The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-30
WHAT IT MEANS.
Big Fair at st. Louis Commem-
crates Important Event.
Celebration Plan Had Its In
ception in 1898.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
History of the Transaction of
100 Years Ago.
Greatest Affair of the Kind in
the Worlds History.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE.

st. Louis, Mo. April 30-The Louisi-
ana Purchase Exposition, comprising
a comprehensive collection and exhi-
billion of the worlds peoples. products,
industries, modes of living, diversions,
transportation facilities. in fact, a com
plete universal concentration of arts,
manufactures and products Of the soil,
mine, forest and sea, had its inception
in 1898 and was completed in April,
1904. The exposition commentaries the
centennial of the purchase from
France, in 1903. by the United states
of the vast strip of territory stretch
ing from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Dominion Of Canada, and extending
from the Mississippi river to the crest
of the Rocky Mountain range, and since
known as The louisiana Purchase
Territory.
The entire Mississippi Valley orig
inally belonged to France by right of
discovery and exploration. In 1903
Spain acquired the Louisiana territory
after the treaty of peace with Paris,
when France, which had coded Louis
Jana to Spain under the secret treaty
of 1852, gave up all her other posses
siOns in North America to Great Brit
ain. Spain held the territory for 81
years, returning it to France on the
demand of Napoleon BOnaparte,
through the secret treaty of St Hide
fenso, October 1, 1900. Napoleon was
ed States, by the Revolutionary war,
had won sovereignty over the territory
between the Atlantic ocean and the
Mississippi river Spanish officials
were still in authority at New Orleans,
although the Louisiana territory had
been returned to France. The hostile
attitude of the Spaniards towards
Americans navigating the Mississippi
resulted in agitation which led Presi-
dent Thomas jefferson to undertake
the purchase of the city and island of
New Orleans, in order to control the
mouth of the Mississippi. Robert r.
Livingston. United States minister 10
France, and James Monroe, afterward
president of the United States, were
accordingly commissioned to conduct
the negotiations for this transfer. In
stead of the sale of the island of New
Orleans alone, Napoleon proposed the
sale of the entire Louisiana territory
for SIS 900, 900 in order to secure funds
for the equipment of his armies.
The representatives of the United
States at once accepted the offer and
the treaty was signed at Paris. April
80 1903 The formal transfer OF the
territory took place at New Orleans,
December 20. 1903. and for Upper
Louisiana at st. Louis on March 10,
1904.
The newly purchased territory en-
braced 100000 square miles, and is
now divided into the following four
teen states and territories: Louisiana,
NfAAAe-AACA--eA1
dian Territory, Kansas Colorado, Ne
braska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Da-
kota. South Dakota, Wyoming, and
Montana.
In the forepart of 1898 an editorial
was published in a St Louis paper to
the effect that the centennials of the
great events in the history of the
United States were not all over and
predicting that the greatest was yet
to be held-the centennial of the ac-
QUESTION of the Louisiana territory.
This editorial was taken up in the
press and commented upon, resulting
in organized agitation by the Missouri
Historical society. The clamor for a
commemorative centennial became so
general that, in response to strong
public sentiment, Governor Stevens of
Missouri issued a call for a conven-
ton of delegates representing the
states and territories embraced in the
Louisiana Purchase territory. to be
held in St. Louis on January 10, 1893
The convention was attended by So
delegates appointed by the respective /
governors, and it was unanimously
voted to hold an exposition interua-
tional in its scope. in St. Louis. The
convention extended an invitation to
the United States government to as
sist in the enterprise. and appointed
an executive committee, with Hon.
David r. Francis as chairman, and also