Louisiana Purchase Exposition

“ In many of the magnificent places, such as Education, Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Fish and Game, Mines and Metallurgy, our State has collective exhibits which show her varied resources. In this beautiful structure will be evidenced further proof of New York's generous participation in this great Exposition. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition has a deep interest for New York, for one of the principal figures instrumental in bringing about that purchase was Livingston, a distinguished son of the Empire State, and it was he who negotiated the treaty and was first to sign it. ”

“ People declared that it could not be excelled, but hardly a decade has passed when the enterprising, energetic citizens of the commercial metropolis of the great southwest arranged another World's Fair to commemorate the historical events of the famous Louisiana purchase, even upon a larger scale and overshadowing all others in this country. We may exclaim justly—Will there ever be another Exposition greater and more important than the one just about to close?
"We seem to marvel at nothing in this progressive age. ”

“ 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? ”

“ There is no phase of American history which should inspire us with greater pride than the consummation of the purchase of the Louisiana tract, an event which opened the pathway to the West, and made possible the powerful nation to which we owe our allegiance. Trade, the inspiration for travel, which brought about the discovery and civilization of the Western Hemisphere, would have demanded inevitably the cession to the United States of the vast regions beyond the Mississippi. ”

“ The history of the land comprised within the limits of the Purchase is an epitome of the entire history of our people. Within these limits we have gradually built up State after State, until now they many times over surpass in wealth, in population, and in many-sided development the original thirteen States as they were when their delegates met in the Continental Congress. ”

“ Now, in 1903, in the altered conditions, we must meet the changed and changing problems with the spirit shown by the men who in 1803 and in subsequent years, gained, explored, conquered, and settled this vast territory, then a desert, now filled with thriving and populous States.
The old days were great because the men who lived in them had mighty qualities; and we must make the new days great by showing the same qualities. We must insist upon courage and resolution, upon hardihood, tenacity, and fertility in resource; we must insist upon the strong virile virtues ”

“ This, then, is the great historic significance of the movement of continental expansion, in which the Louisiana Purchase was the most striking single achievement. It stands out in marked relief even among the feats of a nation of pioneers, a nation whose people have, from the beginning, been picked out by a process of natural selection from among the most enterprising individuals of the nations of western Europe. ”

“ The exploitation may continue for several years. Advertisements have appeared in newspapers in St. Louis, Omaha, Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, and many other smaller towns. The aggregate of expenditure in the next few years will be much more than set apart for the exhibition.
All of the East India exhibits were contributed by individuals and were confined to the East India Building, but were grouped under the heads of art, liberal arts, manufactures, and agriculture. ”

“ By this exposition it was not only above all else to illustrate the marvelous development of the territory whose acquisition it was meant to celebrate, but it was likewise "to provide for a comparative display of the products, natural and artificial, of the nations of the world, to be arranged in classified groups, the exhibits of each nation in every class to be set down by the side of those of all other nations, thereby better to insure comparison and an intelligent verdict as to merit by the direct and practical contrast thus secured." ”