President, Miss Mary Van Buren Vanderpoel. Treasurer, Mrs. James E. Pope. It has eighteen Vice-Presidents and an Executive Board of eleven members. We acknowledge with appreciation the Auxiliary's contribution of $100 to the funds of this Society during the past year. CONCLUSION OF REPORT· In the foregoing pages we have given a very inadequate idea of the scope and wide activities of this Society. A large amount of detailed work constantly engages its attention and the volume of its correspondence with all parts of the United States and with many foreign countries has reached proportions which tax to the utmost the resources of its headquarters. In the spirit of cordial co-operation with other organizations, patriotic and civic, the officers and Trustees have devoted much time, thought and labor to conferences, hearings, public addresses, private interviews, and various other means of promoting the public interests. The increasing demands upon the Society from private citizens, the public press, public officials and governmental departments at home and abroad are convincing evidence that the Society is rendering a useful service not only to the State of New York, but also to the public generally. In their knowledge of the Society's useful function, the members, officers and Trustees find adequate compensation for their contributions of time, money, and personal service. Following this Report will be found the appendices mentioned in the foregoing pages, also three on the subjects of "Stadiums, Ancient and Modern," "The Transcontinental Trails," and "The Spanish Missions of California," which have engaged our attention during the past year. All of which is respectfully submitted. GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ, EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL, President. Secretary. APPENDIX A. FOURTH OF JULY, 1911, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. An Account of the Second Celebration Designed to Establish [297] FOURTH OF JULY, 1911, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. In our last Annual Report (1911), we gave an account of the celebration of the Fourth of July, 1910, in the City of New York, which was designed to establish a more rational way than heretofore for celebrating Independence Day. Encouraged by the success of that celebration,* His Honor the Mayor of the City, William J. Gaynor, in April, 1911, again appointed a committee of citizens, subsequently increased to 500, to arrange for a similar celebration of Independence Day that year, and again, as in 1910. the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society was accorded the honor of having charge of the exercises at the City Hall. The first meeting of the Mayor's Committee was held in the Aldermanic Chamber of the City Hall on April 20, 1911. After an opening address by Mayor Gaynor, the committee organized by electing the following officers: President: Hon. Herman Ridder. Vice-President: Edward Hagaman Hall, L. H. D. Secretary: Mr. William A. Johnston. Subsequently, President Ridder appointed the following com mittees: Manhattan Borough: Chairman, Mr. Ralph Pulitzer; Secretary, Mr. Alfred J. Talley. Brooklyn Borough: Chairman, Col. James D. Bell; Secretary, Mr. John B. Creighton. Queens Borough: Chairman, Mr. Louis Windmuller; Secretary, Mr. Herbert A. O'Brien. Richmond Borough: Chairman, Mr. Eugene Lamb Richards, Jr.; Secretary, Mr. Cornelius G. Kolff. Bronx Borough: Chairman, Hon. James L. Wells; Secretary, Mr. Augustus W. Schlemmer. * The celebration of 1910 attracted widespread attention. A distinguished Russian scientist, Dr. Onésime Clere, of Ekaterinburg, Russia, who read our account of the proceedings, wrote that he was deeply interested in it. Aldermanic: Chairman, Hon. Frank Dowling; Vice-Chairman, Hon. Bryant Willard; Secretary, Mr. Albert E. Hull. Armories: Chairman, Major-Gen. Charles F. Roe; Secretary, Lieut. Col. George A. Wingate. Athletic Sports: Chairman, Mr. James E. Sullivan. City Hall: Chairman, George Frederick Kunz, Ph. D., Sc. D.; Secretary, Mr. Joseph L. Delafield. Decorations: Chairman, Mr. Charles R. Lamb; Vice-Chairman, Mr. Louis A. Ames. Finance: Chairman, Mr. James S. Cushman. Fireworks: Chairman, Hon. Samuel Marx; Secretary, Mr. Jay Finn. Lectures: Henry M. Leipziger, Ph. D., LL. D. Music: Chairman, Mr. Louis Wiley; Vice-Chairman, Prof. Henry T. Fleck; Secretary, Mr. Charles W. Price. Parade of Nations: Chairman, Hon. Herman A. Metz; Secretary, Mr. Charles H. Murray. Park, Police and Fire Commissioners: Hon. Charles B. Stover, Hon. Thomas J. Higgins, Hon. Michael J. Kennedy, Hon. Rhinelander Waldo and Hon. Joseph Johnson, Jr. Press: Chairman, Mr. Victor Ridder. School Celebrations: Chairman, William H. Maxwell, Ph. D., LL. D.; Secretary, Dr. Edward W. Stitt. Singing Societies: Chairman, Mr. Theodore Henninger. The meetings of the general committee were held in the library of the President, Mr. Ridder, at No. 182 William street, New York. On June 1, 1911, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment authorized the issue of $50,000 special revenue bonds for the celebration, in accordance with the resolution adopted by the Board of Aldermen on May 9 requesting the same. In addition to that amount, the Mayor's Committee raised about $10,000 by private subscriptions. Exercises in City Hall at 9 A. M. As the first meeting of the Common Council in the present City Hall was held in the Mayor's Room on August 12, 1811, it was arranged to hold, in the same room, exercises commemorative of the one hundred years of occupation of the building. The opening exercises of the day, therefore, consisted of a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen and other proceedings in the Mayor's Re |