Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission. Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
with regal prodigality, has lavished gifts on this fair land, and its people are especially endowed with those qualifications which can not fail to produce the greatest excellence in everything.
But to return to the coming exposition. Everywhere during this pageant of entertainment have we seen evidences of the progress of this enterprise so mighty in its conception as to be astounding. Sites have been assigned to each State and foreign country, and the result already accomplished is spread out before you in brilliant panorama. There is no longer any question about anything but the magnitude of the success of the undertaking. This has been made possible only by the intelligent cooperation of all the people, and to you, as representatives of sister States, I extend most grateful acknowledgment.
The selection of our own metropolitan city as the proper place in which to hold this exposition seems peculiarly fitting. Its very name breathes the spirit of its French ancestry to whom we are so greatly indebted, and its geographical situation is preeminently satisfactory.
To guard our shores, to make impregnable our southern border against foreign assault, and to enlarge the scope of our commerce and liberty was the controlling thought of Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots when the "Purchase Territory" was added to the American Union. Fifteen millions of dollars represented the purchase price, and by a happy coincidence which may not have been altogether accidental, $15,000,000 represented the basic sum by which this exposition first became possible—$5,000,000 contributed by the city of St. Louis, $5,000,000 raised by popular subscription, and $5,000,000 given by the National Government. Missouri has since appropriated $1,000,000, that her resources may be fittingly exploited, while your States have in turn liberally set apart amounts which will lend the magnificence of their products to the scene.
To-day closes the celebration incident to the dedicatory exercises of the exposition, and in the hour of greeting we are reminded that soon we must part for a time. The panoply of war in the execution of our regular and citizen soldiery has joined with the pomp and pageantry of civil life. Their commingling is further proof of the pride of the people in all the institutions of our country. Civilian and soldier have given the weight of their influence to make more impressive the scenes attendant on this display, and will be equally enthusiastic when the gates of the great exhibition are formally opened. Months will pass before that event, but in the meantime an army of the employed will perfect the scheme which, in its full fruition, will herald abroad the triumph of this wonderful exposition.
In conclusion, permit me to say, the welcome of every true Missourian is yours, and in parting a cordial adieu is wafted with the hope expressed for a safe return to your homes and to your people.
Fourth. Music by the Marine Band.
Fifth. Response by Hon. Benj. B. Odell, jr., governor of New York, as follows:
The past, with all of its achievements, with all its successes, is to us but an incentive and guide for the future progress of our country. America still beckons to the oppressed of all lands and holds out the gifts of freedom, and we at this time and upon this occasion should renew our adherence to those policies which have made us a great nation. The future is before us, and the patriotism and self-sacrifice of those who made the country's history so glorious should be an Inspiration to us for all higher ideals of citizenship. Through the golden gates of commerce pours an unceasing stream of immigration which must be amalgamated with American ideas and American principles.
The battles of the past have been for freedom and liberty, and the struggle of the future will be for their preservation, not, however, by force of arms, but through the peaceful methods which come through the education of our people. The declaration which brought our Republic into existence has insured and guaranteed that liberty of conscience and that freedom of action which does not interfere, with the prerogatives or privileges of a man's neighbors.
Capital and labor are the two great elements upon which the prosperity and happiness of our people rest, and when, therefore, aggregations of the one are met by combinations of the other, it should be the aim of all to prevent the clashing of these great interests. The products of toil are worthless unless there be some means by which they can be substituted or transferred for that which labor requires. The concrete form in which these transactions are conducted is the money power or the capital of the land.
Without work all of these fertile fields, these teeming towns, would have been impossible; and without a desire to benefit and elevate humanity, its onward progress would have been useless. To work, to labor, is man's bounden duty, and in the performance of the tasks which have been placed upon him he should be encouraged, and his greatest incentive should be the knowledge that he may transmit to his children and his children's children a higher civilization and greater advantages than he himself possessed.
Trade conditions which would permit to the toiler but a bare sustenance, the bare means of a livelihood, would be a hindrance to human progress, a hindrance not to be removed by all of the maxims of the philosopher or the theories of the doctrinaire.
Promise without fulfillment is barren, but when you can place before the mechanic the assured fact that the performance of his duty means success in life, and that his nonperformance means failure; when you can show him that this law is immutable, you have made of him a useful citizen and have instilled into his mind a firm belief that the freedom and liberty of which we boast is not an inchoate substance to be dreamed of and not enjoyed.
But this desired result can not be secured if combinations of capital, which produce the necessaries of life cheaper and better, are assailed as the enemies of mankind. There is always a mean between those who seek only a fair recompense and return for that which they produce and those who seek undue advantages for the few at the expense of the many. The laws which have been enacted, if properly executed, are sufficient in their force and effort to encourage the one and to punish the other, but in our condemnation let us not forget that with the expansion that has come to our country an expansion of our business relations is also necessary.
This growth has brought us into intimate contact with the markets of the world, and in the struggle that is always before us the competition of trade, if we are to hold our own among the world's producers, we should encourage, not hinder, those who, by their energy, their capital, and their labor, have banded together for the purpose of meeting these new conditions—problems which our individual efforts alone can not solve, but which require the concentrated force and genius of both capital and labor.
Incentive for good citizenship would indeed be lacking if these were taken from us—the opportunities for development, the opportunities for the young man to follow in the footsteps of those who have written their names in the history of our country as the great captains of industry.
Success will always follow perseverance and genius. Every heresy, every doctrine which would teach the young man of this country differently, is an insult to the intelligence of our people, and is in the direction of building up a dangerous element in American society which in time would threaten not only the peace and prosperity we enjoy, but our very institutions themselves.
When you have placed before the young man all of his possibilities, you have made it impossible to make of our Republic a plutocracy controlled by the few at the expense of the many. The individual should count for as much as the aggregation of individuals, because an injury to the one will lead to the destruction of the many.
The question of adjusting and harmonizing the relations of capital and labor is the problem before us to-day, and is one which will become more urgent in the future. Its solution must be along those lines of constitutional right which every citizen has been guaranteed.
Every man is entitled, in the prosecution of his work, to the broadest possible liberty of action and the protection of law—of that law which is the outgrowth of necessity and which seeks to encourage and not to oppress. Such recognition can always be secured if there is a determination upon the part of those charged with the responsibility of government to have it. And who is not?
Every man possessed of a ballot is responsible and has the power not only to formulate, but to criticise and punish as well. If the right be properly exercised, an honest and efficient administration of our affairs can always be secured.