Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission. Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
the Christian world from the baneful invasion of African hordes.
Spain will apply to the arts of peace, to the conquests of progress, that same and indomitable spirit which enabled her to enrich the Old World with a new one, over whose brilliant destinies she watches and ever will watch with intense and undying interest.
Spain hails with pleasure an opportunity like your future exposition will afford of showing her peaceful conquests in the domains of labor, and is especially bent on attracting toward her the benefits to be derived from this growing tendency of her people to an everlasting commercial, agricultural, and industrial interchange. She, more than over anxious to cultivate and strengthen her friendly relations with the world, could not but welcome with sympathy the announcement of this vast enterprise as a right step toward that blending of her material and moral interests with those of other nations, to that better understanding among them which she will indefatigably strive to attain.
You can therefore rest assured, Mr. President, that my country will contribute to the World's Fair and enhance with its varied exhibits its universal and historical features. I am, in fact, authorized to inform you that His Majesty's Government has decided to ask for the requisite appropriation as soon as Parliament assembles. Spain will appear before you, if not in all the splendor that the requirements of her wise, economical programme now forbid, at least in the manly garb of a nation meaning to show you and to show the world that her gloriously checkered career, instead of impairing our vitality, has retempered the ever-elastic steel of our national fiber and concentrated and directed all its latent energies toward the modern conquests of progress, labor, and civilization to which the city of St. Louis is now erecting a temple worthy of the city itself and of the auspicious event we are now commemorating.
And now, Mr. President, in wishing success to your noble undertaking, in thanking you and this city for its cordial hospitality, I beg to acknowledge also my gratitude for the numerous tokens and expressions of good will toward Spain which have been uttered during this solemn celebration and which I so fully appreciate.
I beg to salute reverently in that new-born flag of your exhibition and august emblem of peace and labor, a touching appeal to fraternity among nations. In that flag are blended the past and the present with the glorious colors of the three nations representative of St. Louis's early and contemporary history. Let us welcome its appealing and eloquent symbolism like the herald of an ever-cloudless future.
Eighth. "Hallelujah Chorus" from The Messiah.
Ninth. Benediction by Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls:
Almighty God, Heavenly Father, whose all-wise Providence did lead our fathers across the seas to this land, and Who hath given their children a goodly heritage, let Thy blessing rest upon their children. Let Thy blessings rest upon all the nations represented here to-day and upon the representatives. May we continue in the bonds of peace for all time. May the grace of God, mercy, and peace be with us. Amen.
Tenth. Centennial salute of 100 guns.
PROGRAMME
STATE DAY, MAY 2, 1903.
The civic parade assembled at 10.30 a.m. under direction of Col. Eugene J. Spencer, marshal of the day, and moved from the junction of Grand avenue and Lindell boulevard through Forest Park to the exposition grounds, where the parade was reviewed by the governors of the States.
At 1.30 p. m. the audience assembled in the Liberal Arts Building. The assembly was called to order by Mr. William H. Thompson, chairman of the committee on grounds and buildings, and the following programme was carried out:
First. Invocation by Rev. William R. Harper:
Our Father which art in Heaven, whose work for man no man knows,
whose heart is full of wisdom, to Thee be our prayers directed.
Hallowed be Thy name. Thou art the pure and the very great. May
Thy peace be manifested to us in all Thy work.
Give us this day our daily bread, and for the following day. Forgive us our sins, as well as forgive them that sin against us. Take away all hatred and strife and whatever prejudice may hinder us from union and concord. Let us be under one bond of faith and peace.
Show us Thy kindness and so fill us with Thy goodness that our souls may be filled with the manifold delights of charity and good will. Let nations abide under Thy law, for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.
Second. Address by Mr. William Lindsay, of the National Commission, president of the day, as follows:
MR. PRESIDENT AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: This is the last day of the interesting and memorable ceremonies with which the great exposition has been inaugurated. We have had with us the chief representative of the people. The next day we had with us the diplomats, the representatives of foreign climes. To-day we have with us the toilers. We have had the governors of the sovereign States which make up this great Union. When I beheld the great cavalcade I felt that the time had almost come when the industries will solely be confined to working for peace and divorced from devotion to the implements of war.
It is not merely a question of a fair profit upon money that is uppermost before the people to-day. It is not the question of a fair return for labor. But it is the question of equitable distribution of the products of labor and of the surplus of capital. This is the great question; that is what involves the happiness of mankind, and the man who solves that question will rise in greatness to such a point that other statesmen, or even Presidents, will pale into insignificance.
This is labor day, and as such we should honor it.
And the governors. We had governors before ever we had a President. Each State represents yet a great residuum of power. In the hands of State are the life and liberty of the people. We must remember that the governors, representing the unit of the national power, have the first place in national precedence.
There is on the right of me the governor of the great Empire State of the Atlantic. There is on the left of me the governor of the great Empire State of the Louisiana Purchase. I need not introduce to you the governor of Missouri, but it is upon the programme, and hence I will say the words—I beg to introduce Governor A.M. Dockery, who will now address you.
Third. Address of welcome by Hon. A.M. Dockery, governor of Missouri, as follows:
The pleasing duty devolves upon me of extending a cordial greeting in behalf of the people of Missouri to you as the chief magistrates and representatives of sister States, who come with kindly messages and substantial evidence of the nation's interest in our stupendous undertaking. The work already completed and yet to be done could only be accomplished by a people known and respected as the incarnation of intelligent, ennobling enterprise.
The occasion which will bring us together is the precursor of the most marvelous exhibition the world has ever seen. The wealth, the ingenuity, the forethought, and the ability of all nations will contribute to this magnificent result. The masterful statesmanship of Thomas Jefferson builded better than even he could know when he purchased from the Emperor Napoleon this vast domain—the connecting link between the fair country skirting the Atlantic coast, which had only been recently emancipated from despotic rule, and the rich possession on our west, extending to the Pacific Ocean.
The Mississippi River marks the eastern limit of this priceless acquisition. Sweeping away to the west, the south, and the north, its area of 14 States and Territories embraces great cities, beautiful towns and villages, farms and gardens, mighty waterways, vast railway systems, and a wealth of gold, silver, and other resources which a wise Providence provided for His people. Can the mind of man conceive a more resplendent territory? And when it is remembered that the Louisiana Purchase States are only a part of the still more glorious whole, is it any wonder that the American people are proud of their country and true to their Government?
Nature,