No further information as to the sale of the salvage was ever furnished me, nor was any notice given me that further or additional bids would be received.

I had never at any time been furnished a list of the property for sale, and made my bid on the buildings as shown by the specifications prepared by Mr. Taylor, director of works.  I requested a list of the property for sale, but was never able to get one.

As soon as I heard that the property of the exposition was to be sold to the Chicago House Wrecking Company for the sum of $386,000 I wrote a letter to President Francis as follows: 

    DECEMBER 5, 1905.

GENTLEMEN:  Noticing in the daily papers that you will sell the entire property owned by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, including railway tracks, exhibit and other buildings, fencing, furniture, wiring, lamps, piping, plumbing, machinery, etc.—­in fact, everything owned by the company.  If this is the fact we can pay you about $400,000 and perhaps more.  Will you kindly furnish us a complete list of everything that you have for sale and specified time of removal, so we can give you an intelligent bid or proposition?

    Very respectfully,
    SCHOELLHORN-ALBRECHT REAL ESTATE CO.,
    Per H.S.  ALBRECHT, President.

    President D.R.  FRANCIS and
    BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON SALVAGE,
    Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis.

I failed to receive a reply to the above letter or to receive a list of the property to be sold, and was not notified that further bids would be received therefor.  As far as I know, none of the former bidders, nor any one else, for that matter, were given the slightest opportunity to bid on the whole property, except the Chicago House Wrecking Company.

There seemed to be a disposition on the part of the salvage committee to observe the greatest secrecy in procuring the bids and the awarding of the contract.  The property was not properly advertised and lists were not furnished to bidders, as is customary in public sales, where large amounts of valuable property is to be sold.

From the contract between the Exposition Company and the Chicago House Wrecking Company, now a matter of record here, I have noticed the nature of the material and property sold to the Chicago House Wrecking Company, and had I been furnished a list of that property I would have bid $750,000, all cash, and would have made a great profit on it at that price.  If the property had been properly listed and widely advertised, much higher bids would have been made.  If the property had been properly advertised and had been sold at public auction, in detail, I am safe in saying that the Exposition Company would have realized more than $1,000,000 out of the salvage.  In my opinion the property delivered to the Chicago House Wrecking Company was of the market value of fully $1,500,000.

H.S.  ALBRECHT.