Year: 1872




The Congress of the United States has
enacted that the completion of the One
Hundreth Year of American Independence
shall be celebrated by an international Ex-
hibition of the Arts, Manufactures and
Products of the soil and mine, to be held
at Philadelphia in 1875, and has appointed
a commission, consisting of representatives
from each State and Territory, to conduct
the celebration.


Originating under the auspices of the
National Legislature, controlled by Nat
ional Commission, and designed as it is to
Commemorate the first Century of our
existence, by an Exhibition of the Natural
Resources of the Country and their devel-
opment, and in our progress in those Arts
which benefit mankind, in comparison with
those of older Nations, it is to the people
at large that the Commission look for the
aid which is necessary to make the Central
Celebration the greatest anniversary the
world has ever seen.


That the completion of the first century
of our existence should be marked by some
imposing demonstration is, we believe,
the patriotic wish Of the people of the
whole country. The Congress of the
United States has wisely decided that
the Birthday of the Great Republic can be
most fittingly celebrated by the universal
collection and display of all the trophies of
its progress. 1t is designed to bring to-
gether, within a building covering fifty
acres, not only the varied productions of
our mines and of the soil, but types of all
the intellectual triumphs of our citizens,
specimens Of everything that America can
furnish, whether from the brains or hands
of her children, and thus make evident to
the world the advancement of which self
governed people is capable.


In this celebration" all nations will be
invited to participate; its character being
International. Europe will display her arts
and manufactures, India her curious fab
RIGS, while newly opened China and Japan
will lay bare the treasures which for
centuries their ingenious people have been
perfecting. Each land will compete in
generous rivalry for the palm of superior
excellence.


To this grand gathering every zone will
contribute its fruits and cereals. No min
eral shall be wanting; for what the East
lacks the West will supply. Under one
roof will the South display in rich luxur-
lance her growing cotton, and the North
in miniature, the ceaseless machinery of
her mills converting that cotton into cloth.
Each section of the globe will send its best
offerings to this exhibition, and each State
of the Union, as member of one united
body polite, will show to her sister States
and to the world, how much she can add
to the greatness of the nation of which she
is a harmonious part


To make the Centennial Celebration such
a success as the patriotism and the pride Of
every American demands will require the
cooperation of the people of the whole
country. The United States Centennial
Commission has received no government
aid, such as England extended to her
Worlds Fair, and France to her Universal
Exposition, yet the labor and responsibility
imposed upon the Commission is as great
as in either of those undertakings. 1t is
estimated that ten millions of dollars will
be required, and this sum Congress has
provided shall be raised by stock snbscrip-
tion, and that the people shall have the OPP
portunity of subscribing in proportion to
the population of their respective States
and Territories.


The Commission looks to the unfailing
patriotism of every section, to see that
each contributes its share to the expenses,
and receives its share of the benefits of an
enterprise in which all are so deeply in
terested. ft would further earnestly urge
the formation in each State and Territory
of centennial organization, which shall
in time see that county associations are
formed, so that when the nations are gath
cred together in 1876 each Commonwealth
can view with pride the contributions she
has made TO the national glory.


Confidently relying on the zeal and pa
triotism ever displayed by our people In
every national undertaking, we pledge and
prophesy, that the Centennial Celebration
will worthily show how greatness, wealth
and intelligence, can be fostered by such
institutions as those which have for one
hundred years blessed the people of the
United States.


Jos. r.. HAwLEY, President.
LEWIS WALN SMITH, Temporary sec'y.