Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1904 — CLOSE OF THE FAIR. [ARTICLE]

CLOSE OF THE FAIR.

BT. LOUIS EXPOSITION NOW A MEMORY. Total Attendance Given aa 19,000,000 Which Is Below Chicago’s Show—MayNet $1,000,000 Profit—Fitting Ceremonies Mark the End. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, by general verdict the greatest of all world’s fairs, and a success financially, closed with fitting ceremonies at midnight Thursday. Over eighteen and three-quarters millions of persons passed through its turnstiles «in the seven months it has been open to the public; more than $50,000,000 was expended in the construction and. maintenance of the great and about this same amount of money was spent by the public within the exposition grounds. The exposition company has issued no statement or estimate of the financial status of the fair, but a conservative summary of receipts and expenditures may be made from a study of such figures as the exposition company has given out, combined with a knowledge of percentage of profit to the exposition from the various sources of revenue. Of the 19,000,000 admissions, using round numbers only for the purpose of estimating, probably 5,000,000 have been free admissions, leaving 14,000,000 paid admissions, from which the exposition derived about $G,000,000. Receipts Total $13,000,000. According to best information obtainable, the world’s fair receipts from concessions have all along just about equaled the receipts from admissions. This would give the exposition a total revenue of $12,000,000, to which may be added $1,000,000 for receipts from all other sources. This gives the exposition a grand total of $13,000,000 of receipts. During the pre-exposition period the world’s fair company received $5,000.000 from the government, $5,000,060 from the city and $5,000,000 from individual stockholders. In addition the exposition obtained a loan of $4,000,000 from the government, which vy&s repaid out of the receipts after the fair opened. The receipts from the pre-exposition period for admissions and all other sources brought the world’s fair total resources up to the day of opening up to about $20,000,000. This sum, which was all expended, added to the cost of maintenance during the exposition period and to the total amount expended by State and foreign government and the United States government, bring the total cost of the exposition, exclusive of the cost to exhibitors of preparing, transporting and maintaining exhibits, up to about $50,000,000.

Granting that the $20,000,000 which the world’s fair obtained from the government, the city and private stockholders was all expended before the gates of the fair were thrown open to the world, and this is not questioned, the exposition was entirely dependent upon the daily receipts from admissions and concessions for its operating expenses. Included under this heading is the cost of the Jefferson guards, gatekeepers, clerks,-gardeners and laborers, the lighting of buildings, the salaries of the officials and superintendents, the cost of aeronautic experiments, the expenses of music amusement and the various entertainment features carried out from time to time, the reception and entertainment of distinguished guests, the rental of the Catlin tract and other land leased from private owners, and the thousand and one minor expenses incident to the maintenance of a great universal exposition of the magnitude and scope of the St. Louis fair. Undoubtedly the cost of maintenance and operation has been heavy, but it is believed that there should he, after salvage,*a balance of at least $1,000,000 to he divided among stockholders after Forest Park shall have been restored and turned back to the city in acceptable shape. This work, it is believed, will cost fully SIOO,OOO. If the above estimates are not far from right there will be, therefore, a surplus of about $1,000,000 to be divided among the government, the city and several individual stockholders, who subscribed equal parts of the $15,000,000. This would allow the exposition to repay each stockholder about 6 per cent of the investment. The exposition, therefore, lins been a financial success, beyond the expectations of many of its most optimistic fl'lends. The attendance at Rt. I>ou!s was much less than at Chicago. The total admissions of all kinds were, in round numbers, 18,500,000 at Rt. Ixniis In seven months and 27.500,000 at Chicago In six months. The total paid admissions at Chicago were 21,5(10,000, oy 3,000,000 more than the total admissions of all kinds at Rt. Louis. In the month of Oetolter the admissions of all kinds at Rt. Louis were 3.022,329 and the paid admissions at Chicago were 0,810,435. On Chicago day at Chicago the paid admissions were 710,881 and th£ total admissions not far from 1,000,000.