Chapter XII: Section I: The system of awards will be competitive. The merit of (1)

exhibits as determined by the jury of awards will be manifested
by the issuance of diplomas, which will be divided into four
classes; a grand prize, a gold medal, a silver medal, and a
bronze medal.

SEC. II. No exhibit can be excluded from competition for award
without the consent of the president of the Exposition Company,
after a review of the reasons or motives by competent
authorities hereafter to be provided.

SEC. III. In a fixed ratio to the number of exhibits, but
reserving to the citizens of the United States approximately 60
per cent of the jury membership, the construction of the
international jury will be based upon a predetermined number of
judges allotted to each group of the classification and upon the
number and importance of the exhibits in such group.

SEC. IV. A chairman of the group jury will be elected by his
colleagues in each group, this chairman to become, by right of
his position, a member of the department jury, which department
jury shall in turn elect its chairman, who shall thereupon
become a member of the superior jury.

SEC. V. Special rules and regulations governing the system of
making awards and determining the extent to which foreign
countries may have representation on the juries will be
hereafter promulgated.

SEC. VI. Allotment of space for exhibitors, the classification
of exhibits, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the
exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall be done
and performed by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company,
subject, however, to the approval of the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition Commission.

DAVID R. FRANCIS, _President_.

Attest:
WALTER B. STEVENS,
_Secretary_.

On February 7, 1902, the Commission, subject to the approval of the Exposition Company, which approval was thereafter given, adopted the following general rules, prescribing the general scope of the duties to be performed by the board of lady managers, to wit:

First. To appoint one member of all committees authorized to
award prizes for such exhibits as may have been produced in
whole or in part by female labor.

Second. To exercise general supervisory control over such
features of the exposition as may be specially devoted to
woman's work.

Third. To take part in the ceremonies connected with the
dedication of the buildings of the exposition, and in all
official functions in which women may be invited to participate,
and in other official functions upon the request of the company
and the Commission.

Fourth. To elect such officers, appoint such committees, and to
make and promulgate such rules and regulations as may be deemed
necessary for the efficient discharge of the duties aforesaid;
provided, that said board shall not make any expenditures nor
incur any financial obligation except under authority previously
obtained from the company and the Commission.

The members of the board of lady managers voluntarily proposed to serve without compensation, and in view of such proposal, at a conference between the Commission and the president of the Exposition Company, it was decided to remunerate them for their traveling and other expenses while attending meetings of the board by an allowance of 5 cents per mile for travel and a per diem allowance of $6 in lieu of subsistence during the sessions of the board.

It was decided, also, that the membership of the board be increased to a maximum of 24 members.

Early in 1902 it became evident that it would be necessary to postpone the exposition for one year, and the Exposition Company consequently notified Congress to that effect.

In the act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, and for other purposes, approved June 28, 1902, provision was made for the postponement of the Exposition until 1904 in terms as follows:

_Provided, further:_ That sections eight and twelve of an act
entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth
anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the
United States by holding an international exhibition of arts,
industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine,
forest, and sea in the city of Saint Louis, in the State of
Missouri," approved March third, nineteen hundred and one, be,
and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 8. That said Commission shall provide for the dedication of
the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in said city
of Saint Louis not later than the thirtieth day of April,
nineteen hundred and three, with appropriate ceremonies, and
thereafter said exposition shall be opened to visitors at such
time as may be designated by said company, subject to the
approval of said Commission, not later than the first day of
May, nineteen hundred and four, and shall be closed at such time
as the National Commission may determine, subject to the
approval of said company, but not later than the first day of
December thereafter.

SEC. 12. That the National Commission hereby authorized shall
cease to exist on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and
five.

On July 1, 1902 the following proclamation, announcing the postponement of the exposition, was issued by the President of the United States:

Whereas the President on August 20, 1901, issued his
proclamation stating that he has been advised by the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition Commission, pursuant to the provisions of
section 9 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901,
entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth
anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the
United States by holding an international exhibition of arts,
industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine,
forest, and sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of
Missouri," that provision had been made for grounds and
buildings for the uses specified in the said mentioned act of
Congress;

Whereas it was declared and proclaimed by the President in his
aforesaid proclamation that such international exhibition would
be opened in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri,
not later than the 1st day of May, 1903, and be closed not later
than the 1st day of December thereafter;

And whereas section 8 of the act of Congress approved June 28,
1902, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil
expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1903, and for other purposes," fixes a subsequent date for the
holding of the said international exhibition, and specifically
states that said Commission shall provide for the dedication of
the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in said city
of St. Louis not later than the 30th day of April, 1903, with
appropriate ceremonies, and thereafter said exposition shall be
opened to visitors at such time as may be designated by said
company, subject to the approval of said Commission, not later
than the 1st day of May, 1904, and shall be closed at such time
as the National Commission may determine, subject to the
approval of said company, but not later than the 1st day of
December thereafter;

Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United
States, do hereby declare and proclaim the aforesaid provision
of law to the end that it may definitely and formally be known
that such international exhibition will be opened in the city of
St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, not later than May 1, 1904,
and will be closed not later than December 1 of that year.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington the 1st day of July, 1902, and of
the independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-sixth.

[SEAL.]

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

By the President:
DAVID J. HILL,
Acting Secretary of State.

On April 30, 1903, the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition were dedicated in the city of St. Louis under the direction of the Commission.

PROGRAMME

CENTENNIAL DAY, APRIL 30, 1903.

GRAND MARSHAL, MAJ. GEN. HENRY C. CORBIN, UNITED STATES ARMY. * * * * *

At 10 o'clock a.m. the freedom of the city was tendered to the President of the United States by the mayor of St. Louis.

The military parade, composed of United States troops and the National Guard in attendance, assembled under direction of the grand marshal and moved from the junction of Grand avenue and Lindell boulevard promptly at half-past 10 o'clock, preceded by the President of the United States and official guests in carriages, through Forest Park to the exposition grounds, where the Presidential salute was fired, and the parade was reviewed by the President of the United States.

At 1.30 p.m. a grand band concert took place, the doors of the Liberal Arts Building, where the dedication exercises were held, were thrown open, and the audience seated under direction of the guards and ushers.

Promptly at 2 o'clock the assembly was called to order by Hon. David R. Francis, president of the Exposition Company, and the following programme was carried out:

First. Invocation by his eminence Cardinal James Gibbons, as follows:

We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice, through Whom
authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and
judgment decreed, assist with the Holy Spirit of counsel and
fortitude the President of the United States, that his
Administration may be conducted in righteousness and be
eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides, by
encouraging due respect for virtue and religion, by a faithful
execution of the laws in justice and mercy, and by restraining
vice and immorality.

By the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of
Congress and shine forth in all their proceedings and laws
framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the
preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the
increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge, and may
perpetuate to us the blessings of equal liberty.

We pray for his excellency, the governor of this State, for the
members of the legislature, for all judges, magistrates, and
other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare,
that they may be enabled by Thy powerful protection to discharge
the duties of their respective stations with honesty and
ability.

We pray for the president and directors of the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition, that their arduous labors may be crowned
with success, and may redound to the greater growth and
development of this flourishing city on the banks of the Father
of Waters.

May this vast territory which was peacefully acquired a hundred
years ago be for all time to come the tranquil and happy abode
of millions of enlightened, God-fearing, and industrious people
engaged in the various pursuits and avocations of life. As this
new domain was added to our possessions without sanguinary
strife, so may its soil never be stained by bloodshed in any
foreign or domestic warfare.

May this commemorative exposition to which the family of nations
are generously contributing their treasures of art and industry
bind together the governments of the earth in closer ties of
fellowship and good will, and of social and commercial
intercourse. May it hasten the dawn of the reign of the Prince
of Peace, when national conflicts will be adjusted, not by
hostile armies, but by permanent courts of arbitration.

May this international exposition, inaugurated in the interests
of people and commerce, help to break down the walls of
dissension, of jealousy, and prejudice that divides race from
race, nation from nation, and people from people, by proclaiming
aloud the sublime gospel truth that we are all children of the
same God, brothers and sisters of the same Lord Jesus Christ,
and that we are all aspiring to a glorious inheritance in the
everlasting kingdom of our common Father.

Second. Address by Mr. Thomas H. Carter, of the National Commission, president of the day.

One hundred years ago to-day the Government of the United States
acquired sovereignty over the vast territory west of the
Mississippi River, which has since been known to the
geographical nomenclature of the world as the "Louisiana
Purchase." Beyond the river the boundaries and the resources of
the territory were ill defined and but vaguely comprehended. The
purchase price of $15,000,000 was pronounced exorbitant, the
free navigation of the Mississippi being the only part of the
property deemed worthy of serious consideration. The transaction
was regarded by many as a violation of the Constitution and a
menace to our form of government. The grave doubts of president
Jefferson were only resolved into action by his patriotic desire
for national supremacy over the river and his prophetic faith in
the possibilities of the mysterious country beyond it. The
revelations of a century most amply justified his faith.

When the treaty of cession was concluded, President Jefferson
represented less than 6,000,000 people. During these ceremonies,
President Roosevelt, the Executive of over 80,000,000 of
freemen, will dedicate the buildings.

The magical story of local development puts to shame the
creations of fiction. The contented and prosperous inhabitants
of the Louisiana Purchase to-day substantially equal in numbers
three times the total population of the United States in 1800.
The conquest of space, forests, streams, and deserts and the
founding of cities and States in waste places within this
territory mark an advance unsurpassed in the history of human
endeavor.

In conformity with a special act of Congress, the President has
invited all the nations to cooperate with us in properly
commemorating the masterful achievements of a century in this
new country.

It is fitting that the celebration should be international, for
you will in vain attempt to name a civilized country whose sons
and daughters have not contributed to the glorious triumphs of
peace recorded here. In vain will you seek a more cosmopolitan
and at the same time a more homogeneous population than that of
the Louisiana territory. The purchase facilitated by the
exigencies of European war, and made in a season of darkness and
peril, has proven a boon not only to the grantor and the
grantee, but to humanity at large, for here the nations have
commingled, and the brotherhood of man has become a demonstrated
possibility.

As a means of giving expression to the universal appreciation of
what has been accomplished for humanity within this field during
the century, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was organized
under authority of an act of Congress. With the aid of the
United States Government and the city of St. Louis, the
Exposition Company, through its officers, agents, and employees,
has erected the majestic exposition buildings whose massive
proportions and classical outlines excite the wonder and
admiration of the vast multitude assembled within and about
their walls.

To everyone present is accorded the privilege of assisting in
the dedication of these buildings to their intended use. The
President of the United States honors us by being present to
extend his greetings and to voice the approving sentiments of
his countrymen.

Moved by a broad and generous spirit, the nations of the earth,
from the empire of most ancient origin to the republic of
twentieth-century creation, dignifies the occasion by the
presence of their accredited representatives. Our home folks
from all the States, Territories, and districts betoken by their
numbers and enthusiasm the interest of the body of the people in
the exposition and the great historic event it is intended to
commemorate.

In the name of the National Commission, directed by Congress to
provide for the dedication ceremonies, I extend to you all a
cordial welcome, and as responsive to this inspiring scene of
peace and generous feeling, I call upon the chorus to favor us
with Beethoven's Creation hymn.

Those best informed will, by unanimous consent, yield to Hon.
David R. Francis, president of the company, the highest measure
of praise for the organization of the exposition and the
construction of the buildings he will now present to the
President of the United States for dedication.

Third. Grand chorus: "The Heavens Proclaiming."

Fourth. Presentation of the buildings by Hon. David R. Francis, president of the Exposition Company:

The people of the Louisiana Purchase are proud of their
membership in the Federal Union.

They are grateful for the benefits that have flowed from a life
under the enduring institutions framed by the founders of the
Republic. They congratulate their brethren on the position our
country occupies among the nations of the earth, and felicitate
themselves on the part they have performed toward raising it to
its present prestige and power.

They felt it a patriotic duty to fittingly commemorate the
completion of the first century of their connection with the
American Republic, and the rounding out of an important epoch in
the life of the Republic. In the discharge of that duty this
exposition was conceived. The inhabitants of the fourteen States
and two Territories comprised within the purchase selected St.
Louis as the scene of the celebration.

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.

A scheme so ambitious in its inception naturally had
comparatively few advocates and encountered many antagonists and
more doubters. It could not be accomplished without the
recognition and the aid of the General Government, which, for a
time, it seemed impossible to enlist. It was decided that the
amount required to launch an undertaking so comprehensive should
be the same as that paid for the empire which Jefferson
purchased--$15,000,000. The Congress said to St. Louis, "When
you have secured two-thirds of that sum, we will provide the
remaining third." The conditions were accepted and fulfilled.

After three years of struggle the sinews had been secured--the
first step accomplished. Two years have since elapsed. During
that period the work has been pushed in every State and
Territory and possession of the United States, and in every
civilized country on the earth. The disappointments experienced
and the obstacles encountered have but served to spur to renewed
effort those who, from the inception of the movement, had
determined to carry it to a successful consummation.

The further encouragement of the General Government on the
provision for its own exhibit, the cooperation of 41 States and
Territories and possessions of the United States, the pledged
participation of 32 foreign countries are the results of
vigorous domestic and foreign exploitation. That, and what you
behold here to-day in physical shape, we submit as the product
of five years of labor, nearly four of which were devoted to
propaganda and appeal and organization.

The plan and scope, comprehensive as they were in the beginning,
have never diminished at any stage of the progress; rather have
they been amplified and enlarged.

St. Louis, with an ever-widening sense of the responsibility,
and an ever-growing appreciation of the opportunity, has, up to
this moment, risen to the full measure of the duty assumed. The
management of the exposition has never despaired, but with a
realizing sense of the mighty task it has undertaken, and
mindful of the limitations of human capabilities, with
singleness of purpose and with personal sacrifice for which it
neither asks nor deserves credit, has striven to meet the
expectations of those whose trust it holds.

The Exposition Company makes its acknowledgments to those
faithful and efficient officials whose intelligent service have
contributed so much toward bringing the enterprise to its
present stage. The company expresses its obligation to the
artists and artisans who have reared these graceful and majestic
structures and whose labors have been inspired more by pride in
the end to be achieved than by hope of material reward.

The Universal Exposition of 1904, when the date of opening rolls
around one year from to-day, will, with its buildings completed,
its exhibits installed, be thoroughly prepared to receive the
millions of visitors who will enter its gates. The distinguished
assemblage which honors us with its presence to-day can come
nearer forming an adequate conception of the scope of the work
by personal inspection than through the writings or
illustrations of authors and designers, however great their
talent may be.

To the President of the United States, to the accomplished
representatives of foreign countries, to the chief executives of
the sovereign States, to the Senators and Representatives of the
National Congress, to the great concourse of visitors here
congregated, we extend greeting. If you are pleased with what
has been accomplished, your approval is abundant reward for the
labor we have performed.

We bear in mind and trust you do not overlook that this
celebration is of no section, but of the entire country. It is
our hope and our expectation that every section and every
commonwealth, and in fact, every community, will cherish a
proprietary interest and lend hopeful aid to this undertaking,
to the end that it may prove as nearly as may be commensurate
with the country and the century whose achievement and
advancement it is designed to commemorate.

The beautiful picture whose outlines you now behold will, to
adopt the simile of the chief designer, when completed, compose
a song that will reverberate around the globe.

And now, Mr. 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.

Fifth. Dedication address by the President of the United States:

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: At the outset of my address
let me recall to the minds of my hearers that the soil upon
which we stand, before it was ours was successively the
possession of two mighty empires--Spain and France--whose sons
made a deathless record of heroism in the early annals of the
New World.

No history of the Western country can be written without paying
heed to the wonderful part played therein in the early days by
the soldiers, missionaries, explorers, and traders who did their
work for the honor of the proud banners of France and Castile.

While the settlers of English-speaking stock and those of Dutch,
German, and Scandinavian origin, who were associated with them,
were still clinging close to the eastern seaboard, the pioneers
of Spain and of France had penetrated deep into the hitherto
unknown wildness of the West and had wandered far and wide
within the boundaries of what is now our mighty country. The
very cities themselves--St. Louis, New Orleans, Santa Fe, N.
Mex.--bear witness by their titles to the nationalities of their
founders. It was not until the Revolution had begun that the
English-speaking settlers pushed west across the Alleghanies,
and not until a century ago that they entered in to possess the
land upon which we now stand.

We have met here to-day to commemorate the hundredth anniversary
of the event which more than any other, after the foundation of
the Government, and always excepting its preservation,
determined the character of our national life--determined that
we should be a great expanding nation instead of relatively a
small and stationary one.

Of course, it was not with the Louisiana Purchase that our
career of expansion began. In the middle of the Revolutionary
war the Illinois region, including the present States of
Illinois and Indiana, was added to our domain by force of arms,
as a sequel to the adventurous expedition of George Rogers Clark
and his frontier riflemen.

Later the treaties of Jay and Pinckney materially extended our
real boundaries to the west. But none of these events was of so
striking a character as to fix the popular imagination. The old
thirteen colonies had always claimed that their rights stretched
westward to the Mississippi, and vague and unreal though these
claims were until made good by conquest, settlement, and
diplomacy, they still served to give the impression that the
earliest westward movements of our people were little more than
the filling in of already existing national boundaries.

But there could be no illusion about the acquisition of the vast
territory beyond the Mississippi, stretching westward to the
Pacific, which in that day was known as Louisiana. This immense
region was admittedly the territory of a foreign power, of a
European kingdom. None of our people had ever laid claim to a
foot of it. Its acquisition could in no sense be treated as
rounding out any existing claims. When we acquired it, we made
evident once for all that consciously and of set purpose we had
embarked on a career of expansion; that we had taken our place
among those daring and hardy nations who risk much with the hope
and desire of winning high position among the great powers of
the earth. As is so often the case in nature the law of
development of a living organism showed itself in its actual
workings to be wiser than the wisdom of the wisest.

This work of expansion was by far the greatest work of our
people during the years that intervened between the adoption of
the Constitution and the outbreak of the civil war. There were
other questions of real moment and importance, and there were
many which at the time seemed such to those engaged in answering
them; but the greatest feat of our forefathers of those
generations was the deed of the men, who with pack train or
wagon train, on horseback, on foot, or by boat upon the waters
pushed the frontier ever westward across the continent.

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.

When our forefathers joined to call into being this nation, they
undertook a task for which there was but little encouraging
precedent. The development of civilization from the earliest
period seemed to show the truth of two propositions: In the
first place, it had always proved exceedingly difficult to
secure both freedom and strength in any Government; and in the
second place, it had always proved well-nigh impossible for a
nation to expand without either breaking up or becoming a
centralized tyranny. With the success of our effort to combine a
strong and efficient national union, able to put down disorder
at home and to maintain our honor and interest abroad, I have
not now to deal. This success was signal and all important, but
it was by no means unprecedented in the same sense that our type
of expansion was unprecedented.

The history of Rome and of Greece illustrates very well the two
types of expansion which had taken place in ancient times, and
which had been universally accepted as the only possible types
up to the period when, as a nation, we ourselves began to take
possession of this continent. The Grecian states performed
remarkable feats of colonization, but each colony as soon as
created became entirely independent of the mother state, and in
after years was almost as apt to prove its enemy as its friend.
Local self-government, local independence was secured, but only
by the absolute sacrifice of anything resembling national unity.

In consequence, the Greek world, for all its wonderful
brilliancy and extraordinary artistic, literary, and
philosophical development, which has made all mankind its debtor
for the ages, was yet wholly unable to withstand a formidable
foreign foe, save spasmodically. As soon as powerful permanent
empires arose on its outskirts, the Greek states in the
neighborhood of such empires fell under their sway. National
power and greatness were completely sacrificed to local liberty.

With Rome the exact opposite occurred. The imperial city rose to
absolute dominion over all the people of Italy, and then
expanded her rule over the entire civilized world, by a process
which kept the nation strong and united, but gave no room
whatever for local liberty and self-government. All other cities
and countries were subject to Rome. In consequence, this great
and masterful race of warriors, rulers, road builders, and
administrators stamped their indelible impress upon all the
after life of our race, and yet let an over-centralization eat
out the vitals of their empire until it became an empty shell,
so that when the barbarians came they destroyed only what had
already become worthless to the world.

The underlying viciousness of each type of expansion was plain
enough, and the remedy now seems simple enough. But when the
fathers of the Republic first formulated the Constitution under
which we live, this remedy was untried, and no one could
foretell how it would work. They themselves began the experiment
almost immediately by adding new States to the original
thirteen. Excellent people in the East viewed this initial
expansion of the country with great alarm. Exactly as during the
colonial period many good people in the mother country thought
it highly important that settlers should be kept out of the Ohio
Valley in the interest of the fur companies, so after we had
become a nation many good people on the Atlantic coast felt
grave apprehension lest they might somehow be hurt by the
westward growth of the nation.

These good people shook their heads over the formation of States
in the fertile Ohio Valley, which now forms part of the heart of
our nation, and they declared that the destruction of the
Republic had been accomplished when through the Louisiana
Purchase we acquired nearly half of what is now that same
Republic's present territory. Nor was their feeling unnatural.
Only the adventurous and the farseeing can be expected heartily
to welcome the process of expansion, for a nation which expands
is a nation which is entering upon a great career, and with
greatness there must of necessity come perils which daunt all
save the most stout-hearted.

We expand by carving the wilderness into Territories, and out of
these Territories building new States when once they had
received as permanent settlers a sufficient number of our own
people. Being a practical nation, we have never tried to force
on any section of our new territory an unsuitable form of
government merely because it was suitable for another section
under different conditions. Of the territory covered by the
Louisiana Purchase, a portion was given statehood within a few
years. Another portion has not been admitted to statehood,
although a century has elapsed, although doubtless it soon will
be. In each case we showed the practical governmental genius of
our race by devising methods suitable to meet the actual
existing needs, not by insisting upon the application of some
abstract shibboleth to all our new possessions alike, no matter
how incongruous this application might sometimes be.

Over by far the major part of the territory, however, our people
spread in such numbers during the course of the nineteenth
century that we were able to build up State after State, each
with exactly the same complete local independence in all matters
affecting purely its own domestic interests as in any of the
original thirteen States, each owing the same absolute fealty to
the Union of all the States which each of the original thirteen
States also owes, and, finally, each having the same
proportional right to its share in shaping and directing the
common policy of the Union which is possessed by any other
State, whether of the original thirteen or not.

This process now seems to us part of the natural order of
things, but it was wholly unknown until our own people devised
it. It seems to us a mere matter of course, a matter of
elementary right and justice, that in the deliberations of the
national representative bodies the representatives of a State
which came into the Union but yesterday stand on a footing of
exact and entire equality with those of the commonwealth whose
sons once signed the Declaration of Independence.

But this way of looking at the matter is purely modern and in
its origin purely American. When Washington, during his
Presidency, saw new States come into the Union on a footing of
complete equality with the old, every European nation which had
colonies still administered them as dependencies, and every
other mother country treated the colonists not as a
self-governing equal, but as a subject.

The process which we began has since been followed by all the
great people who were capable both of expansion and of
self-government, and now the world accepts it as the natural
process, as the rule; but a century and a quarter ago it was not
merely exceptional--it was unknown.

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 acquisition of the territory is a credit to the broad and
far-sighted statesmanship of the great statesmen to whom it was
immediately due, and, above all, to the aggressive and masterful
character of the hardy pioneer folk to whose restless energy
these statesmen gave expression and direction, whom they
followed rather than led. 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.

The people of these States have shown themselves mighty in war
with their fellow-man and mighty in strength to tame the rugged
wilderness. They could not thus have conquered the forest, the
prairie, the mountain and the desert, had they not possessed the
great fighting virtues, the qualities which enable a people to
overcome the forces of hostile men and hostile nature.

On the other hand they could not have used aright their conquest
had they not in addition possessed the qualities of self-mastery
and self-restraint, the power of acting in combination with
their fellows, the power of yielding obedience to the law and of
building up an orderly civilization. Courage and hardihood are
indispensable virtues in a people, but the people which possess
no others can never rise high in the scale either of power or of
culture. Great peoples must have in addition the governmental
capacity which comes only when individuals fully recognize their
duties to one another and to the whole body politic and are able
to join together in feats of constructive statesmanship and of
honest and effective administration.

The old pioneer days are gone with their roughness and their
hardship, their incredible toil and their wild, half-savage
romance. But the need for the pioneer virtues remains the same
as ever. The peculiar frontier conditions have vanished; but the
manliness and stalwart hardihood of the frontiersman can be
given even freer scope under the conditions surrounding the
complex industrialism of the present day.

In this great region acquired for our people under the
presidency of Jefferson, this region stretching from the Gulf to
the Canadian border, from the Mississippi to the Rockies, the
material and social progress has been so vast that alike for
weal and for woe, the people share the opportunities and bear
the burdens common to the entire civilized world. The problems
before us are fundamentally the same east and west of the
Mississippi, in the new States and in the old, and exactly the
same qualities are required for their successful solution.

We meet here to-day to commemorate a great event, an event which
marks an era in statesmanship no less than in pioneering. It is
fitting that we should pay our homage in words; but we must in
honor make our words good by deeds. We have every right to take
a just pride in the great deeds of our forefathers; but we show
ourselves unworthy to be their descendants if we make what they
did an excuse for our lying supine instead of an incentive to
the effort to show ourselves, by our acts, worthy of them. In
the administration of city, State, and nation, in the management
of our home life and conduct of our business and social
relations, we are bound to show certain high and fine qualities
of character under penalty of seeing the whole heart of our
civilization eaten out while the body still lives.

We justly pride ourselves on our marvelous material prosperity,
and such prosperity must exist in order to establish a
foundation upon which a higher life can be built; but unless we
do in very fact build this higher life thereon, the material
prosperity itself will go but for very little. 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; and we must insist no
less upon the virtues of self-restraint, self-mastery, regard
for the rights of others; we must show our abhorrence of
cruelty, brutality, and corruption, in public and private life
alike.

If we come short in any of these qualities we shall measurably
fail; and if, as I believe we surely shall, we develop these
qualities in the future to an even greater degree than in the
past, then in the century now beginning we shall make of this
Republic the freest and most orderly, the most just and most
mighty nation which has ever come forth from the womb of time.

Sixth. Grand chorus: "Unfold Ye Portals."

Seventh. Address by Hon. Grover Cleveland:

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The impressiveness of this
occasion is greatly enhanced by reason of an atmosphere of
prophecy's fulfillment which surrounds it. The thought is in our
minds that we are amid awe-inspiring surroundings, where we may
see and feel things foretold a century ago. We are here in
recognition of the one hundredth anniversary of an event which
doubled the area of the young American nation, and dedicated a
new and wide domain of American progress and achievement. The
treaty whose completion we to-day commemorate was itself a
prophecy of our youthful nation's mighty growth and development.
At its birth prophets in waiting joyously foretold the happiness
which its future promised. 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."

He who represented the nation with whom we negotiated, when he
afterwards gave to the world his account of the transactions,
declared: "The consequences of the cession of Louisiana will
extend to the most distant posterity. It interests vast regions
that will become by their civilization and power the rivals of
Europe before another century commences," and warmed to
enthusiasm by the developments already in view and greater ones
promised, he added: "Who can contemplate without vivid emotion
this spectacle of the happiness of the present generation and
the certain pledges of the prosperity of numberless generations
that will follow? At these magnificent prospects the heart beats
with joy in the breasts of those who were permitted to see the
dawn of these bright days, and who are assured that so many
happy presages will be accomplished."

There was another prophet, greater than all--prophet and
priest--who, higher up the mountain than others, heard more
distinctly the voice of destiny, whose heart and soul were full
of prophecy and whose every faculty was tense and strong as he
wrought for our nation's advancement and for the peace and
contentment of his fellow-countryman. From the fullness of
gratitude and joy, he thus wrote to one who had assisted in the
consummation of this great treaty:

"For myself and my country, I thank you for the aid you have
given in it; and I congratulate you on having lived to give
these aids in a transaction replete with blessings to unborn
millions of men, and which will mark the face of a portion of
the globe so extensive as that which now composes the United
States of America;" and when, as President, he gave notice in a
message to Congress of the actual occupancy by the Government of
its new acquisition, he happily presaged the future and gave
assurance of his complete faith and confidence in the beneficent
result of our nation's extensions, in these words: "On this
important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate interests
of our western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and security
of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories
so extensive and fertile and to our citizens new brethren to
partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government, I offer
Congress and our country my sincere congratulations."

Our prophets do not live forever. They are not here to see how
stupendously the growth and development of the American nation,
or the domain newly acquired in their day, have, during a short
century, outrun their anticipations and predictions.

Almost within the limits of the territory gained by the
Louisiana purchase, we have already carved out twelve great
States, leaving still a large residue whose occupants are even
now loudly clamoring for statehood.

Instead of the 50,000 white settlers who occupied this domain in
1803, it now contains 15,000,000 of industrious, enterprising,
intelligent Americans, constituting about one-fifth of the
population of all our States; and these are defiantly contesting
for premiership in wealth and material success with the oldest
of our States, and are their equals in every phase of advanced
intelligence and refined civilization.

The States which composed the Union when its possessions were so
greatly extended have since that time seen the center of the
nation's population carried more than 500 miles westward by the
swift and constant current of settlement toward this new domain;
and the citizens of these States have been flocking thither,
"new brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom and
self-government," in multitudes greater than even Jefferson
would have dared to foretell.

I shall not enter the field of statistics for the purpose of
giving details of the development of the territory acquired
under the treaty we commemorate. I have referred to such
development in some of its general features by way of suggesting
how distinctly the century just ended gives assurance of a
startling and superabundant final fulfillment of the prophecies
of its beginners.

The supreme importance of the Louisiana purchase and its value
as a national accomplishment, when seen in the incidents of its
short history and in the light of its present and prospective
effects, and judged solely by its palpable and independent
merits, can not be better characterized than by the adoption of
the following language from the pen of a brilliant American
historian: "The annexation of Louisiana was an event so
portentious as to defy measurement. It gave a new face to
politics and ranked in historical importance next to the
Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the
Constitution, events of which it was the logical outcome. But as
a matter of diplomacy it was unparalleled because it cost almost
nothing."

How fitting on every ground it is that the centennial of this
stupendous event should be joyously and appropriately
celebrated; and that it should be celebrated here in the most
populous of the States created from the territory which the
Louisiana purchase gave to us. And how in keeping it is with the
character of this acquisition and with its purpose and mission
that our celebration should not waste itself on the pomp and
pageantry that belongs to the triumphs and spoils of war, or to
the rapacious dispossessions of ruthless conquest. Every feature
of our celebration should remind us that we memorialize a
peaceful acquisition of territory for truly American uses and
purposes; and we should rejoice not only because this
acquisition immediately gave peace and contentment to the
spirited and determined American settlers who demanded an outlet
of trade to the sea, but also because it provided homes and
means of livelihood for the millions of new Americans whose
coming tread fell upon the ears of the expectant fathers of the
Republic, and whose stout hearts and brawny arms wrought the
miracles which our celebration should interpret.

We are here at this hour to dedicate beautiful and stately
edifices to the purposes of our commemoration, but as we do this
let us remember that the soil whereon we stand was a century ago
dedicated to the genius of American industry and thrift. For
every reason, nothing could be more appropriate as an important
part of the centennial commemoration we have undertaken than the
gathering together on this spot of the things that are
characteristic of American effort and which tell the story of
American achievement; and how happily will this be supplemented
and crowned by the generous, magnanimous, and instructive
contributions from other and older lands, which, standing side
by side with our exhibits, shall manifest the high and friendly
regard our Republic has gained among the governments of the
earth, and shall demonstrate how greatly advancing civilization
has fostered and stimulated the brotherhood of nations.

I can not, however, rid myself of the feeling that the
inspiration and value attending such an exposition may be
anticipated and increased if on this dedicatory occasion we
promote appropriate reflections by a retrospection of some of
the incidents which accompanied the event we celebrate.

We all know that long before the negotiations of the treaty of
1803 our Government had a keen appreciation of the importance to
American settlers in the valley of the Mississippi of an
arrangement permitting their products to be deposited and
exported at the entrance of that river to the sea. It will be
remembered that this need of our settlers had been met in a
limited and not altogether secure manner by a treaty with Spain,
allowing such deposits and exports to be made at the city of New
Orleans. This privilege was entirely withdrawn in October, 1792,
the territory appurtenant to such privilege having been in the
meantime transferred to France. The situation thus created was
extremely delicate. There was presented to the Government on the
one hand the injury to western settlers through the loss of
their trading outlet, and on the other the perplexing question
of affording them relief by means of diplomatic agreement, or in
some other method. The abandonment of our settlers to their
disheartening fate was of course not contemplated.

It can not be denied that the conditions plainly pointed to
cautious and deliberate negotiations as the way of prudence and
safety. It very soon became apparent, however, that delay and
too much deliberation did not suit the temper and spirit of
sturdy Americans chafing under a sense of wrong and convinced
that they were entitled to prompt assistance. The inhabitants of
our territory bounding on the east side of the Mississippi, in a
memorial addressed to the President, Senate, and House of
Representatives, after reciting their discouraging conditions
and expressing their faith in the Government's disposition to
extend the necessary aid, closed their memorial with these
significant words: "And so far as may depend on ourselves, we
tender to our country our lives and fortunes in support of such
measures as Congress may deem necessary to vindicate the honor
and protect the interests of the United States."

The settlers in the States "west of the Allegheny Mountains"
also, in a memorial to the Government, clearly indicated their
impatience and readiness for extreme action, declared that
prompt and decisive measures were necessary, and referred to the
maxim that protection and allegiance are reciprocal as being
particularly applicable to their situation. They concluded their
statement with these solemn words: "Without interfering in the
measures that have been adopted to bring about the amicable
arrangement of a difference which has grown out of the
gratuitous violation of a solemn treaty, they desire that the
United States may explicitly understand that their condition is
critical; that the delay of a single season would be ruinous to
their country, and that an imperious necessity may consequently
oblige them, if they receive no aid, to adopt themselves the
measures that may appear to them calculated to protect their
commerce, even though those measures should produce consequences
unfavorable to the harmony of the Confederacy."

These representations emphasized the apprehension of those
charged with governmental affairs that the course of deliberate
caution and waiting, which up to that time had appeared to be
the only one permissible, might be insufficient to meet the
situation, and that whatever the result might be, a more
pronounced position and more urgent action should be entered
upon. President Jefferson wrote to a friend on the 1st of
February, 1803: "Our circumstances are so imperious as to admit
of no delay as to our course, and the use of the Mississippi so
indispensible that we can not hesitate one moment to hazard our
existence for its maintenance." He appointed an additional envoy
to cooperate with our representative already at the French
capital in an attempt to obtain a concession that would cure the
difficulty, and, in a communication to him, after referring to
the excitement caused by the withdrawal of the right of deposit,
he thus characterizes the condition which he believed confronted
the nation: "On the event of this mission depend the future
destinies of this Republic. If we can not by a purchase of the
country insure to ourselves a course of perpetual peace and
friendship of all nations, then, as war can not be far distant,
it behooves us immediately to be preparing for that course,
though not hastening it."

I have not recited these details for the purpose of claiming
that this accelerated speed and advanced position on the part of
our Government had any important effect in hastening final
results. I have thought it not amiss, however, to call attention
to the fact that a century ago the people of this country were
not seeking to gain governmental benefit by clandestine approach
and cunning pretense, but were apt to plainly present their
wants and grievances, and to openly demand such consideration
and care from the General Government as was their due under the
mandate of popular rule, and that in making their demands they
relied on the mutual obligation of the relationship between the
governed and those invested with authority, and invoked the
reciprocity in political duty which enjoins that for the
people's obedience and support of government, there shall be
given in exchange, by the Government to the people, defense of
their personal rights and the assurance that in safety and peace
they shall surely reap the fruits of their enterprise and labor.

It may also be well to note the efficacy of the people's call
upon the Government in those early days, and how quickly the
response came; not by yielding to gusts of popular whim and
caprice; not by conferring benefits upon the few at the expense
of the many; but by a quick observation of the fact that the
withdrawal of certain rightful privilege by another nation from
American settlers had caused them distress, and by a prompt
determination to relieve their distress, even if the unwelcome
visage of war frowned in opposition.