Omaha daily bee., 1898-02-14
BIRTH OF THE EXPOSITION
Pert Played by Tn, Beo in the Great Shows
Creation.
WHERE HONOR OF ITS ORIGIN BELONGS
Claimants for tho Credit Come Fast to
the Front-Advocatcd by The
Bee Years and
Years Ago.

! There has been great deal OF talk, lately,
| about the mystery" which Is said to en-
velope the origin of the Transmississippi and
| International Exposition. Numerous claims
have been made by various parties to the
| honor of being the first to conceive the idea
| OF holding a great exposition at Omaha,
which should exhibit to the world the re-
sources of the great west. These claims
have been especially numerous since 1t has
| become apparent that the exposition is to be
| a most gigantic affair and a credit to the
! originator. There are fully score OF men
in Omaha who can relate authentic incidents
showing where and when they conceived the
idea that great exposition should be held
| in Omaha and their claims are supported by
crcumstantial evidence that leaves little
room for doubt as to their correctness, so
| that all that remains is to establish their
| relative dates and forever settle the con-
| troversy, on the theory that the man who
| first mentioned the matter and continued to
advocate 1t is unquestionably entitled to the
| honor of being the originator
The greater number of claimants for the
| honor of being the progenitor of the enter
| prise base their claims upon incidents oc-
curing just prior to the passing Of the reso-
| luton by the Transmissssippi congress,
which called the exposition into being. Some
| of these claims antedate the congress by a
few days or few weeks Among these lat
! ter are eX-MayOr Bemis, r. w. Richardson
and l.. II. Bradley. The two latter were ap-
! pointed by Mayor Bemis as delegates to the
meeting of the Transmississppi Commercial
| congress which was held in st. Louis in 1894
| and were responsible for the selection Of
Omaha as the place for the meeting in 1895
| 1t was through the efforts of Mayor Bemis
and these two delegates that the Commercial
! club was induced to take hold of the matter
OF making preliminary arrangements for the
| ttf,tr Of tlI tt, ha
vember, 1895, just before the congress com
menced to assemble, the idea of working up
| a sentiment among the members in favor OF
an exposition discussed by these three
| and each is positive that he made the first
| suggestion.
WALSH'S EARLY IDEA
| James Walsh is another aspirant for the
| honor of being the originator of the eX-
position. He was delegate to the congress
and in a caucus of Nebraska delegates the
day the congress met he suggested the in
PRODUCTION of a resolution providing for an
exposition at Omaha, the buildings to be
permanent and the show to be held once
every five years. This suggestion finally
eliminated in the preparation of the resolu-
tion which was finally adopted by the con-
sres1, but the permanent features suggested
by Walsh were eliminated.
At the last monthly banquet of the Com
! mercial club President Wattles of the expo
sition said he had concluded upcn investiga-
tion, that Dudley Smith was entitled TO the
homer of originating the exposition, as he
had suggested an exposition at Omaha while
gazing upon the beauties of the California
Midwnter fair at San Francisco during the
winter of 1S93-94.
Tho claim at once disposed OF the later
claims of Walsh, Richardson ct al, although
Walsh charges that Dudley Smith was NOT
member of the delegation to the Commercial
congress and had absolutely nothing to say
at that time about an exposition at Omaha
and took no part in the discussion. Whether
this be true or false matters not for the
reason that before the sound Of President
Wattles voice had died out after giving
Smith the credit, Secretary Wakefield of the
exposition put in claim which ante-dated
that of Smith. Secretary Wakefield related
how, at the Worlds fair, in August, 1898, he
was standing on the Midway Plaisance, talk
ing with Allen B. Smith, Frank Brown and
two or three other Omaha men, and the sug
gestion was made by some of the party, he
10 uncertain by whom, that an exposition
would be a great thing for Omaha; that It
would pull the money to the west instead
| of allowing it all to go east
EARLIEST OF THEM ALL.
In the absence of any further showing
this would enttle Secretary Wakefield or
some other member of the little party on the
| Midway at Chicago, to the palm, but all of
these claims are swept aside by a claim
which is several years older than the Oldest
of them and The Omaha Bee stands as the
originator and consistent exponent OF the
| exposition idea as relates to Omaha.
The claim of The Bee dates more than
| ten years prior to the meeting of the Trans
mississippi Commercial congress in Omaha
at which the exposition was given form and
the files Of The Bee demonstrate the fact
that to The Bee and its editor belongs the
credit.
The Nebraska State fair was held IN
Omaha from 1880 to 1884, inclusive but was
removed Lincoln altar the fair nj
At the time of this removal there was
spirited controversy over the action of the
State Board of Agriculture in taking the
fair from this city and a series of editorials
appeared in The Bee at that time, taking
the position that the fair, as then conducted,
was of no particular advantage to the city
and advocating the establishment at Omaha
OF a permanent exposition. There were a
number Of these editorials, appearing from
time to time during the early part of 1885.
The first appeared in The Bee of January
%, 1885, Immediately after the meeting of
the State Board of Agriculture at which it
was decided to move the fair to Lincoln, and
was as follows
THE STATE FAIR.
The State Board Of Agriculture has de-
cided to locate the Nebraska State fair at
Lincoln for the next five years. While Lin
coin may congratulate herself upon her vic
tory, we do not hesitate to express our graf
incation over the action of the board.
Omaha has outgrown all such artificial
props as the Slale IdlT. Sne mas the lOca-
ton, wealth and population for permanent
interstate exposition. Instead of contribut-
ing toward the enlargement, maintenance
and repair of the buildings on the fair
grounds she may as well devote her money
and resources toward permanent exposition
buildings, just as Chicago and other cities
have done, The Driving Park association
should at once be merged into an eXposl-
ton society, whose business It will be to
provide, the ways and means for collecting
and exhibiting not merely the farm prod
ucts of the Missouri valley, but the products
of our factories. packing houses mills and
breweries. With the great cattle interests
centerng at our union stock yards, 1t will
be an easy matter to organize an inter-
state cattle shoH In connection with the
exposition, where the stock raisers OF
Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and
Missouri may compete and participate. The
cattle brought to Omaha for the exposition
may be marketed on the ground and the
owners will. therefore, have a double in
centive In bringing them here.
1t is safe to predict that an Interstate ex-
position such as we have outlined will not
only be attended by thousands Of Ne
bras!oans where hundreds only would at
tend the State fair, but i will draw large
numbers OF people from all the surrounding
states and territories.
The efforts OF The Bee to establish an ex-
position in Omaha were not relaxed after
the series OF editorials referred to- but sim
liar editorials appeared 10 the paper at in