Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

“ 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. ”

“ As to what advancement was shown in the progress of women, I would emphatically answer that advancement was unmistakably apparent in every line of women's educational work—advancement not alone along old lines, but along new as well. One of the greatest steps forward made by woman in the last eleven years, since the Columbian Exposition, has been the throwing open to her of the doors of nearly all of the old established men's colleges, giving her in every country, in every State, and in nearly every large town almost the same free and easy access to learning enjoyed by her brothers. ”

“ Never before had the world seen the kind of national expansion which gave our people all that part of the American continent lying west of the thirteen original States—the greatest landmark in which was the Louisiana Purchase. Our triumph in this process of expansion was indissolubly bound up with the success of our peculiar kind of Federal Government, and this success has been so complete that because of its very completeness we now sometimes fail to appreciate not only the all importance but the tremendous difficulty of the problem with which our nation was originally faced. ”

“ Give to the possessors of our fabulous wealth an ever-increasing philanthropy, devoting a surplus of possessions unheard of by our fathers to education, literature, arts, and mercy, thereby making themselves the beloved and blessed favorites of a happy and grateful people.
We pray Thee that labor and toil may ever be held in due honor and respect in our broad land. Help us to realize that labor, be it of hand or brains, is the sinews and backbone alike of our past, present, and future as a free people. ”

“ As the work of men and women must stand side by side in the world, the proper way is to exhibit it on terms of equal comparison, as was done at St. Louis. If the work is better than the men's, so much the more glory; if not so good, it ought to arouse ambition.
It was a great disappointment to see such a small exhibit by women in this department, a department where such creditable work has been done by women in this country, and if there had been at all a just representation I am sure it would have been a great surprise to some of the foreign visitors. ”

“ He who was the chief actor in the United States in its negotiations, as he signed the perfected instrument, thus declared its effect and far-reaching consequences: "The instrument which we have just signed will cause no tears to be shed. It prepares ages of happiness for innumerable generations of human creatures. The Mississippi and the Missouri will see them succeed one another, truly worthy of the regard and care of Providence in the bosom of equality under just laws, freed from the errors of superstition and the scourges of bad government." ”

“ And how can it be said that there was no Providence in the unexpected unyielding and successful fight for continued freedom on the part of the negroes of Santo Domingo, or in the fatal pestilence that vied with bloody warfare in the destruction of the army of subjugation, or in the fever of war and aggression which heated the blood of Bonaparte, all combining to turn him away from the occupation of the Louisiana Territory? ”

“ President, it is my pleasing privilege and high honor to present to you for dedication the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. May a high standard of citizenship and broader humanity and the mission of the country whose worthy representative you are be sustained and fostered and promoted by the uses to which these structures are devoted. May the happiness of mankind be advanced and broadened by the lofty purposes that inspired this undertaking and moved our own and sister countries to unite in its accomplishment. ”

“ If ever the engrossing conclusions of your wonderful actual prosperity, the intensity of your life, made one of your strenuous citizens forget what your present owes to your past, let him ascend the steps of your national capitol, let him pause before its majestic gates, and there he will behold, carved in bronze on the threshold of your proudest monument, the effigies and the names of those Spanish heroes who discovered, conquered, and pointed to you the way in which path you have so successfully followed. ”

“ The people of this city, grateful for the honor conferred, promptly accepted it and cheerfully assumed the immense responsibility it entailed. The century just closed, unequaled as it was in every line of progress, furnishes no more striking evidence of the advance of civilization than the development of the Louisiana territory. A celebration in such an age and in such a country, to be fit, should be upon a scale in keeping with the best and the highest, and should be planned upon lines broad enough to take in every people and every clime. ”

“ The fine arts, music, poetry, painting, and sculpture, have been the educators of nations. Now that woman's thought is finding greater expression, their mental and moral influence on both sexes will be great; and as such expositions are world-wide educators, the beneficent influence of women as coworkers and practical idealists is above and beyond computation as a proper exposition attraction. It was a great surprise to the millions of people who saw the excellence of talent that was shown by the women artists, and the fact that women did it elevated the sentiment and appreciation of art. ”

“ We are all proud of our American citizenship. Let us leave this place with this feeling stimulated by the sentiments born of the occasion. Let us appreciate more keenly than ever how vitally necessary it is to our country's weal that everyone within its citizenship should be clean minded in political aim and aspiration, sincere and honest in his conception of our country's mission, and aroused to higher and more responsive patriotism by the reflection that it is a solemn thing to belong to a people favored of God. ”

“ When we consider that Jefferson at one time was willing to give $2,000,000 for New Orleans alone, we can marvel that so vast an empire as the whole province should come to us for the price paid. We can afford to overlook any defects in the treaty details and forever hold in gratitude the illustrious men who, by their diplomatic skill, their earnestness of purpose, and well-directed efforts, achieved one of the greatest triumphs in the world's history. ”

“ The cycle of one hundred years, whose close we have just passed, incomparable as it was in the discovery and the invention and the application of forces and methods in the physical world, and remarkable as it was for an advancement in every line of thought and research, will be surpassed and distanced by the new century upon which we have entered if the material potentialities and the intellectual faculties of mankind can be utilized and trained toward a common end, and that end the uplifting of the human race and the promotion of its happiness. ”

“ And now, O Lord, our God, we dedicate to Thee and to the welfare of our common humanity these buildings and grounds which Thy providence has made possible. Bless with Thy presence and favor this great festival of the nations that it may help to make stronger the bonds of human brotherhood in all the world. ”

“ And as neither capital alone, nor labor alone, could have built this wonderful exposition, grant, O God, that capital and labor all over our glorious land may learn to join hands in fair-minded cooperation for the upbuilding of such conditions of society which will prove an inspiration to ourselves and a worthy example to others, ending all forms of illegal coercion by one party or the other, and calling into permanent existence that truest and greatest America which is ever the dream of loyal and patriotic hearts. ”

“ The board of lady managers of this vast world's fair earnestly hopes that at every future exposition woman may be accorded that dignified position that she has so splendidly earned by her own endeavors, and that each time a résumé of her work achieved is recorded new fields of usefulness may be found added thereto. No fear need be entertained that she will not always demonstrate that she does contribute her full share toward the progress and prosperity of nations and the uplifting of humanity. ”

“ The United States could hardly have done more for the furtherance of the development of the great rich district of Alaska, with its untold wealth in minerals and its great possibilities in agriculture, than it did by securing to the people of Alaska an opportunity to display their resources and products to the inspection of the millions who have visited the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The exhibits shown by them excited the utmost wonder and surprise in the minds of many witnessing them, who had been in ignorance of the resources of their country. ”

“ It was all the more amazing to find that Germany, the very Germany who, by general verdict, had given the most complete exhibit of household art ever shown at any exposition, who, as I have just pointed out had brought forward its craftswomen in no contemptible role, should all unconsciously furnish the striking, the classical example of the folly of separating the sexes at an exposition. ”

“ Great God, the God of our fathers and of their children, accept our heartfelt worship and gratitude. We bless Thy holy name for that wonderful providence of bountiful love and inspiring benevolence by which Thou hast made us a great and mighty nation out of an insignificant, struggling, and sorrow-laden beginning. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In every exposition building where a State could have an exhibit Missouri's exhibit was found. In every building where only exhibits by individuals, business firms, or corporations were permitted, Missourians made display of the products of their industry and skill. The Missouri State Building was among the finest upon the grounds. The displays of the State in the Agriculture, Horticulture, Education, Mining, Forestry, Live Stock, Poultry, Dairying, Fish and Game, and Woman's Work were noted for artistic beauty and comprehensiveness. ”

“ The consensus of opinion was that "no world's fair was complete without a jury composed of men and women, a just representation," working in unison and perfect accord with only one end in view—justice to all. ”

“ The question of the value of the product or process, as measured by its usefulness or beneficent influence on mankind, is so vast that a flood of answers sweep over one, embracing the whole field of women's usefulness and the whole realm of education. The usefulness of the discovery of radium has scarcely been estimated as yet, nor has the beneficent influence of teaching defectives, and of many of the household inventions been fully enjoyed up to this time. ”

“ Thou hast given us our reason and the power of cooperation with one another in all worthy ends looking to the well-being of our race. Civilization with its conquests over the material world is possible only with Thy aid. Christianity with its conquests over evil is the work of God and man, as Thou dost call us to be Thy fellow-workers and dost inspire us with courage and faith. ”

“ And at this great exposition, by the elimination of the special woman's department, the exhibits of woman's work for the first time in this country stood solely and independently by the side of the exhibits by men, and the industrial equality and the value of the contributions to the industries, sciences, and arts of both were judged by the same standards. Let no concern, therefore, be felt as to the future advancement of women. ”

“ A chief attraction of the New Zealand exhibit was the opportunity it provided Americans for personally interrogating the New Zealand representatives concerning the government of their country. Political economists in America, as in other parts of the world, have in recent years been pointing to New Zealand as a country where a government fulfills its proper functions in caring for the welfare of the whole of the people, where each man and woman takes a recognized and effective part in the making of the laws which govern them, and where high ideals of modern civilization are lived up to. ”

“ This enormous tract of land that for a century had been steadily contributing to the material advancement of the world was now to show that it was ready and able to assume its full share not only in practical life and progress but in the deeper phases of science and art, and to demonstrate the nature of its resources by participation in the greatest universal exposition ever held. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The sponsorship of our Government, and its invitation to other nations to participate, vested in the citizens of the United States, not only as a nation but as individuals, the responsibility of acceptably placing before the eyes of the world the achievements and advancement not only of their own but of all civilized and semicivilized nations.
The importance of the event rendered it a fitting occasion for women again to exhibit to the world the record of their increasing development and progress. ”