onstructed, or acquired by the said Exposition Company,
excepting as hereinafter mentioned."

Eleventh. That according to an estimate made by several
reputable contractors the property sold was of the reasonable
value of $1,955,000.

Answer. The Exposition Company has no knowledge of such
estimates. If contractors did place such estimates upon the
value of the physical property they were singularly lacking in
enterprise when they did not come forward with higher bids. The
amount realized was the highest bid made for the property.

Twelfth. That the Chicago House Wrecking Company, through undue
advantage, obtained inside information as to the extent and
value of the property to be sold, and thereby to the material
injury of the United States secured a contract with the
Exposition Company insuring a profit of more than $1,000,000.

Answer. The Chicago House Wrecking Company obtained no
information that was not accessible to and obtainable by any
other bidder.

Very respectfully,
WALTER B. STEVENS,
_Secretary_.

Hon. THOMAS H. CARTER,
_President National Commission,
_Louisiana Purchase Exposition_.

ST. LOUIS, _March 7, 1905_.

MY DEAR SENATOR: I send herewith, by direction of the executive
committee, a reply to the letter from the Commission of February
28. President Francis is absent from the city, having gone last
week to New Orleans. I think I should add something from my
personal knowledge. Mr. Richey is well known to me, and has been
for years. He must have been badly misinformed to have made such
allegations as are contained in the letter. I have all of the
minutes of the various meetings and a collection of
correspondence which go to show that many of these allegations
are without foundation. Some of them, I can see, are inferences
drawn from misstatements of the facts and from misunderstandings
of the real situation.

I have never so much as heard an intimation that any director of
the company, or anyone else who knew of the transactions,
protested against the sale or adversely criticised the amount
realized. On the other hand, the general impression among
directors and on the part of the public seems to be that the
Exposition Company realized more than was to be expected. The
salvage of the World's Fair in Chicago sold for $80,