which provided for determining "the limits to he fixed between the Bay of Hudson and the places appertaining to the French," the boundary between Louisiana and the British territories north of it was actually fixed by commissioners on latitude 49°. "Whether this is true or not is a matter of very serious disputation. A careful examination of all history bearing upon the point leads me to the conclusion that such was not the fact.
In reply to the claim of the United States to go to 54° 40' it was asserted that whatever might have been the right of Spain, the latter in ceding to France in 1800, stipulated to convey only as far north as the forty-ninth parallel. To this contention the United States replied, and with much force, and the contention should never have been abandoned: "If this be so, and if it be true the right of Spain is good to 54° 40', then the strip between the forty-ninth parallel and 54° 40', which it was alleged was not included in the cession of Spain to Prance in 1800, was included
in the cession of Spain to the United States in the treaty of Florida of 1819, by which Spain conveyed every right she had on the continent north of the forty-second parallel." In discussing this phase of the question, Mr. Secretary Buchanan, in his reply to Packenham, said:
It is an historical and striking fact, which must have an important hearing against the claim of Great Britain, that the Nootka convention, which was dictated by her to Spain, contains no provision impairing the ultimate sovereignty which that power had asserted for nearly three centuries over the whole northwestern side of North America, as far north as the sixty-first degree of latitude, and which had never been seriously questioned by any European nation.
Subsequently, in 1818 and down to the final settlement of the boundary question in 1846, the only material difference in the views of American statesmen and diplomatists was as to whether the rightful claim of the United States extended to 54° 40' or only to the forty-ninth parallel. All concurred in the opinion that our claim was beyond question good, at least as far north as the latter, while many of our ablest statesmen and diplomatists, strengthened and supported by a powerful sentiment among the people, insisted that our claim extended to 54° 40'.
financial failures heretofore no argument against future . expositions.
The fact that some expositions in the past have been financial failures is no valid argument in opposition to the promotion of expositions. The basic principle upon which the advocates of the propriety, the feasibility, and advisability of expositions rely as a conclusive argument in their favor and in favor of their recognition and support by the General Government is not by any means that of financial "benefit to the promoters and managers of such expositions. If this were so, the claim for Government recognition and aid would, I concede, rest on a most unsubstantial and flimsy basis. Considerations of a vastly higher nature and of infinitely more importance than the mere question of immediate financial gain in dollars and cents are involved. They are those which relate to the individual and general welfare in a physical, intellectual, and moral sense to national growth and patriotism and to civilization itself.
president roosevelt's cordial indorsement and earnest recommendation.
It is gratifying that the present Chief Executive of the nation finds in these expositions justification and warrant for substantial governmental recognition and aid. In President Roosevelt's recent message he says:
I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This exposition commemorates the Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark across the continent f ollowed thereon and marked the beginning of the process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national boundary to the Pacific. The acquisi-sition of the Oregon Country, including the present States of Oregon and "Washington, was a fact of immense importance in our history, first giving us our place on the Pacific seaboard and making ready the way for our ascendency in the commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oreg., by an exposition in the summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support from the National Government.
the "oregon country "—the states of oregon, "washington, idaho, and parts of montana and wyoming can furnish homes for 50,000,000 people.
An exhibit of what the " Oregon Country " is to-day, the character, diversity, and extent of its products, will illustrate not only the present productive capacity, but the possibilities of that vast empire and its capacity to furnish homes for 50,000,000 people. Even then the density of the population will be considerably less than that of many European countries. And is it not a fact that any enterprise that tends to facilitate the speedy occupation and settlement of this prolific section of the American domain will contribute not onlyvastly to the general welfare, prosperity, and happiness of the people of this country, but to the promotion of the best and most exalted interests of the Government of the United States? And in this connection I submit, Will anything this Government can do, or that the people of the " Oregon Country" can do, contribute so readily and efficiently to this grand consummation as will the proposed national, international, and oriental exposition, in the aid of which the pending bill has been presented?
In support of the statement I have just made of the capacity of what was once known as the '' Oregon Country'' to furnish homes for 50,000,000 people, I call attention to the fact that there were, on June 30 last, within that area, undisposed-of public lands to the number of 85,469,037 acres. Of these, 23,105,816 acres lie within the State of Oregon, 9,485,192 acres in the State of Washington, and 41,785,780 acres in the State of Idaho, while in that part of the State of Montana which was formerly part of the '' Oregon Country " there were, on June 30 last, approximately 7,801,813 acres, and in that portion of Wyoming formerly part of the '' Oregon Country" 3,291.136 acres.
This is an age of advancement; it is an age of development; i is an age of progress; it is an age of expansion; it is an age in whici: the very highest ideals of American enterprise and civilization are being promoted. A spirit of genuine strenuosity and patriotic advancement pervades the American mind. This spirit is being rightfully and patriotically led with commendable vigor by one of the most genuinely aggressive, vigorous, and patriotic Presidents that has ever occupied the Presidential chair. The President is a thorough believer in the great beneficial effects of a national and international exposition. He believes in and has the courage to declare in favor of national recognition and governmental aid of the proposed Lewis and Clark Exposition. I, therefore, for this and other reasons, am naturally and properly for the President, for the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and, above all, I am for the flag and for the appropriation.
A contrast between the status of the "Oregon Country" one hundred years ago and its present status presents a historical lesson of marvelous importance and profound interest.
The displacement of the hut of the savage and the home of the barbarian by the schoolhonse, the academy, seminary, and uni-versity, and the innumerable homes of civilized, educated, Christianized and happy people, illustrates the civilizing and Christianizing influences that naturally and necessarily followed in the way opened to them by the grand expeditionary enterprise of Lewis and Clark. We find in this century a wilderness covering nearly one-half of the continent transformed into a land of beauty, of promise, of production, of elevation to a position of civilization second to none in all tbe history of nations; a country now productive in tbe highest degree in agriculture, in commerce, in manufactures, in fisheries, in mineral wealth, in fruits and berries of every description—apples, cherries, peaches, pears, prunes, grapes—and in cereals of every character.
The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River, producing annually hundreds of thousands of the finest fish that ever satiated the palate of man; the vast lumbering establishments scattered throughout this vast domain, turning out every hour millions of feet of fir, pine, cedar, hemlock, maple, myrtle, and other kinds of the finest lumber ever manufactured; its innumerable highly productive mines of gold and silver and copper and cinnabar and coal and asbestos; its flocks and herds of millions of cattle, sheep, goats, and other live stock; its schools and colleges and ether institutions of learning; its churches, its asylums, and other eleemosynary and charitable institutions; its more than a million of happy, enterprising, and progressive people, and its ever-increasing commerce and expanding trade all bear testimony of tbe highest and most interesting character to the marvelous development of the " Oregon Country" in the last one hundred years.
railroads in the "oregon country."
As an evidence of the marvelous industrial development of the "Oregon Country" it maybe remarked that while forty years ago there was not a single mile of railroad in the whole " Oregon Country," there is to-day constructed, magnificently equipped, and in operation in that territory more than 7,459 miles of first-class railroad. Of these there are in Oregon, 1,844.22 miles; in the State of Washington, 3,182.77 miles; in the State of Idaho, 1,433 miles, and in those portions of Montana and Wyoming formerly included in the " Oregon Country," about 1,000 miles; and in the aggregate representing a money value of more than $372,-950,000.
But here is not the time or place to exploit at great length the character, the number, and magnitude or the value of the present productions of the Oregon Country. To do this in a more appropriate manner we respectfully but earnestly implore the aid of the General Government, to the end that in the year 1905, at Portland, Oreg., we may be able to present to the people, not alone of America, but also to those of Europe and Asia and the islands of the sea, and especially to the people of the United States and those of the Orient, the grand progress made in the past one hundred years in physical, intellectual, and moral development in what one hundred years ago was known as the'' Oregon Country.''
Wo desire to make an exhibit, not only to the people of the United States, but also to those of all nations, of the unlimited productive capacity and present products of the "Oregon Country" in all of those elements that constitute the highest standard of American development, human progress, and civilization.
The extension of our national boundaries by the inclusion of the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands opens a new era in American statesmanship, American diplomacy, and American enterprise. By this, the western boundary line of the Republic, instead of being located along the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, as suggested by Thomas Benton in 1825, is extended so as to include the thousand or more of the Philippine Islands, and the statue of the fabled god "Terminus," so far from being erected on the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, as suggested by Benton in 1825, as the western boundary of tbe Republic, must now be located on the
most western limits of the most western island of the Philippine Archipelago, there to stand forever and forevermore the far western outpost of the American Republic.
To promote and advance our trade, to develop and increase our commerce not only with our island possessions, but also with the people and nations of the Orient, with Russia and China and Japan in the Far East, is the proud ambition of tbe brave, energetic business men, not only in the cities of San Francisco, of Portland, of Tacoma, and Seattle, but of all who now control the commercial and trade destinies of what was once the "Oregon Country."
The exposition, which it is their purpose shall be held in Portland, Oreg., in 1905, will be a most beneficial factor in promoting not only domestic commerce, but will also stimulate and promote the national and international trade and commerce in which the whole people and the Government of the United States are so vitally interested. This is a question that is not in its effect and operation limited to the interests of the people and States of the Pacific coast. New England, the Southern, and the Central States, and the distinguished representatives of these great sec-ions of our common country, will, I am sure, not hesitate to lend heir cordial cooperation in aid of the grand centennial exposi-on in behalf of the great historical achievement of Lewis and '.ark.
A spirit of national pride, of national patriotism, and of na-mal desire upon the part of the distinguished representatives of J sections of this great country will, I am sure, stimulate them a join hands with the representatives of the great West and Pacific Northwest in enabling them to exhibit in an appropriate manner what tbey and their predecessors have done in the interest of human progress and American civilization in the past one hundred years.
the united states government has in the last forty-one years aided eleven home expositions and ten foreign expositions, and has appropriated in the aggregate for this purpose the sum of $21,107,852.15.
The Congress of the United States has since 1875 extended aid in behalf of expositions held in the United States at the following places and in the following amounts:
Philadelphia, Pa., 1876_____...........-..........$2,533,184.59
New Orleans, La., 1884____....................... 1,650,000.00
Louisville, Ky., 1884.......................______ 10,000.00
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1885............................ 157,750.00
Chicago, 111., 1893.......................______... 5,840,329.64
Atlanta, Ga., 1894............................... 200,000.00
Nashville. Tenn., 1896_____.....,................. 130,000.00
Omaha, Nebr.,1897......_______................. 240,000.00
Buffalo, N. Y., 1902.............................. 1,015,000.00
Charleston, S. C, 1902 .....______................ 250,000.00
For St. Louis Exposition next year................ 6,478r 000.00
Since the year 1861 the Congress of the United States has aided ten foreign expositions, as follows:
London, England, 1862.................---------- 72,000.00
Vienna, Austria, 1873......................______ 200,000.00
Sidney, New South Wales, 1879................... 20,000.00
Melbourne, Australia, 1880......_________________ 58,000.00
Berlin, Germany, 1880_________........__________ 20,000.00
Barcelona, Spain, 1888_____........._____________ 28,380.26
Brussels, Belgium, 1888 _______................... 35,000.00
Madrid, Spain, 1892_______....................... 25,000.00
Bergen, Norway, 1898____________________________ 20,000.00
While aid has been extended to three expositions in Paris, Prance, as follows:
1867..................... $212,703.00
1878 ........_____.....-- 190,000.00
1900_________................... 1,722,504.66
Making a total in aid of Paris expositions of. 2,125,207.66
Making a grand total of _. _................. 21,107,852.15
And yet, notwithstanding all this magnificent aid in favor of expositions, national and international, not one dollar has been appropriated in aid of any such enterprise west of the Rocky Mountains, and, with the exception of the aid extended to the Omaha Exposition, not a dollar has been appropriated in aid of any exposition west of tbe Missouri River.
climate—scenery.
The city of Portland, Oreg., has one decided and most important advantage over the city of St. Louis as a place for an exhibition. In no part of the United States can there be found a more superbly delightful summer climate than in Portland, Oreg. The atmosphere is clear, cool, invigorating, and such a thing as op-
XXXVIII-22
pressive summer heat is a thing unknown. The city is clean and healthful and supplied with the very best cold water from a mountain stream. The scenery in and around Portland is un-equaled by any other on the continent. Five stalwart mountain peaks, covered with perpetual snow, stand in imperial grandeur at its very gates. These are Tacoma, or Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood, and Jefferson. These are the joy and adoration of its own people and the wonder and admiration of the thousands of tourists who annually visit the Pacific coast. No summer watering place of seaside or mountain in any part of the United States furnishes any greater or better advantages for rest and enjoyment than does the climate and scenery of Portland, Oreg.
the name "oregon."
It has been a subject of some considerable and interesting speculation among writers of distinction as -to the origin of the name "Oregon." Some of these have declared with some degree of positiveness that it is derived from the Spanish, signifying " wild thyme," so called on account of the abundance of that herb found by early explorers. Others insist that it is an Indian word, in use about the headwaters of the Columbia to designate the waters of that river and meaning the "great river of the west," and obtained from them by Jonathan Carver, a native of Connecticut, in 1766-1768, who spent two years among the Indians on the waters of the upper Mississippi, now the State of Wisconsin.
Carver's accounts, however, in reference to many matters, are contradictory and unreliable, though in reference to this it is very probable he was quite right. It is more than probable that an article published about sixty-one years ago, in 1842, in Hunt's Magazine, and reproduced by the historian Brown in his political history of Oregon, presents the correct solution of the question. Speaking of Oregon Territory and the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray, this article says: " The territory watered by this river and its tributaries has since "—that is, since the discovery of the river—" been called the ' Oregon Country,' from a tradition said to have prevailed among the Indians near Lake Superior of the existence of a mighty river rising in that vicinity and emptying its waters into the Pacific, and which was supposed to be the Columbia." Bryant in his celebrated " Thanatopsis," written in 1815, refers to the Columbia River as the "Oregon:" "Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound save his own dashings."
the benefits of national and international expositions.
National, international, and scientific expositions in commemoration of great historic events, such as the discovery by Columbus of the Bahama group in 1492 and of the continent in 1498; the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620; the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, Va., by tbe brave 105 colonists under Christopher Newport in 1607; the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776; the purchase of Louisiana territory by Thomas Jefferson in 1803, and the military expedition of Lewis and Clark are, as was so tersely and beautifully said by the late President McKinley in his last public address to his countrymen, '' timekeepers of progress.'' They correspond to the balancing of the books of the National Treasury at the close of each fiscal year. They are, as great historical landmarks, in a sense similar to the epochs covered by the lives of great men who tower in history here and there along the great march of human events, such as Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, Webster, Lincoln, Grant, and McKinley, and many others that might be named, whose names and achievements an appreciative people delight to honor and whose deeds will ever he held in grateful remembrance.
Such expositions, in commemoration of such great historical events, to which allusion is made, are mighty national object lessons, pregnant with instruction, inspirational in their tendency, and which unfold to the general public, to all people, and all nations the character and degree of progress made in physical, intellectual, and moral development, and in all that pertains to national growth and hnman progress during the period covered by the epoch.
By these expositions the rapidity of the materialization, of the progress and development of all those essential elements which constitute the highest type of modern civilization is clearly exemplified, while they serve to encourage and stimulate our people and our Government to greater activities and into the adoption and promotion of more exalted ideals, and more forceful, persistent, and determined effort in all relations of individual and national life.
conclusion.
Let us, therefore, have an exposition worthy the name of the illustrious men, and their grand achievements, in whose commemoration it is to be held; an exposition worthy the patriotic pioneers who established the foundations of a mighty empire of
LisRARY ASSOCIATION OF PORTLAND, Off,
political and commercial power in the far West; an exposition worthy of the present generation of intelligent, stalwart, and enterprising people now occupying the "Oregon Country;" hut above all an exposition worthy the cordial recognition and liberal aid of the National Government; an exposition that will disclose not only to all of the people of the United States, both of the mainland and islands, hut also to the people of the Orient and of Europe, something of our present and rapidly increasing greatness as a people, and the present status, politically, commercially, and otherwise, of one of the most interesting, virile, and enterprising sections of the American Union. Fiat lux.
Mr. FULTON. Mr. President, I desire to address the Senate briefly on the hill on which my colleague [Mr. Mitchell] has just spoken, and, therefore, I wish now to give notice that to-morrow morning, after the conclusion of the routine business, I shall ask unanimous consent of the Senate to be beard upon the subject. I wish to say that my remarks will be brief. I sball not take more than twenty minutes or half an hour.
Mr. BACON. I ask the Senator, as he used the expression " routine business," does he mean after the morning hour?
Mr. FULTON. After the morning hour, I should have said.
monument on princeton battlefield.
Mr. CULLOM. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business.
Mr. KEAN. I ask the Senator to withhold the motion for a few minutes in order that I may ask for the consideration of a small bill.
Mr. CULLOM. I will withhold the motion for that purpose.
Mr. KEAN. I ask unanimous consent for the present consideration of the bill (S. 39) in regard to a monumental column to commemorate the battle of Princeton, and appropriating $30,000 therefor.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be read for information, subject to objection.
The Secretary read the bill, as follows:
Whereas the Princeton Battle Monument Association, a corporation, has been created nnder and by virtue of the laws of the State of New Jersey for the purpose of erecting a monument on or near the battlefield of Princeton, in the State of New Jersey: Therefore,
Be it enacted, etc., That the sum of $30,000 be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by said association nnder the direction of the Secretary of War to aid in erecting and completing, on the battlefield of Princeton, in the State of New Jersey, a suitable monument: Provided, That no part of the sum herein appropriated shall be available until the Princeton Battle Monument Association shall have raised an additional sum of $30,000, to be expended in the erection of said monument and in the purchase and improvement of the site: And provided further. That the design for said monument shall be approved by the Secretary of War.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to tbe present consideration of tbe bill?
There being no objection, the Senate, as in Committee of tbe Whole, proceeded to consider the bill.
Tbe bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.
The preamble was agreed to.
monument to henry wadsworth longfellow.
Mr. HOAR. If there be no objection, I should like to call up a joint resolution which was reported this morning from the Committee on the Library by the Senator from Rhode Island. [Mr. Wetmore] . It is the joint resolution (S. R. 20) authorizing the selection of a site and the erection of a pedestal for a bronze statue in Washington, D. C., in honor of the late Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The joint resolution has gone to the Public Printer and has not yet been returned. It will be here in the morning.
Mr. HOAR. Very well.
executive session.
Mr. CULLOM. I now renew my motion that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business.
The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business. After twenty-three minutes spent in executive session tbe doors were reopened, and (at 5 o'clock and 35 minutes p. m.) tbe Senate adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, December 18, 1903, at 12 o'clock meridian.
NOMINATIONS.
Executive nominations received by the Senate December 17, 1903.
indian agent.
Luther S. Kelly, of New York, to be agent for the Indians of the San Carlos Agency, in Arizona, vice George D. Corson, removed.
marshals.
Gilbert B. Beans, of Alabama, to be United States marshal for tbe southern district of Alabama, vice Frank Simmons, resigned.
William H. Grimshaw, of Minnesota, to he United States r shal for the district of Minnesota. A reappointment, his t expiring December 18, 1903.
surveyor of customs.
Charles J. Robb, of Indiana, to be surveyor of customs for port of Michigan City, in the State of Indiana. (Reappointnu
postmasters. alabama.
James M. Ragan to be postmaster at Anniston, in the co; of Calhoun and State of Alabama, in place of Lansing T. Sir Incumbent's commission expires December 19, 1903.
Hattie N. Tabb to be postmaster at Thomasville, in the co' of Clark and State of Alabama. Office became Presidential J; ary 1, 1903.
california.
Horace B. Gardiner to be postmaster at Crockett, in the cc of Contra Costa and State of California, in place of Horai Gardiner. Incumbent's commission expires December 19, li
Charles S. Graham to be postmaster at Pleasanton, in the cc of Alameda and State of California, in place of Charles S. ham. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
colorado.
Prank E. Baker to be postmaster at Port Morgan, inthecc of Morgan and State of Colorado, in place of Frank E. B Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
John F. Morgan to be postmaster at Colorado City, in the co-; of El Paso and State of Colorado, in place of John P. Moi Incumbent's commission expires December 19, 1903.
Daniel M. Sullivan to be postmaster at Cripple Creek, ii county of Teller and State of Colorado, in place of Daniel M livan. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903,
delaware.
Joseph M. Harrington to be postmaster at Pelton,inthe c of Kent and State of Delaware. Office became Presidential 1, 1903.
georgia.
John I. Full wood to be postmaster at Oedartown, in the c . of Polk and State of Georgia, in place of William A. Chapman. Incumbent's commission expires December 19, 1903.
idaho.
William J. Turner to be postmaster at Mountain Home, in the county of Elmore and State of Idaho, in place of William J. Turner. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
illinois.
David H. Baker to be postmaster at Tiskilwa, in the county of Bureau and State of Illinois, in place of David H. Baker. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
Thomas E. Ballinger to be postmaster at Chenoa,in tbe county of McLean and State of Illinois, in place of Thomas E. Ballinger. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
indiana.
Knode D. Porter to be postmaster at Hagerstown, in the county of Wayne and State of Indiana, in place of William H. H. Pitman. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
indian territory.
Frederick S. Walker to be postmaster at Afton, in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. Office became Presidential July 1,1903.
iowa.
Hamline W. Robinson to be postmaster at Colfax, in the county of Jasper and State of Iowa, in place of Hamline W. Robinson. Incumbent's commission expired December 13, 1903.
kansas. ■
George H. Leisenring to be postmaster at Ellis, in the county of Ellis and State of Kansas, in place of Frank J. Brettle. Incumbent's commission expired December 12, 1903.
louisiana.
Albert H. Bassett to be postmaster at Kentwood, in tbe parish of Tangipahoa and State of Louisiana. Office became Presidential October 1, 1903.
Ernest A. Dupont to be postmaster at Houma, in the parish of Terrebonne and State of Louisiana, in place of John M. Haggerty. Incumbent's commission expired December 14, 1903.
massachusetts.
Everett I. Nye to be postmaster at Wellfleet, in the county of Barnstable and State of Massachusetts. Office became Presidential July 1, 1903.
michigan.
Charles Bidwell, jr., to be postmaster at Tecumseh, in the county of Lenawee and State of Michigan, in place of Charles Bidwell, deceased.
Willard E. Holt to be postmaster at Bellevue, in the county of Eaton and State of Michigan, in place of Willard E. Holt. Incumbent's commission expires December 19, 1903-
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