Content note: Quotes wartime anti-German language, including "Hun", and period terms for racial and national groups. This object is shown as it was published. Why
The Bureau of Expositions was organized in May, 1918. It was the result of a desire on the part of the public to see the actual machinery of war, as well as the trophies which were brought here by the representatives of the Allied Nations,
The bureau combined into one group the trophies of England, France, Belgium, Italy, Canada, and the United States.
It opened on the Pacific coast the first week in July at San Francisco, going from there to Los Angeles in August and in September to Chicago, where the Lake Front had been taken for the exhibition. Nearly 2,000,000 people visited the exposition in Chicago in two weeks, the average daily attendance being in excess of that of the Chicago World's Fair. In this city alone the receipts were over $500,000 and the bureau turned in to the United States Treasury a net profit of $300,000.
Its financial success was not the result of a high admission price, but due to the appeal of the exposition itself. , On the Pacific coast tickets were sold for 50 cents and were redeemable at the gate for a 25-cent war saving stamp in addition to an admission ticket. This plan was followed for the purpose of creating the war saving stamp habit in that territory.
In Chicago and the other cities listed below the tickets were sold in advance for 25 cents ; children 2| cents.
The popularity of the exposition in the larger cities was due to the cooperation of the War and Navy Departments, which made possible the staging of sham battles which had a tremendous appeal besides illustrating the modern methods of trench warfare.
The War Exposition had the attraction of a circus and the effect of a sermon. It brought home to the people the seriousness of war and the effect was immediately noticed in the sales of Liberty bonds, war saying stamps. Red Cross benefits, and other agencies.
The cities where the War Exposition was shown are listed below :
Receipts. Chicago $583. 731. 24 San Francisco 54,274.80 Los Angeles 65, 875. 75 Cleveland 167, 355. 51 Waco-' ; ; 16, 904. 70 Pittsburgh 147, 804. 16 Kansas City 28, 646. 20 Cincinnati : 66, 541. 10 Buffalo 60, 354. 27 St. Louis 23,570.40 St. Paul 8,986.65 Jackson, Mich 2,946.48 Little Rock, Ark 1. 595. 14" Oklahoma City, Okla 4, 236. 43 Great Falls, Mont 977. 53 Waterloo, Iowa 983.93 New Orleans 14,439.20 Toledo— ; 50, 003. 02 Detroit 63,470.74 Houston 22, 684. 05
Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information. A work of the United States government, printed by the Government Printing Office in 1920, so not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105) and in the public domain by age as well. The Library of Congress states that it is unaware of any copyright restrictions on the item. Provenance and rights.