--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Edward H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 1 published: 1904-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Edward H. Anderson, "At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. V—The Liberty Bell," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 1 (November 1904): 12–15.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0801unse start_page: 12 end_page: 15 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. V—The Liberty Bell — 12 IMPROVEMENT ERA. benefit for the labor of her teachers, and the portion of her treassure expended in making an Educational Exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. St. Louis, Mo. [If the Liberty Bell is brought to Oregon in 1905, it will act as a patriotic tie between the East and the West, and tend to cement the interests of the rising generation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the memories of the achievements for which it stands. It should be brought West, if for no other reason. A sketch of the bell and its travels is given balow, compiled by one who was as interested in seeing and touching it as any of the hundreds of children who crowded around it in the Philadelphia building, on the day last June when it was unpacked. Editors.] V. THE LIBERTY BELL. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. It has been truly said that the St. Louis Exposition is more nearly autochthonous in motive and character than any other fair ever held in the United States. Since in motive, display and products, this is a fact in material affairs, resources and strength of the country, there is no good reason why it should not also be true in the sentimental products of our nation. This being the case, which it is, what can sooner appeal to our sentiment than the Liberty Bell? Hence this American patriarch of relics is at St. Louis, as it has been at previous expositions. It has already served for the admiration of thousands, and been the means of propagating feelings of loyalty in other thousands who have up to date visited the Philadelphia building of the fair, where it is carefully placed and guarded for these purposes. Recently, ten thousand western school children petitioned Mayor Weaver, of Philadelphia, asking Liberty Bell be that the taken across the continent again, next year, for exhibition at the Lewis and Clark exposition, to be held in Portland, June 1 to October 15, 1905. As is well known, this exposition will com- AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 13 memorate the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the great Northwest by Captains Lewis and Clark, under the authority of the government of the United States. These first American pioneers who crossed the continent to the Pacific ocean were the means of securing, for the United States, a coast line on the Pacific ocean, and their journey was the direct cause of the acquisition of California, and the subsequent subjugation of the whole West, now extending out into the islands of the Pacific as far as the Philippines. makes the Lewis and Clark exposition of great This importance as celebrating one of the leading events of American history, which was fostered and carried out by Thomas Jefl^erson, author of the Declaration of Independence, then president of the United States. Nothing could be more proper, as is set forth in the petition, than that the Liberty Bell should testify, in this vast western domain, in 1905, to the achievements of Jefferson on the Pacific sea board, as it testified nearly one hundred and thirty yearsago to his achievement on the Atlantic seaboard. It is my opinion that the people of Utah would make a great mistake if they follow the advice recently given in connection with the late Mining congress at Portland, to take no part in the Lewis and Clark exposition. Because a thoughtless coterie of society women, and a paper, the former misled by a charlatan non-resident,once a Congressman, and the latter by political motives* insulted Utah on that occasion, is no good reason why the people of this state, who are practically the pioneers of the West, should sulk, and deny themselves the pleasure and publicity that participation in this great event is sure to bring about. It was political buncombe which Utah can easily afford to treat with contempt, and live down. But this is out of the way of the subject. Every school child is interested in the Liberty Bell, and it is pleasant to notice the truly loyal little Americans gazing in wonder at the revered object, in the beautiful Philadelphia building, at the Exposition grounds in St. Louis. It awakens in the hearts of the spiritual-minded a thrill of love of country which it is good to feel and enjoy. The Liberty Bell is kept in Philadelphia, and belongs to the state of Pennsylvania, but every American feels that he has a right in it. It was first cast in London, England; around its top 14 IMPROVEMENT EH A. is engraved, from Leviticus xxv: 10, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof," and under this inscription another, "By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House in the city of Philadelphia, 1752." The bell was hung in that house in August of that year, and it wasrung once or twice, and then cracked, and had to be melted down and cast over again. This was done by two men in Philadelphia, Pass and Stow, whose names are now upon it. Associated with its memories are the stamp act, and a stopping, by England, of the manufacture of steel and iron in Pennsylvania; also the famous declaration which went forth from the people in the state house, proclaiming, "The Parliament of Great Britain has reduced the people here to the level of slaves;" on each of these occasions it rang. In addition to these, its voice was heard many times before the great ringing which proclaimed liberty in 1776. Since the bell was hung in the old State House,which is now called Independence Hall, it has been out of the building seven times; the first, when it was carried out to Allentown, in 1777, to prevent the British in Philadelphia from capturing it; then, in 1885, when it was lent by Philadelphia to New Orleans; in 1893, when it went to the World's Fair at Chicago; again, in 1895, when it went to the Exposition at Atlanta, Georgia; in 1902, to the South Carolina Exposition, in Charleston; and in 1903, when Boston claimed it for the anniversary of Bunker Hill; and now, in 1904, it came to the great St. Louis Exposition about the middle of June, where it was unpacked to be seen by the millions who visit the Exposition. The bell is twelve feet around the rim, seven feet around the top, and has a clapper three feet two inches long. It weighs two thousand and eighty pounds. It has a great crack in it, so that it cannot be rung any more, but is only to be looked at. Frequently those who see the bell run their fingers down the opening; children throw kisses at it, are delighted to be photographed by it, and old men and old women fall into reveHes by the side of it. One can see old memories play about their faces, as, for a moment they are taken back into the past. The crack is said to have been made in the bell on the sixth of July, 1835, while it was tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshall, who was a survivor of the leaders AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 15 of the Revolution, and one of the members of the convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in 1788. It was thus the announcer of the birth of the Republic, as well as of the death of a survivor of the patriots who sacrificed their property and lives for the establishment thereof. Salt Lake City, Utah. A