Part 16

We should be glad to be advised whether there are any further points in connection with this statement with which you would desire us to deal, either by letter or in our final report, and would add that, on hearing from you, we are prepared to send in the signed report.

We are sending a copy of this letter to the secretary of the Commission, in case it should not reach you at Portland.

Yours, faithfully,

JONES, CAESAR, DICKINSON, WILMOT &, CO.

Hon. J.M. Thurston President Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, Portland, Oreg.

STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING, St. Louis, June 8, 1905.

GENTLEMEN: We beg to inclose herewith statement of receipts and disbursements of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company from the date of its incorporation to April 30, 1905, and to report as follows on the audits which we have from time to time made, and which together cover the whole of the period above mentioned. For your convenience we propose to deal in this report with the accounts for the whole period, and therefore to repeat some of the comments contained in our previous reports.

Receipts.

Collections on account of sales of capital stock: The total subscriptions to capital stock, as shown by the treasurer's record, amount to ................ $5,294,490.00 Of this sum there had been collected, in cash, to April 30, 1905 ................ $4,821,456.11

In a number of cases where the liability on subscriptions was disputed, compromises were effected, and under these compromises the company waived claims amounting to 48,952.09 ------------ 4,870,408.20

Which would leave a balance uncollected on April 30, 1905 of ............................. 424,081.80

We have been furnished with detailed statements of claims in the hands of attorneys for collection, amounting in the aggregate to about $25,000 more than the balance shown above as outstanding. We are informed that this difference represents principally receipts by the company which were credited as capital stock collections, but in respect of which no certificates were ever issued, though it is also due to some extent to clerical errors in the treasurer's books, which have not yet been located and adjusted.

The greater part of the balance now outstanding is expected to prove irrecoverable, owing to deaths, removals, etc., of subscribers, and to repudiations of liability in some cases. In this connection, it may be mentioned that the number of subscribers exceeded 20,000.

It should be added that it is not yet possible for the treasurer's department to prepare any final report and adjustment of the capital stock accounts, and that such a report will necessarily be deferred until the whole, or at any rate the greater part, of the suits now pending can be disposed of.

Proceeds of Sale of City of St. Louis Bonds.

In accordance with an amendment of the charter of the city of St. Louis, approved at a general election held on November 6, 1900, the city sold, in the month of June, 1902, its 3-1/4 per cent bonds to a par value of $5,000,000. The price realized for these bonds was $1,000.01 for each $1,000 bond, and the proceeds were turned over to the treasurer of the company on the following dates:

June 26, 1902 ............................... $1,800,018.00 July 2, 1902 ................................ 3,200,032.00 ------------- 5,000,050.00

A question arose whether the sale price included accrued interest on the bonds to the date of sale, and as the city officers and the purchasers of the bonds were unable to agree on this point, the company, in order to avoid the delay and loss that would have resulted from a second offering of the bonds, decided to pay the accrued interest, amounting to $35,901.34. The net realization to the company from the issue of the bonds was therefore--

5,000 bonds, at $1,000.01 ................... $5,000,050.00 Less accrued interest paid .................. 35,901.34 ------------- 4,964,148.66

United States Government Aid.

Of the total sum of $5,000,000 appropriated by act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, there has been received by the company the sum of $4,752,968.45, of which sum $250,000 was in the form of souvenir gold coin. We understand, however, that amounts have also been paid by the United States Treasury out of this appropriation which have not been reported to, or included in the accounts of, the company.

United States Government Loan.

Pursuant to an act of Congress approved February 18, 1904, there was advanced to the company from the United States Treasury, by way of loan, the sum of $4,600,000, repayable by semimonthly installments, commencing June 15, 1904, and equivalent to 40 per cent of the receipts from admissions and concessions during the half month immediately preceding the date of payment, it being provided that each installment after July 1 should amount to not less than $500,000. The whole of this loan was duly repaid on the following dates:

June 16 ................................. $195,057.04 July 1 .................................. 213,092.15 July 15 ................................. 500,000.00 August 1 ................................ 500,000.00 August 15 ............................... 500,000.00 August 31 ............................... 500,000.00 September 14 ............................ 500,000.00 October 1 ............................... 500,000.00 October 15 .............................. 500,000.00 October 31 .............................. 500,000.00 November 15 ............................. 191,850.81 ------------ 4,600,000.00

Loan on Security of Capital Stock Subscriptions and Premium on Souvenir Coins.

On August 22, 1903, the company entered into a contract with the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, the Lincoln Trust Company, the Mercantile Trust Company, and the St. Louis Union Trust Company, as trustees, under which it assigned all subscriptions which were at that date wholly or partly unpaid, together with all further subscriptions which might be received, and the premium to be received on the sale of $239,000 souvenir gold coin, in consideration of the sum of $600,000, with a provision that when the trustees should have received the full sum of $600,000, together with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum and expenses of collection and management, they would reassign the subscriptions and rights to the company.

Prior to the completion of the loan there was received by the company from the sources assigned upwards of $162,000, and this amount was deducted from the loan, making the net amount received by the company $438,000. Payments were subsequently made on account of this loan out of the receipts from the above-mentioned sources, and on March 15, 1904, the balance then outstanding of $92,515.25 was paid out of the general funds of the company, in anticipation of receipts from the sources assigned and with a view to effecting a saving of interest charges.

It should be added that the subsequent receipts from capital stock subscriptions have amounted to more than the amount temporarily advanced out of the general funds of the company.

Admissions.

We have agreed the figures of receipts shown by the books of the auditor and the treasurer with those of the admissions department.

We have agreed the receipts from sales of tickets with the ticket custodian's record, and have verified the tickets appearing on that record as unsold. We have also satisfied ourselves that the system in the admissions department was such as to provide adequate safeguards for the collection by the company of the admissions receipts derived from other sources.

It would appear that the total loss of the company in this department through shortages of employees, counterfeit and mutilated coins, etc., amounted to about $1,250, about one-third of which is probably recoverable from the bonding company, so that the final loss to the exposition will be very small.

The total receipts for admissions are distributed as follows:

Exposition period: Admissions of individuals ................ $6,042,746.65 Vehicles ................................. 5,671.50 ------------- $6,048,418.15 Pre-exposition period ..................................... 175,906.25 Post-exposition period .................................... 16,156.50

------------

6,240,480.90

The details of the attendance and revenue during the exposition period are as follows:

--------------------------------------+-----------+---------------+--------- | Number. | Receipts. |Cents per | | |admission --------------------------------------+-----------+---------------+--------- Adults: | | | General admission .................. | 11,180,996| $5,589,715.50 | 50.00 Season and other commutation tickets | 961,175| 291,827.00 | 30.32 Children: +-----------+---------------+--------- General admission .................. | 621,640| 155,634.25 | 25.04 Season and other commutation tickets | 40,805| 5,569.90 | 13.65 +-----------+---------------+--------- Total paid attendance ............... | 12,804,616| 6,042.746.65 | 47.19 Free: | | | Adults ............................. | 6,480,267 | ............. | ........ Children ........................... | 409,972 | ............. | ........ +-----------+---------------+--------- Total exposition days ........... | 19,694,855| ............. | ........ Sundays (free) ...................... | 371,682| ............. | ........ +-----------+---------------+--------- Grand total ..................... | 20,066,537| ............. | ........ --------------------------------------+-----------+---------------+---------

It may be of interest to add that the attendance by months was as follows:

-------------------------------+------------------------+---------+----------- | Exposition days. | | Date. +------------------------+ Sundays | Total. | Paid. | Free. | (free). | -------------------------------+------------+-----------+---------+----------- April 30 and May ............. | 667,772 | 1,102,656 | 70,847 | 1,841,275 June ......................... | 1,382,865 | 1,016,281 | 49,373 | 2,448,519 July ......................... | 1,514,743 | 928,224 | 55,298 | 2,498,265 August ....................... | 1,992,248 | 1,096,498 | 45,477 | 3,134,223 September .................... | 2,683,511 | 968,262 | 52,182 | 3,703,955 October ...................... | 2,758,149 | 864,180 | 64,107 | 3,686,436 November and December 1 ...... | 1,805,328 | 914,138 | 34,398 | 2,753,864 +------------+-----------+---------+----------- Total .................... | 12,804,616 | 6,890,239 | 371,682 | 20,066,537 -------------------------------+------------+-----------+---------+-----------

Concessions.

We have agreed the amount of collections reported by the treasurer, together with the amount of bills still outstanding, with the amount of bills rendered (after deducting allowances and rebates), as reported by the concessions department. Inasmuch as all bills originated in the concessions department and the collections were made by the treasurer, we think this reconciliation affords a satisfactory check on the receipts reported by the treasurer.

We have also looked into the system in this department, and believe that it was well calculated to secure, as far as possible, the proper collection of revenues accruing due to the exposition.

The net receipts of this department, as shown by its records, are as follows:

Pike rentals .................................. $218,187.50

Concessions revenue: Exposition period ............................ 2,812,995.59 Pre-exposition period ......................... 32,366.06 Post-exposition period ........................ 1,855.54 ------------ 3,065,404.69

The difference between this figure and the total of $3,076,958.69, shown in the inclosed accounts, consists of refunds of $15,554, which are treated in the statement as disbursements, less $4,000 rents collected by the concessions department, credited in the statement against the rent paid by the company, as the latter practically acted only as agent in the transaction.

Under the lease of the Catlin tract, on which the greater part of the concessions were built, sureties were required, and for the protection of these sureties and of sureties under other bonds it was arranged that all ground rentals received from concessions on the "Pike" should be paid into a special fund for the purpose of securing such sureties against loss in respect of the bonds given by them. Upon the books of the company, therefore, the above figure of "Pike rentals" has been credited to a separate fund account, together with an amount of $2,580.68 interest allowed on this fund.

There was withdrawn from this fund the sum of $100,000 on account of payment of rentals of the tract, and the fund now amounts to $120,768.18, as shown among the cash balances in the inclosed statement.

The total earnings accruing due to the company under concession contracts amounted to ................... $3,803,724.53 Of this total there has been collected (as above) the sum of ..................... $3,065,404.69 There was waived by the company under various compromises the sum of .................... 434,204.36 And there still remain uncollected bills amounting to .............................. 304,115.48 ------------- 3,803,724.53

We have seen authorizations from the executive or concessions committee for all the important compromises effected.

Intramural Railway.

We have agreed the receipts shown by the general books of the company with the report of the manager of the railway. The number of passengers carried and the amount of revenue therefrom, by months, were as follows:

Date. Passengers Revenue. carried

April 30 and May .......................... 295,152 $29,515.20 June ...................................... 861,409 86,140.90 July ...................................... 815,034 81,503.40 August .................................... 1,018,195 101,819.50 September ................................. 1,394,444 139,444.40 October ................................... 1,273,207 127,320.70 November and December 1 ................... 617,297 61,729.70

Total ..................................... 6,274,738 627,473.80

It is not possible to arrive at the cost of operating the railway, as the power was furnished from the general power plant, and the cost thereof can not be ascertained separately.

Service, Power, Light and Water, Transportation.

We have agreed the collections from these sources with the books of the treasurer, and as regards the principal items we have also agreed the accounts shown on the general books with those of the departments in which the charges originated, subject to some inconsiderable differences which are now being investigated and will be adjusted by the company as soon as possible.

Music Department.

We have agreed the receipts shown by the auditor with the report of the bureau of music.

The total receipts are made up as follows:

Music furnished German Tyrolean Alps Company .......... $67,220.25 Music furnished other parties ......................... 300.00 Receipts from admissions to Festival Hall and sales of reserved seats ...................................... 77,078.23 Total earnings ...................................... 144,598.48 Add refund on expenses credited this account .......... 1,940.00 Total as per statement .............................. 146,538.48

We have verified the receipts from the German Tyrolean Alps Company with the contract.

Premium on Souvenir Gold Coin, less Expense.

This total represents the premium of $2 per coin on $67,176.00 33,588 coins sold Less expenses ....................................... 13,506.67 Total ............................................. 53,669.33

We have agreed the number of coins sold with the difference between the number originally received and the number now certified to be on hand.

Photo-Pass Receipts.

The system in regard to the collections in this department appeared to be such as to insure the full amount of collections being received by the company.

Photographic passes were charged in some cases at $1 and in others at $2, and many were issued without charge, and it is not therefore possible, without a very great amount of work, to check the collections against the number of passes issued.

Interest on Deposits.

This total represents the amount of interest received on balances from time to time remaining on hand in the company's bank. We have included therein the amount of $2,580.68 received In respect of the Pike rental fund and credited on the books of the company to that fund.

Miscellaneous Collections.

This total is made up as follows:

Insurance premiums refunded .................... $63,983.17 Refrigerating plant receipts ................... 20,178.99 Garbage coupon books ........................... 11,506.80 Miscellaneous revenues ......................... 31,230.52 Refund account, overpayments ................... 4,715.96 Personal damage account, receipts .............. 2,572.50 Uniform special fund ........................... 2,514.89 Damage to property, receipts ................... 72.50 ----------- Total ........................................ 136,775.33

We have checked the insurance receipts with the report of the agents of the policies canceled and of the amount of return premiums due the company thereon.

We have agreed the receipts from the refrigerating plant, which represent the company's proportion of the profits on the operation thereof, with the report of the manager. A final audit of the books of the plant is now being made by the Exposition Company, and it is possible that a small further sum will be received on this account.

We counted the garbage books remaining on hand and satisfied ourselves that the number thereof, together with the number reported as sold, made up the total number originally received.

The remainder of the receipts included under this head consists of various incidental receipts which it is not possible to verify completely.

Salvage.

This amount is made up as follows:

Contract price for salvage sold to Chicago House Wrecking Company ............................ $450,000.00 Less amount not yet due or paid ............... 150,000.00 ------------ 300,000.00 Resale of cars and motors under original purchase contract with St. Louis Car Company 158,667.25 Miscellaneous sales ........................... 4,198.03 ------------ Total ....................................... 462,865.28

We have verified the two large items with the original contracts.

Special Fund.

We have not been able to obtain a detailed statement of the badge fund, which represents deposits made by employees in respect of badges issued to them, and it is probable that the greater part of this sum has been refunded and charged through various departments to other accounts.

The pay-roll fund represents unclaimed wages and has been agreed with a detailed list submitted to us.

Disbursements.

Properly approved vouchers have been produced to us for all disbursements except as regards two payments aggregating $252.45, the vouchers for which have, we understand, been mislaid.

The only items calling for special comment are, we think, the following:

Special Installation of Exhibits.

This sum represents the purchase price of the whole of the capital stock of the General Service Company, which held a concession for hauling and storage. From a balance sheet of that company, recently prepared, it would appear that the amount to be realized by the Exposition Company in respect of this investment will be about $104,000. We are advised by the president that in spite of the apparent loss of $21,000 involved, this transaction is regarded by the Exposition Company as an advantageous one, inasmuch as, at the time it was effected, there were serious controversies and substantial claims in question between the two companies, and by the purchase these claims were, of course, completely disposed of; and, moreover, the installation of exhibits was much expedited and serious inconvenience to exhibitors avoided.

Money Advanced.

The principal item included under this head is an amount of $152,000 advanced to the emergency exploitation committee from time to time to meet the expenses incurred by that committee. Practically the whole of this amount has been expended, but up to the date of our audit vouchers for the expenditures had not been turned in by the committee or put through the general books of the company. We understand that this is now being done.

Board of Lady Managers.

Included under this head is the full amount of $100,000 appropriated for the board out of the Government loan of $4,600,000. This sum was paid by the company into a special account, subject to the order of the board, and no details as to the disbursement thereof appear on the books, owing, as we are informed, to the fact that no report of such disbursements has yet been made by the board to the Exposition Company.

Cash Balances.

Certificates of deposit have been produced to us, and we have been furnished with a certificate from the bank as to the balance on current account.

The cash immediately available for the general purposes of the company amounts to $668,754.36, the remaining $182,846.41 being deposited in a special account to secure the sureties under various bonds given on behalf of the company.

Of this total of $182,846.41, the sum of $120,768.18 is derived from Pike rentals, as hereinbefore explained. The balance of $62,078.23 consists of receipts of the music bureau, which were originally paid into a separate fund because of a difference between the bureau of music and the division of concessions as to the policy in operating Festival Hall. Subsequently the president recommended that this fund be added to the fund held for the protection of the sureties, in accordance with the authority granted to the executive committee by the board of directors to make such provision as might be deemed advisable to protect these sureties, and the president informs us that this suggestion was approved by the executive committee.

It will of course be understood that the maintenance of the separate funds would become a matter of practical importance only in the event of the funds of the company proving insufficient to meet its liabilities, a condition which is not now deemed likely to arise.

General Financial Condition of the Company.

We have been furnished by the president of the Exposition Company with a statement of the estimated assets and liabilities of the company on May 3, 1905, a copy of which we append hereto. From this statement it will be seen that, subject to whatever liability may eventually result in respect of suits and disputed claims now pending against the company, it is estimated that the assets will exceed the liabilities by $467,211.45.

In arriving at this figure, the liability of the company in respect of the restoration of Forest Park is estimated at $200,000. In this connection it may be well to point out that the company is under obligation to restore the park without any limit as to cost, and has, moreover, given the city of St. Louis two bonds aggregating $650,000, being the amount of an estimate made on behalf of the city of the probable cost of restoration. Of the bonds given, one is for $100,000, secured by guarantee of certain directors of the Exposition Company, and the second for $550,000, secured as to $100,000 by personal guarantees and as to the balance by a mortgage on the Art Building.

Legislation is now pending looking to the acceptance by the city of a fixed sum in settlement of the company's liability and the carrying out of the work of restoration by the city itself, but it is not, of course, possible to say at the present time whether the estimate of $200,000 now taken into account will eventually prove sufficient.

It is not at present possible to estimate the liability on suits and claims pending.

In conclusion, we would state that every facility was extended to us by the officials of the company in the course of our audits.

Yours, faithfully, Jones, Caesar, DICKINSON, WILMOT & Co.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C._

_Statement of receipts and disbursements from the incorporation of the company to April 30, 1906 (inclusive)._

RECEIPTS.

Capital liabilities: Collections on account of sales of capital stock ........................... $4,821,456.11 Proceeds of sale of city of St. Louis bonds .................................... 5,000,050.00 United States Government aid ............... 4,752,968.45 ------------ $14,574,474.56

Loans contracted: United States Government ................... 4,600,000.00 Loan on security of capital stock subscriptions, etc ....................... 438,000.00 ------------ 5,038,000.00 Revenue: Admissions collections (Exhibit A) ......... 6,240,480.90 Concessions collections (Exhibit B) ........ 3,076,958.69 Intramural railway receipts ................ 627,473.84 Service, power, light, and water receipts (Exhibit C) .............................. 655,684.00 Transportation collections (Exhibit D) ..... 218,207.20 Music Department collections ............... 146,538.48 Premium on souvenir gold coin (less expenses) .......................... 53,669.33 Photo pass receipts ........................ 51,469.00 Interest on deposits (Exhibit E) ........... 131,407.83 Miscellaneous collections (Exhibit F) ...... 136,775.33 Salvage .................................... 462,865.28 ------------ 11,801,529.88 Special funds Badge ...................................... 6,830.00 Pay roll ................................... 5,769.04 ----------- 12,599.04 ------------- 31,426,603.48

DISBURSEMENTS.

Preliminary expenses ...................................... $37,418.78 Construction (Exhibit G) .................................. 16,729,755.48 Rent of grounds and buildings (Exhibit H) ................. 1,240,113.80 Maintenance and operating (Exhibit I) ..................... 1,070,537.51 Special installation of exhibits .......................... 125,000.00 Exhibits division (Exhibit J) ............................. 2,189,125.93 Exploitation division (Exhibit K) ......................... 1,327,337.11 Protection--Fire, police, insurance, etc. (Exhibit L) ..... 1,089.992.35 Concessions and admissions division (Exhibit M) ........... 564,112.28 Executive and administrative division (Exhibit N) ......... 440,874.46 Transportation bureau (Exhibit O) ......................... 321,074.58 Money advanced (Exhibit P) ................................ 167,350.14 Sundry disbursements (Exhibit Q) .......................... 114,920.78 Board of lady managers: Government appropriation .................... $100,000.00 Miscellaneous disbursements ................. 16,831.20 Furnishing rooms ............................ 2,558.31 ----------- 119,389.51 ------------- 25,537,002.71 Loans repaid .............................................. 5,038,000.00 Cash balances: Cash in bank, general fund .................. 5,067.22 Local treasurer's cash ...................... 24.58 Certificates of deposit ..................... 663,662.56 ----------- 668,754.36 Certificates of deposit, D.R. Francis and W.H. Thompson, trustees (Exposition Company sureties) ......................... 182,846.41 ----------- 851,600.77 ------------- 31,426,603.48

We have examined the above statement of receipts and disbursements, with the books of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, and certify the same to be correct. Satisfactory evidence has been produced to us as to all payments made, and proper certificates have been furnished as to the balance of cash in bank, on deposit, and on current account.

JONES, CAESAR, DICKINSON, WILMOT & Co., _Certified Public Accountants_.

St. Louis, _June 9, 1905_.

Estimate of current assets and liabilities at close of business, May 3, 1905.

ASSETS.