INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, ordered by Act of Congress of the United States, as the national celebration of the construction and opening the Panama Canal-conceded to be one of, if not the, most remarkable engineering achievements known in the history of the world-was held at San Francisco, California, beginning February 20th and ending at midnight of December 4th, 1915. This Exposition was the fourth of its class held in the United States and the twelfth of its class held anywhere in the world. It was the official national and international celebration of a contemporaneous event. The opening of the great canal connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans-work begun many years ago by France-owes its completion, and practically its beginning and whole construction, exclusively to the efforts of the people of the United States. West Virginia's Participation. In the year 1912, following authorization of the Exposition by the United States Congress, West Virginia, through Governor William E. - Glasscock, was invited to participate in the proposed Exposition by the erection of a State's building and by display of the State's natural resources, agricultural, horticultural and manufacturing products, in the eleven great palaces of the Exposition. Governor Glasscock, in compliance with the wishes of numerous citizens and not a few newspapers of the State, appointed a preliminary commission to inaugurate this State's participation. The preliminary commission was composed of Honorable Fred Paul Grosscup of Charleston; Honorable John T. McGraw of Grafton, and Honorable George O. Nagle of Wheeling. Although this commission was without funds, the Legislature of 1911 having failed to inciude an appropriation for any expenses attendant thereto, Messrs. Grosscup and Nagle took up the work actively, and in November of 1912, visited San Francisco, made a thorough inspection of the Exposition site, and entered into detail with Exposition officials relative to West Virginia's participation. On November 29th, 1912, the site for the West Virginia Building was selected and dedicated with ceremonies befitting the occasion. This ceremony was attended by high officials of the Exposition, including the President, Hon. Chas. C. Moore, and a personal representative, Hon. Chester C. Rowell, of the Governor of California. Besides Messrs. Grosscup and Nagle, there were present at these dedicatory ceremonies a large number of former West Virginians-members of the West Virginia-California Society, an organization that had been perfected immediately upon the action of the United States Congress in authorizing the Exposition. Upon their visit to San Francisco this State's representatives were made the honor guests at a number of lunches and dinners, and their stay was made enjoyable in every way possible to the Exposition officials and former residents of this State now residing in California. Upon the return to Charleston of Messrs. Grosscup and Nagle, a report was made to Governor Glasscock, under date of February 4th, 1913. Since this report was never officially published it is herewith given, in order that it may be appropriately preserved with the State's archives. Legislative Act and the Appointment of a Commission. At the 1913 session of the West Virginia legislature, the State's participation in the proposed Exposition was legally authorized by the following enactment, being Section 78 of page 3 of the Acts of 1913: "Section 78. For providing for the expenses of State Building and a suitable exhibit of the resources of the State of West Virginia at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in one thousand nine hundred and fifteen, such money to be expended upon the requisition of a Commission of Five, which the Governor is hereby authorized to appoint after March fourth, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, for said purpose, and all expenditures made out of said appropriation shall be made at the discretion and upon the approval of the State Board of Control, $75,000.00." In compliance with the provision of this act, on April 13th, 1914, Governor Henry Drury Hatfield increased the preliminary commission by the appointment of two additional members, thus creating a permanent commission to be known as the West Virginia Commission to the PanamaPacific International Exposition, the personnel of the commission being as follows: Honorable Fred Paul Grosscup of Charleston; Honorable John T. McGraw, of Grafton; Honorable George O. Nagle, of Wheeling; Honorable William F. Hite, of Huntington; and Honorable Milton R. Lowther, of Parkersburg. REPORT OF PRELIMINARY COMMISSION. To His Excellency, William E. Glasscock, Governor of West Virginia. The Panama-Pacific Exposition temporary commission appointed by your Excellency for the purpose of selecting a site and doing such other things as seemed necessary at this time in connection with locating a building to be erected by the State of West Virginia at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, to be held in the city of San Francisco, California, during 1915, respectfully reports that it proceeded to San Francisco in accordance with instructions and selected and dedicated a site for the said building, for which a deed was made and delivered to us by the Panama Exposition officials, and which deed is herewith submitted. The building site selected is, in the judgment of the members of the commission, one of the most desirable locations on the Exposition grounds, with a frontage of 200 feet on the main boulevard along the shore of San Francisco Bay and of 100 feet on an intersecting drive way. From a building located on this site all ocean vessels entering or leaving the Bay of San Francisco together with all naval maneuvers, yacht races and other aquatic sports, can be viewed. Naval displays participated in by all great nations of the world will be a more prominent feature of the Panama than of any previous exposition. From this building site will also be afforded a magnificent view of the "Golden Gate," one of the wonders of the world. The officers of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition extended to your commissioners, as representatives of the great State of West Virginia, every courtesy and hospitality, for which the people of that wonderful city are so universally known. Your Commissioners were greeted and welcomed upon their arrival at Oakland, and were escorted across the bay to San Francisco by the West Virginia Society, whose members are made up of native West Virginians and who in their adopted home have made known the greatness of their native state, and for which they retain in their hearts a devotion equal to that which they hold for their adopted State. To the members of the San Francisco Society of West Virginians, your commissioners owe expression of appreciation for the hospitable reception and untiring effort to make our visit to San Francisco in all ways pleasant and agreeable and worthy of the State we represented. Objects and Progress of the Exposition. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition will be the world's celebration of the completion of the greatest engineering feat that has ever been undertaken and successfully accomplished by any nation-the building of the Panama Canal, which has aptly been said will "divide nations to unite the world." The Exposition completed will represent an expenditure of fifty millions of dollars and will be in this respect, as well as in the matter of exhibits and artistic conception, vastly greater than any international exposition that has ever been held in any part of the world and in the highest degree worthy of that utopian achievement which it will commemorate. The Panama-Pacific Exposition will differ from all other expositions ever held on this continent by the fact that it will commemorate an engineering achievement of our own time and generation, the most marvelous the world has ever produced. All other expositions have been created to celebrate historical events and were based upon sentiment. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition is based upon engineering and commercial greatness of the present day, and will bring to the attention of the world in an educational way the greatness of the work accomplished, and the vast benefits that will inure not only to the American Continent but to the world at large. Ground was broken for the Exposition on October 14th, 1911, at the stadium in Golden Gate park, the President turning the first spade full of earth which marked the actual era of exposition construction, and it is proposed that the Exposition gates will be open February 20th and will close December 4th, 1915, giving an exposition period of nine and onehalf months. On February 2nd, 1912, the President assured that the necessary funds were available, and that a proper site had been selected for the holding of the Exposition, issued a proclamation inviting the nations of the world to participate. Thirty-two states outside of California already have made appropriations for participating in the Exposition, while action is pending before the legislature of several other states. Up to December 1st, 1912, sites were selected by the following states: New York, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Orgon, New Jersey, Colorado, South Dakota, Nevada, Missouri, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Philippine Islands, Hawaii, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia. Up to December 1st, 1912, France, Japan, Canada and eighteen other foreign nations had accepted the invitation of our Government to participate in the Exposition. The site chosen for the Exposition proper comprises a tract of approximately 635 acres; including a portion of the Harbor View District and government property within the Presidio and Fort Mason. It has a frontage of nearly three miles on the Bay of San Francisco just within the Golden Gate, and is in a natural basin surrounded by the city and the bay. This site possesses the unique feature of being the only Exposition site ever selected on tidewater where the largest ocean vessels afloat may land passengers and cargo at the Exposition wharfs. Advantages of the Panama Canal to the State of West Virginia. The navigable water-ways of the state of West Virginia, including the Ohio, and the Kanawha and the Monongahela rivers, together with the State's close proximity to the great ports of the Atlantic seaboard, give the State a pre-eminent advantage in shipping its products to all parts of the world that comparatively few interior states possess, and with these extensive waterways (transportation by water being the less costly of all other means) the future must have in store for the State of West Virginia an industrial and agricultural development second to no other state in the Union. From a lecture delivered by Prof. C. E. Sherman, of the Ohio State University, we obtained the following information with reference to the relative cost of transportation by rail and water: "Average water rate of the Great Lakes in 1911 was 0.67 of a mill per ton mile." "Average railroad rate in same district 0.67 of a cent per ton mile in 1910 according to report of Interstate Commerce Commission." "The Sprague has towed from Louisville to New Orleans as high as 60,000 tons in one tow, equipped with 2.15 h. p. Engineer's estimate on an average grade it would require locomotives of 24,000 h. p. to haul the same load as the Sprague." Prof. Sherman estimates the comparative rates by water and rail from Pittsburg to San Francisco at $5.05 per ton for water and $13.00 per ton by rail, the water rate including $1.50 per ton toll at Panama and 25 cents per ton for tran-shipping. Upon the above basis of cost for transportation, industries of West |