"In the main this volume consists of articles originally published in the San Francisco Bulletin. It includes material gathered from many visits to the Exposition grounds and from many talks with men concerned in the organization and the building and ornamentation. The brief history that forms the Introduction gives an account of the development. For me as I presume for most people the thing done no matter how interesting it may he is never so interesting as the doing of the thing the play of the forces behind. Even in the talk with the architect where the finished Exposition itself is discussed I have tried to keep in mind those forces and wherever I could to indicate their play."