The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-27
Space at Worlds Fair Secured for This District
COMMERCIAL CLUB ACTING
Will Close Contract With St. Louis Ex- positlon--Commttee Will Visit the Worlds Falr City and
 Look Over Situation.

At special meeting of the committee on St. Louis exposition, held at the office of President F. M. Jackson yesterday afternoon, J. A. MacKnight reported the results of his visit to St. Louis. The gist of this report was that 2OOO square feet of space has been secured for a Br- mingham district exhibit, and that the officials of the Worlds fair were unani- nous in their praises of the idea to erect a colossus of Vulcan iron 45 feet in height out of Birmingham iron.
 ''The director of the exposition. Frederick J. V. Skiff,' said the agent of the Commercial club lis doubtless the greatest master of exposition technique in the world, having been director of ex- hibits at Chicago and at the Universal exposition at Paris in 1900. He was es- pecially interested in the plan for an Alabama exhibit, and said to me that he regarded the proposed Colossus of Vul- can as the very best metal exhibit that had been planned for the exposition. He said there were two striking points about its superiority over all other metal ex- hibits, the first being the fact that 1t would command and receive universal att tention while at the exposition, and that it could then be returned to Birmingham and set up as a monument which would last for centuries These, MT. Skiff said, are features which do not often apply to exhibits sent to worlds fairs
 Close the Contract.
 After hearing MT. MacKnights report the committee decided to close the con tract at once with the Worlds fair for the space which will be designated by Dr. J. A. Holmes, chief of the mines and metallurgy department, and this will be done today by President Jackson. It was also decided that the committee consist ing of President Jackson, Rufus N. Rhodes, Culpepper Exum, George H. Clark. Col. T. G. Bush, J B. Gibson, J. A. MacKnight and possibly others, will go to St. Louis in a few days to meet President Francis and other exposition officials. and to see the exposition in or der to tell the people of Alabama some thing of it's grandeur and beauty on their return. President Jackson will invite Governor Jelks to accompany the com mittee.
 Dr. J. A. Holmes. chief of the mines and metallurgy department. has desig- mated a space containing about 2o00 square feet for the colossus of Vulcan and for the exhibit from the Birmingham district quite near the main entrance to that magnificent building. The colossus will front on one of the main aisles, and there will be an aisle on each side of it.
 Application for Space.
 The applications for space in this man. moth collection of the worlds mineral wealth exceeds the capacity of the building more than five times. But Dr. Holmes has refused to allot any space until he had in hand full particulars of all the ex- hibits offered, in order that he might compose a symmetrical and harmonious plan for the whole. It was on account of this policy of the chief of the department that Alabama was able to get a place at all at this late hour.
 Sculptors will be engaged at once to make the designs for the great figure of Vulcan, and the work will be pushed at all points with the greatest possible ex- petition. MT. Mcknight has brought back a splendid collection of stereopticon slides of the buildings and grounds of the exposition, which he will exhibit to the public after the return of the com mittee from St. Louis
 As no one can form anything like a correct idea of the glories of this worlds fair until he has seen it. the members of the committee will be much better pre- pared to tell the people about 1t after their visit to St. Louis.