CHAPTER III.

FORMAL OPENING OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING.

Mrs. Potter Palmer's Address— Driving of the Last Nail— A Woman's Hand Drives the Golden Nafl
with a Silver Hammer — A Beautiful Structure, the Completion of Which Signified an Accomplish-
ment of Which the United Womanhood of the World Has Had a Part — Large Number of
Distinguished Women Present — A Grand March Composed by a German Woman, Frau Ingeborg
von Bronsart of Weimar — Prayer by Miss Ida Hutton — Overture by Miss Frances Elliott, of
London, England — Reading of a Poem by Miss Flora Wilkinson — Remarks by Lady Aberdeen,
the Duchess of Veragua, Mrs. Bedford Fenwick, Mrs. Kaselowsky and the Princess Schachoffsky.

O EVENT of the Exposition except the official opening
produced more transport than the formal dedication of
the Woman's Building, which took place on the after-
noon of May i. That the opening ceremonies of this
building should be held in its own main hall was pecu-
liarly appropriate. A long room, whose arches and
columns were decorated delicately in white and gold,
whose walls were hung with the praiseworthy pro-
ducts of nineteenth century woman artists — this is
what met the vision of those who entered for the first
time. And this was not all. On the temporary platform erected

at the west entrance were palms and potted plants, gracefully

grouped, while above it on either side were draped the commingled colors of Spain
and America. Palms, too, filled in the spaces between the arches of the north and
south ends of the gallery, from which rows of smiling faces looked on at the cere-
monies.

At the north end of the Hall of Honor was massed the great World's Fair
chorus, which on this occasion interpreted only the music of women composers.
The remaining space, when Mrs. Potter Palmer arose to open the exercises, was
filled to overflowing with a gathering whose enthusiasm as it caught sight of the
gracious President of the Board of Lady Managers found vent in cheers, applause
and a fluttering of white handkerchiefs. When some thoughtful individual well
versed in the art of delicate flattery took upon himself the task of removing from
the platform the palms and the big bunch of American beauty roses, behind which,
when she was seated, she was half concealed, the demonstration broke out with re-
newed vigor.

Mrs. Palmer presided at the Pennsylvania table, on which were placed a block
of yew taken from the Washington State Building, the golden nail, and Colorado's
silver jewel box. On a. small table of Mexican onyx at her kit reposed the ham-

ivitiMBERS OF THE BOARD OF L\D\ MANAGERS.

1. MRS. EICHAED J. OGLESBY,
JUinois.

6. MRS. JONAS H. FRENCH,

Massachusetts.

7. MRS. MART A. HART,

Ohio.

12. MBS. I. J. AUSTIN,
Alaska-
lS. MBS. MARIE P. HARMON BEESON,
Oklahoma.

2. MRS. FRANCES WELLES SHEPARD,

Illinois.

5. MRS. RDFCS S. FROST,
Massachusetts.

3. MRS. WALTER HARTPENCE

Ohio.
11. MRS. A. K. DELANEr,

A laska.

14. MRS. GENEVIEVE GCTHRIE,
Oklahoma.

3. MlSS WlLHELMINE REIT*,.

Indiana.

4. MRS. VIRGINIA C. MEREDITH,

Indiana.
9. MRS. F. H. HARRISON,

Wyoming.
10. MBS. FRANCES E. HALL,

Wyoming.
15. MRS. JNO. A. LOGAN,

District Columbia.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 175

mer in its leather case. Behind Mrs. Palmer was seated a group of distinguished
women, both foreign and American, whose gay toilets lent a pleasing touch of color
and brightness to the assembly. Among them were the Duchess of Veragua and
the Hon. Maria del Pilar Colon y Aguielera, Mme. Mariotti, Lady Aberdeen, Mrs.
Bedford Fenwick, Frau Professor von Kasetowsky of Germany, Princess Mary A.
Schahovsky of Russia, Miss Hulda Leinden of Russia, Mme. Zorn, Senora d'Oleiv-
ria Austen of Brazil, Mrs. Dickens, the Duchess of Sutherlayd, Lady Wolf, Miss
Windeye, Mrs. Robert Austen of England, Lady Arnot, Miss Arnot, Miss Weiner,
Mme' Meaulle of Austria, Mrs. LincheeSuriyaof Siam, Baroness Thornburg Rappe
of Sweden, Mrs. Romero of Mexico, Mrs. John G. Carlisle, Mrs. W. K. Carlisle, Miss
Leila Herbert, Mrs. George T. Werts of New Jersey. Mrs. Adlai T.Stevenson, Mrs.
John P. Altgeld, Miss Ida C. Hultin, Miss Wilkinson, Mrs. John A. Logan, Miss
Catherine Minor, Mrs. Walter Q. Gresham, Mrs. Eliza Rickards, Mrs. Candace
Wheeler, Mrs. Ralph Trautman, Mrs. Sarah S. C. Angell and Mrs. V. C. Merideth.
A grand march composed by Frau Ingeborg von Bronsart, of Weimar, Ger-
many, and rendered by Theodore Thomas' men opened the exercises. Miss IdaHut-
tonoffered the prayer, which was followed by a dramatic overture composed by Miss
Frances Ellicott, of London, England. The following ode was then read by Miss
Flora Wilkinson, daughter of W. E. Wilkinson, of Chicago University:

From the lovely land of Alhambra and out from the mists of the years,
" Let us summon a presence before us, as spirits are summoned by seers.
Behold, a woman is standing, the glitter of gems in her hands,
With far gazing eyes that are turned toward the river of invisible lands.
Behold, royally bending to heed a stranger's appeal,
With gift of grace and of godspeed, Isabella, the Queen of Castile.
Let us join to man's glory the woman's, the glory of faith and of deed,
That cheered the brave mariner on in the day of his desperate need.
He, sailing, and sailing, and sailing into the sunset seas,
Little dreamed of the land that he sailed to, the sage and the sad Genoese.
She, dreaming, and dreaming, and dreaming apart in her palace of Spain
Little dreamed of the future awaiting that land of the Western main.
The future, a plant of God'~ garden, unfolding in beauty supreme
To blossom into the splendor of this White City of dream.
Not as Queen but as woman we hail Isabella, and crown her to-day
In these halls that women have built and illumined with costly array.
Here, gravely let us be grateful, as heirs of a generous past,
For the pleasures and powers and duties fallen to woman at last.
They have yielded to her their kingdoms, science, and letters, and art,
And still she controls undisputed the realm of the home and the heart.

Mrs. Palmer's rising for the purpose of delivering her address was the signal
for another outburst of applause. She said:

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS, LADIES AND GENTEMF.N: The
moment of fruition has arrived. Hopes for more than two years have gradually

176 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

been gaining strength anddefiniteness have now become realities. To-day the Expo-
sition opens its gates. On this occasion of the formal opening of the Woman's
Building the Board of Lady Managers is singularly fortunate in having the honor
to welcome distinguished official representatives of many of the able foreign com-
mittees and of the state boards which have so effectively co-operated with it in ac-
complishing the results now to be disclosed to the world.

We have traveled together a hitherto untrodden path, have been subjected
to tedious delays and overshadowed by dark clouds, which threaten disaster to our
enterprise. We have been obliged to march with peace offerings in our hands lest
hostile motives be ascribed to us. Our burdens have been greatly lightened, how-
ever, by the spontaneous sympathy and aid which have reached us from women in
every part of the world, and which have proved and added incentive and inspira-
tion. [Applause.] Experience has brought many surprises, not the least of which
is an impressive realization of the unity of human interests, notwithstanding differ-
ences of race, government, language, temperament and external conditions. The
people of all civilized lands are studying the same problems. Each success and
each failure in testing and developing new theories is valuable to the whole world.
Social and industrial questions are paramount, and are receiving the thoughtful
consideration of statesmen, students, political economists, humanitarians, employers'
and employed.

The few forward steps which have been taken during our boasted nineteenth
century — the so-called aid of invention — have promoted the general use of machin-
ery and economic motive powers with the result of cheapened manufactured arti-
cles, but have not afforded the relief to the masses which was expected. The
struggle for bread is as fierce as of old. We find everywhere the same picture pre-
sented— overcrowded industrial centers; factories surrounded by dense populations
of operatives; keen competition; many individuals forced to use such strenuous
efforts that vitality is drained in the effort to maintain life under conditions so un-
inviting and discouraging that it scarcely seems worth living. It is a grave reproach
to modern enlightenment that we seem no nearer the solution of many of these prob-
lems than during feudal days.

It is not our province, however, to discuss these weighty questions except in
so far as they affect the compensation paid to wage earners, and more especially
that paid to women and children. Of all existing forms of injustice there is none so
cruel and inconsistent as is the position in which women are placed with regard to
self-maintenance — the calm ignoring of their rights and responsibilities which has
gone on for centuries. If the economic conditions are hard for men to meet, sub-
jected as they are to the constant weeding out of the less expert and steady hands,
it is evident that women, thrown upon their own resources, have a frightful strug-
gle to endure, especially as they have always to contend against a public sentiment
which discountenances their seeking industrial employment as a means of live-
lihood.

The theory which exists among conservative people that the sphere of wo-
man is her home — that it is unfeminine, even monstrous for her to wish to take a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 177

place beside or compete with men in the various lucrative industries — tells heavily
against her, for manufacturers and producers take advantage of it to disparage her
work and obtain her services for a nominal price, thus profiting largely by the ne-
cessities and helplessness of their victim. That so many should cling to respectable
occupations while starving in following them and should refuse to yield to discour-
agement and despair shows a high quality of steadfastness and principle. [Ap-
plause.] These are the real heroines of life, whose handiwork we are proud to
install in the Exposition, because it has been produced in factories, workshops and-
studios under the most adverse conditions and with the most sublime patience and
endurance. [Applause.]

Men of the finest and most chivalric type, who have poetic theories about
the sanctity of the home and the refining, elevating influence of woman in it, theo-
ries inherited from the days of romance and chivalry, and which we wish might
prevail forever — these men have asked many times whether the Board of Lady
Managers thinks it well to promote a sentiment which may tend to destroy the
home by encouraging occupations for women which take them out of it. We feel,
therefore, obliged to state in our opinion every woman who is presiding over a
happy home is fulfilling her highest and truest function, and could not be lured
from it by temptations offered by factories or studios. Would that the eyes of
these idealists could be thoroughly opened that they might see, not the fortunate
few of a favored class, with whom they possibly are in daily contact, but the gen-
eral status of the labor market throughout the world and the relation to it of wo-
men. They might be astonished to learn that the conditions under which the vast
majority of the "gentler sex" are living are not so ideal as they assume; that each
is not "dwelling in a home of which she is the queen, with a manly and a loving
arm to shield her from rough contact with life." Because of the impossibility of
reconciling their theories with the stern facts, they might possibly consent to for-
give the offense of widows with dependent children and of wives of drunkards and
criminals who so far forget the high standard established for them as to attempt to
earn for themselves daily bread, lacking which they must perish. [Great Applause.]
The necessity for their work under present conditions is too evident and too urgent
to be questioned. They must work or they must starve. Women everywhere in
large numbers are actively engaged in the lowest and most degrading industrial
occupations, laboring mainly as underpaid drudges, to the great profit of manufact-
urers and producers.

We are forced, therefore, to turn from the realm of fancy to meet and deal
with existing facts. The absence of a just and general appreciation of the truth
concerning the position and status of women has caused us to call special attention
to it, and to make a point of attempting to create, by means of the Exposition, a
well-defined public sentiment in regard to their rights and duties, and the proprie-
ty of their becoming not only self-supporting, but able to assist in maintaining their
families when necessary. [Applause.] We hope that the statistics which the Board
of Lady Managers has been so earnestly attempting to secure, may give a correct
idea of the number of women — not only those without natural protectors, or those

J7H HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

thrown suddenly upon their own resources, but the number of wives of mechanics,
laborers, artists, artisans and workmen of every degree— who are forced to work
shoulder to shoulder with their husbands in order to maintain the family.

. There are two classes of the community who wish to restrain women froTi
actual participation in the business of the world, and each gives, apparently, very
strong reasons in support of its views. These are, first, the idealists, who hold the
opinion already mentioned that woman should be tenderly guarded and cherished
within the sacred precincts of the home, which alone is her sphere of action; and,
second, certain political economists, with whom may be ranged most of the men
engaged in the profitable pursuit of the industries of the world, who object to
the competition that would result from the participation of women, because they
claim that it would reduce the general scale of wages paid and lessen the earning
power of men, who require their present income to maintain their families. Plaus-
ible as these theories are we cannot accept them without pausing to inquire what
then would become of all women but the very few who have independent fortunes
or are the happy wives of men able and willing to support them? The interests of
probably three-fourths of the women in the world would be sacrificed. Are they
to be allowed to starve, or to rush to self-destruction? If not permitted to work,
what course is open to them?

Our oriental neighbors have seen the logic of the situation far more clearly
than we, and have been consistent enough to meet it without shrinking from heroic
measures when necessary. The question is happily solved in some countries by the
practice of polygamy, which allows every man to maintain as many wives as his
means permits. In others, etiquette requires that a newly made widow be burned
on the funeral pyre with her husband's body, while the Chinese take the precaution
to drown surplus female children. [Murmurs of indignation.] It would seem that
any of these methods is more logical and less cruel than the system we pursue of
permitting the entire female population to live, but making it impossible for those
born to poverty to maintain themselves in comfort, because they are hampered by
a caste feeling almost as strong as that ruling India, which will not permit them to
work on equal terms with men. [Applause.] These unhappy members of an infe-
rior class must be content to remain in penury, living on the crumbs that fall from
tables spread for those of another and higher caste. This relative position has
been exacted on the one side, accepted on the other. It has been considered by
each an inexorable law.

We shrink with horror from the unjust treatment of child widows and other
unfortunates on the opposite side of the globe, but our own follies and inconsisten-
cies are too close to our eyes for us to see them in proper perspective. Sentimen-
talists should have reduced their theories to set terms and applied them. They
have had ample time and opportunity to provide means by which helpless women
could be cherished, protected and removed from the storm and stress of life.
Women could have asked nothing better. We have no respect for a theory which
touches only the favored few who do not need its protection, and leaves
unaided the great mass it has assisted to push into the mire. [Applause.] Talk

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 179

not of it, therefore, until it can be uttered not only in polite drawing-rooms but
also in factories and workshops without a blush of shame for its weakness and
inefficiency.

But the sentimentalist again exclaims : "Would you have woman step down
from her pedestal in order to enter practical life? " Yes! A thousand times, yes!
[Applause.] If we can really find, after a careful search, any women mounted upon
pedestals, we should willingly ask them to step down — [laughter and applause] — in
order that they may meet and help to uplift their sisters. Freedom and justice for
all are infinitely more to be desired than pedestals for a few. I beg leave to state
that personally I am not a believer in the pedestal theory — [laughter] — never having
seen an actual example of it, and that I always suspect the motives of any one advanc-
ing it. It does not represent the natural and fine relation between husband and wife
or between friends. They should stand side by side, the fine qualities of each sup-
plementing and assisting those of the other. Men naturally cherish high ideas of
womanhood, as women do of manliness and strength. These ideas will dwell with
the human race forever without our striving to preserve and protect them. [Ap-
plause-]

If we now look at the question from the economic standpoint and decide for
good and logical reasons that women should be kept out of industrial fields in
order that they may leave the harvest for men, whose duty it is to maintain women
and children, then by all the laws of justice and equity, these latter should be pro-
vided for by their natural protectors, and if deprived of them should become wards
of the state and be maintained in honor and comfort. The acceptance of even this
doctrine of tardy justice would not, however, I feel sure, be welcomed by the
women of to-day who, having had a taste of independence, will never willingly
relinquish it. [Applause]. They have no desire to be helpless and dependent.
Having the full use of their faculties they rejoice in exercising them. This is en-
tirely in conformity with the trend of modern thought, which is in the direction of
establishing proper respect for human individuality and the right of self-develop-
ment. Our highest aim now is to train each to find happiness in the full and
healthy exercise of the gifts bestowed by a generous nature. Ignorance is too ex-
pensive and wasteful to be tolerated. We cannot afford to lose the reserve power
of any individual. [Great applause].

We advocate, therefore, the thorough education and training of women to
fit her to meet whatever fate life may bring, not only to prepare her for the factory
and workshop, for the professions and arts, but, more important than all else, to
prepare her for presiding over the home. [Applause]. It is for this, the highest
field of woman's effort, that the broadest training and greatest preparation are
required. The illogical, extravagant, whimsical, unthrifty mother and housekeeper
belongs to the dark ages. She has no place in our present era of enlightenment.
No course of study is too elaborate, no amount of knowledge and culture too
abundant to meet the actual requirements of the wife and mother in dealing with
the interests committed to her hands. [Applause]. Realizing that women can
never hope to receive the proper recompense for her services until her usefulness.

12

i8o HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

and success are not only demonstrated but fully understood and acknowledged,
we have taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the exposition to bring
together such evidences of her skill in the various industries, arts and professions
as may convince the world that ability is not a matter of sex. Urged by necessity,
she has shown that her powers are the same as her brothers' and that like encour-
agement and fostering care may develop her to an equal point of usefulness.

The board does not wish to be understood as placing an extravagant or
sentimental value upon the work of any woman because of her sex. It willingly
acknowledges that the industries, arts and commerce of the world have been for
centuries in the hands of men who have carefully trained themselves for the re-
sponsibilities devolving upon them, and who have, consequently, without question,
contributed vastly more than women to the valuable thought, research, invention,
science, art and literature, which have become the rich heritage of the human race-
Notwithstanding their disadvantages, however, a few gifted women have made
their value felt and have rendered exceptional service to the cause of humanity.

The fact that the woman's building is so small that it can hold only a little
of the beautiful objects offered has been a great disadvantage. The character of
the exhibits and the high standard attained by most of them serve, therefore, only
as an index of the quality and range of the material from which we have drawn.
When our invitation asking co-operation was sent to foreign lands the commis-
sioners already appointed generally smiled doubtfully and explained that their
women were doing nothing, that they would not feel inclined to help us, and, in
many cases, stated that it was not the custom of their country for women to take