Internal Strife Over World’s Fair Funds
A dispute over the management of state funds for the Chicago World's Fair exhibit boils over as board members clash.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
When Mrs. C. W. Griggs was shown Mrs. Houghton’s statement attacking Mrs. Griggs and herself, she exclaimed: 'The idea! Mrs. Houghton must think she holds several positions and is entitled to draw money from all of them. Besides, we don't intend to pay out money to Mrs. Houghton unless we know where it is going to. This board was formed by the members of the national board for work, and their alternates when the money was appropriated by the state legislature. My opinion is that Mrs. Houghton must be getting money from the national commission. If she is superintendent, we don't want to pay her money from our funds, and then have her paid per month from other sources. Now that is not right. I signed vouchers for which money was given to Mrs. Houghton before she left for Chicago, and she took it in cash with her. So I won’t sign any more vouchers until we know where we stand.'
“Mrs. Houghton must think she holds several positions and is entitled to draw money from all of them.”
Public funding for civic projects has always been a lightning rod for controversy. This 1893 squabble regarding state representation and fiscal transparency at the Chicago World's Fair echoes modern debates about the oversight of city-funded commissions.
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