enditure of the sum of $20,000 for
furnishing the building. The report of this committee is as follows:

The president of the board of lady managers having been elected
active chairman of the house-furnishing committee, with power to
select her own committee, named Mrs. Mary Phelps Montgomery and
Mrs. John M. Holcombe as the other members.

At the same meeting of the board at which the chairman was
named, the sum of $20,000 was fixed as the maximum amount that
might be expended for house-furnishing purposes by the
committee. This sum was to cover all expenditures for electric
wiring and fixtures, electric bells, push buttons, and
annunciators; tinting of walls and staining of floors; water
connections, filters, water heaters, bath tubs, sinks, etc.; all
wooden partitions in dormitories; window shades, screens, and
awnings; arrangements for butler's pantry; rugs, carpets,
matting, and all floor covering; furniture, glass, china, and
kitchen utensils; table and bed linen, blankets--indeed, every
expenditure attending the fitting out and appointing of the
building.

The committee was fortunate in arranging for part of the work,
in preparing the building for occupancy, by securing the workmen
that were employed by the Government on its building, and had
been brought from Washington for that purpose; these men could
contract for a longer stay at better rates than were obtainable
in St. Louis. The tremendous advance in the price of labor about
this time led the committee to be most cautious in its
expenditures, not knowing the extent of the demands that might
be made upon their fund before the arranging of the building was
completed. President Francis, in his address to the board on
December 15, 1903, has already given some of the difficulties
experienced by the Exposition Company on the question of the
cost of labor up to that date. By the time of the opening of the
exposition the members of this committee had to meet even
greater prices, as, instead of time and one-half for overtime,
the demands of the workmen had risen to double time for
overtime. This involved paying $1.50 per hour instead of 75
cents for certain kinds of work necessary to be completed by
opening day.

Most of the furniture, rugs, carpets, curtains, glass, and china
were purchased in New York City, b