The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

THE AMERICAN EXHIBITION.

An Estimate of the Importance of the Undertaking from the Secretary.

Mr. John Gilmer Speed, the secretary of the American Exhibition, has been in town several days, and was visited yesterday by a reporter of THE INQUIRER at the offices of the American exhibition, No. 702 Chestnut street. Mr. Speed was one of the originators of the exhibition, and for more than two years has given his exclusive time to the promotion of its interests. "I always feel embarrassed," said Mr. Speed yesterday when questioned as to the progress of the work of preparation for the exhibition, "when I come to Philadelphia and am asked questions of this kind. In this city my colleagues are old exhibition men, having won their reputation at your Centennial in '76, and as they are also our chief executive officers, I think you should ask them how they are getting along. But as I must answer your question I can only say that we are all exceedingly well satisfied. The best manufacturers in the country have applied for space, and at this moment if we closed our books we should make an exhibition which would be creditable to our country and satisfactory to all concerned. And we shall close our books very shortly; that is, we shall make a formal allotment of space on the last day of this month, and those who come in afterward will have to be content with a space in the miscellaneous section.

"Yes, Buffalo Bill will be one of the exhibits at the show. Buffalo Bill, cowboys, Indians and all the rest will be a part of the American Exhibition. We thought that this Wild West show would be a most appropriate part of an American exhibition, as it illustrates one of the most heroic phases of our national life, and a phase, too, which has about passed away. We are endeavoring to be most catholic in the exhibition which we shall make. We want the Old World to see us as we were in the beginning, to see what stages we have passed through, and finally to witness our achievements in the arts and manufactures. An American who is not a dude cannot fail to feel proud after visiting the American Exhibition which opens in London the second of next May."