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T3. 
 
 WORLD'S FAIRS 
 
 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITIONS THE 
 
 MILESTONES ALONG THE 
 
 HIGHWAY OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 
 
 [Address of Dr. Selim H. Peabody before the Trans 
 Mississippi Congress, St. Paul, Minn., August 21, 1902.] 
 
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 sf> 
 
 DR. SELIM H. PEABODY. 
 
 Dr. Selirh H. Peabody is of New England stock and a grad- 
 uate of the University of Vermont. The most of his life has been 
 spent in educational work. In 1880 he was selected as President 
 of the University of Illinois, which important position he held until 
 1 89 1, when he resigned to join the staff of the World's Columbian 
 Exposition as Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts. At the 
 close of the Columbian Exposition he prepared the voluminous 
 report of the Director-General. He was editor and statistician to 
 the Commissioner-General representing the United States at the 
 Paris Exposition of 1900. He was Chief of the Department of 
 Liberal Arts at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and was 
 Superintendent of Awards at the Exposition at Charleston. He 
 has written various educational works and was the Editor-in-Chief 
 of the International Cyclopedia when that work was first issued. 
 
 JAN 25 1903 
 D. ofD* 
 
UNIVERSAL EXPOSITIONS THE MILE- 
 STONES ALONG THE HIGHWAYS 
 OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 
 
 Two years ago, at Houston, Texas, Governor Francis of 
 Missouri addressed this body, setting before it in lucid and per- 
 suasive terms the proposition which the city and the good people 
 of St. Louis were then making as to the opening in that staunch 
 and conservative city of an Universal International Exposition, a 
 veritable and fully-equipped World's Fair. Governor Francis was 
 then planning his campaign and arraying his forces preparatory to 
 urging the request of the city of St. Louis and the State of Mis- 
 souri before the Congress of the nation. The proposition was that 
 the citizens of St. Louis should raise a subscription of five million 
 dollars, that the City of St. Louis should give its bonds for five 
 million dollars more, and that thereupon the general government 
 should furnish other five million dollars — the State of Missouri to 
 add another million on its own account — and that upon the secure 
 foundation thus provided the City of St. Louis should proceed to 
 promote, install, inaugurate and maintain before the people of 
 these United States a World's Fair, commemorative of the pur- 
 chase of that part of our country familiarly known as the Louisiana 
 Purchase. 
 
 There was, I believe, at the time of Governor Francis' speech 
 a slightly disturbing question of precedence, each of the parties to 
 the tripartite agreement being desirous that the others should take 
 the first step. The venerable uncle who watches over the nation's 
 financial movements insisted that the City of St. Louis should first 
 demonstrate an actual and bona fide subscription, whereupon his 
 gift should be forthcoming, while the city was just a little shy of 
 putting up so large an ante until she was quite sure that her ven- 
 erable relative really intended to come into the game. 
 
 The case seems likely to present a situation similar to one 
 proposed in a piece of legislation said to have been offered in the 
 
 3 
 
General Assembly of the State of Illinois. The bill was framed to 
 formulate the procedure of two railway trains when approaching 
 each other at a crossing of the ways. It provided that in such a 
 case each of the trains should, before reaching the crossing, come 
 to a full stop and remain standing until the other had completely 
 passed. A deadlock is a bit of parliamentary machinery which 
 permits each of the opposing parties to prevent the other from do- 
 ing what it desires to accomplish. Whenever the two contestants 
 really wish to do business the deadlock will no longer function. In 
 the case in question, St. Louis raised her subscription, the city 
 secured its loan, and the government donation was assured. Upon 
 the substantial foundation of $17,000,000, thus put in hand or 
 made available, the earnest prosecution of the great enterprise has 
 been begun. An army of laborers and mechanics is aleady at 
 work, in charge of architects and artificers skilled in the arts of 
 design, construction and decoration. Each day sees a new edi- 
 fice planting its feet firmly in the soil or lifting heavenward its stal- 
 wart columns, its swelling domes and aspiring towers. A year 
 has been added to the time designated for the completion of its 
 structures and the preparation of the exhibits that shall fill them, 
 and in this respect surely time is money. 
 
 The President has issued his proclamation, inviting the na- 
 tions of the earth to participate. Many have responded, and the 
 eye blessed with prophetic vision may already descry in all quarters 
 of the habitable globe the concentric movement begun, which will 
 in due time gather at this center a World's Fair representing all the 
 nations of the earth, with a complete assemblage of its arts, its in- 
 dustries and- its peoples. 
 
 The Exposition commemorating the purchase which, directly 
 or indirectly, assured to the United States of America that broad 
 domain which extends from the river discovered by De Soto — that 
 fountain of perpetual youth which his fading sight failed to recog- 
 nize — to the Ocean of Perpetual Peace, first seen by Balboa from 
 the heights of Darien, is an assured fact. The renown of its vast 
 magnitude, of its thorough completeness, and of its transcendent 
 beauty, shallfill the ears and inspire the hopes of all the nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 The first great success of the enterprise has been achieved 
 When making this "assertion in this distinguished presence, I am 
 permitted to express the thanks which the management of the 
 
 4 
 
St. Louis World's Fair cordially offers for the efficient assistance 
 rendered by this Congress, as well in the halls of the Congress 
 of the United States as in its own peculiar field, the Trans- 
 Mississippi country, at all times and in every form — an assistance 
 which has stimulated effort and insures success. 
 
 I need but a suggestion to recall to your thoughts the com- 
 petitive instinct implanted in the human soul as an universal stim- 
 ulus to human activity. In whatever field of thought or of effort 
 one may be employed, he is actuated by an imperious desire to 
 excel, either for the simple hunger for mastery, or because of sub- 
 sidiary benefits alluring in their nature. The desire to demon- 
 strate the superior merit of one's work, or the dominant power of 
 one's country, gives an unfailing stimulus to human effort. So 
 in times of war men fight battles; in times of peace they develop 
 expositions. 
 
 In old Greece the Exposition came by Olympiads ; men ran, 
 they wrestled, they declaimed, they sang. They won awards, not 
 of gold or of bronze, but symbolic prizes better worth the palm of 
 victory — the olive crown, wreaths of bay or of myrtle. They wor- 
 shipped the ideal, and were content with the symbols of victory. 
 
 In other lands and at other times men gathered for purposes 
 essentially commercial. To some central point on the plains of 
 eastern Russia merchants brought from far wares which they ex- 
 pected to exchange for other objects of utility or luxury, hoping 
 for gain. The toiling and weary traveler, outward bound, con- 
 tinually turned over in thought the question: " Can I sell my bur- 
 den at the Fair? " Homeward bound : " Can I sell my burden at 
 my house? " Always: " What profit can I gain? " 
 
 Such a form of exposition was only an ephemeral market. 
 After a few days, or weeks at most, it would dissolve, vanish, per- 
 haps to show itself after another period. 
 
 The World's Great Fairs, the grand gatherings, dating from 
 that of 185 1, held in London, under the patronage of Prince Albert 
 of worthy memory, differed essentially from such occasional mar- 
 kets in their inception, their development, the personality of their 
 attendance, and, therefore, in their results. In them the purely 
 commercial element, never wholly eliminated, is purposely made 
 subordinate. The exhibitor hopes ultimately to sell his wares, but 
 especially he seeks to know the true place of his goods in the 
 swelling wave of competition — to learn who can offer the best and 
 
 5 
 
the cheapest, and why. The buyer comes, not to buy so much as 
 to learn what was best to buy. Persons, communities and na- 
 tions meet in earnest competition, each hoping to win the insignia 
 of merit for quality of product or merit of design. Let the honor 
 rest upon the most worthy. The motto of ruder days remains 
 good — "Let him get who has the power; let him keep who 
 can" — but the significance is changed. The gross supremacy of 
 brute and material force is replaced by the subtler, more ethereal, 
 more masterful supremacy of divinely-born intelligence. 
 
 The fair has assumed a new character and a nobler aspect ; 
 it is a World's Fair. The articles exposed become the best of 
 their kind. The farmer by Ayr or Tweed, or by the Illinois, 
 thinks far otherwise of the bullock he sends to the monthly market 
 to ^ell for what it will bring than of the head of his herd which he 
 exposes at the annual display to exemplify his skill as a breeder of 
 superior animals. By a natural process of selection, only the best 
 is offered for competition. The exhibits come from far wider 
 circles, remoter regions. As the fittest survivors of many well- 
 contested conflicts, they meet for final judgment before the court 
 of highest resort. 
 
 Mounting thus from one altitude to the next, we reach the 
 elevated plateau where we find that a World's Exposition has a 
 function far higher than the discrimination of sweepstakes. The 
 individual has become only a significant fraction occupying a place 
 in the larger mosaic. The exposition stands at the meeting 
 of the world's highways, where gather the nations of the earth, 
 burdened each with the evidences of its newest and noblest 
 achievements. 
 
 The World's Fair is an epitome of the world's progress ; a 
 history and a prophecy. The latest discoveries, the newest inven- 
 tions, the triumphs in art, in science, in education, in the solution 
 of social and even religious problems, are here arrayed. Here 
 stand the most effective dynamo ; the swiftest locomotive ; the 
 telescope piercing the remotest heavens ; the most productive 
 printing press ; the most destructive artillery ; machines that spin, 
 weave, set type, thresh grain, mine coal, drill rock, fashion rail- 
 way bars; the artist's dream on canvas or in marble, in clustering 
 column or aspiring dome, in woven fabric or decorated vase ; the 
 flower's effulgence or the fruit's alluring blush ; all products of the 
 soil, the mine, the sea ; whatever testifies to the industry, the 
 
 6 
 
skill, the creative and almost divine power of human thought when 
 stimulated to its most earnest endeavors. 
 
 Thus at each latest exposition doth Mother Earth make a new 
 inventory of her acquisitions. Thus does she erect at each station 
 in her march towards the stars a monument inscribed with a record 
 of her victories. 
 
 Her exhibits, fascinating even in their enumeration, are the 
 accepted indices of her forward and resistless movement. They 
 are mountain summits, towering above the masses standing at 
 their foundation. They are the flashing waves that run along 
 the sands before the surges of the advancing tide. They mark the 
 day and the man recorded on the historic page. On such a day 
 Galileo was the first to see the moons of Jupiter. On such a day 
 Newton formulated the law of gravitation. On such a day Steven- 
 son steamed away on the " Rocket," Morse signaled " What hath 
 God wrought," Ericsson's " Monitor" fought her first battle, Bes- 
 semer cast his first ingot. They are the standard-bearers who pre- 
 cede the embattled host ; but the host constantly aligns itself upon 
 the guidons as they are newly advanced. This upheaval of the 
 mountain mass, this silent swelling of the tide, this surging push 
 of the line of battle that will not be denied, each is significant of a 
 vastly greater and more pervasive force. 
 
 It is asserted that no essential change has been made in the 
 steam engine devised by Watt more than a century since, but the 
 engines which drive an ocean steamship, or those of the locomo- 
 tive whose miles keep tally with the minutes, have absorbed in 
 their designs the fittest of a thousand improving devices. 
 
 The daily paper, that comes to us for a cent; the click of the 
 typewriter ; the ring of the telephone ; the phosphor of the match ; 
 the oil of the rock; the rail of steel, that insures safer and swifter 
 transit beneath the throbbing steam ; or the viewless vibrations of 
 the electric wave — these show how constantly the discovery of 
 yesterday becomes the necessity of to-day, best serving the wants 
 of a waiting world after it has received the improving analysis of 
 an unnumbered host, whose labors for the most part will be un- 
 honored and unsung. 
 
 The great expositions have stood like milestones along the high- 
 way of human progress. Many of them have been notable for the 
 first general display of new and striking inventions. Thus, in 1878, 
 the dynamo, with its sequel, the electric light and the telephone. 
 
 7 
 
furnished the newest sensations ; in 1889, such engineering struc- 
 tures as the Forth Bridge and the Eiffel Tower were notable ; in 
 1 893 the great engines of modern warfare for land or sea service 
 were prominent ; in 1900 the automobile made its most effective 
 appearance; and in 1904 the aeromotor bids fair to be the most 
 startling attraction. 
 
 In this enumeration we have named only certain things of strik- 
 ing and universal interest. All along the line of exhibits, and scat- 
 tered through all departments, on each occasion multitudes of in- 
 ventions of admitted practical value were for the first time brought 
 to general attention. Thus the exposition becomes a great clear- 
 ing-house for the exchange of new, startling and progressive ideas, 
 and becomes a means for their widest and swiftest distribution. 
 
 The World's Fair is not only an epitome of the world's pres- 
 ent condition ; in its historic phase it records the steps by which 
 the culmination has been reached. But the world's progress may 
 be illustrated in another fashion. It is said that the starlight of a 
 cloudless sky consists of radiant beams representing numberless 
 historic ages. The light from one star occupies three years in its 
 flight before it enters our eye ; that from another has been journey- 
 ing a thousand years ; each ray has been coming for a time deter- 
 mined by the remoteness of the celestial body where its vibrations 
 began. Hence, if one of these rays should be conceived to bring 
 a message from its distant star, that message would be determined 
 by something that occurred at that star when the light set forth 
 on its journey ages ago, and the accumulation of these records 
 would be the gathering of chapters of superlatively ancient history. 
 
 In each of the last two International Expositions earth's folk 
 were present from the remotest regions. To Chicago each quar- 
 ter of the globe furnished its contingent. Aboriginal tribes came 
 from the arctic zone and from the southern ocean; from* North 
 American forests and from the heart of Africa. The Aryan, the 
 Mongolian, the Semitic, the Malaysian, met and mingled until the 
 Pentecostal miracle was outdone. 
 
 From all these exhibits, each a type, might have been arranged 
 the gamut of civilization ; at the beginning the Dahoman, Sitting 
 Bull, the Quackuhls ; then the Eskimo, the Laplander, the tiny 
 Javanese, the Bedouin, the Brahmin and the Parsee of India, Per- 
 sians, Cingalese, Siamese, Chinese, Japanese ; then Turk, Bulgar- 
 ian, Greek, Pole, all people from Central and Southern America; 
 
finally, all peoples of the United States and Europe. While the 
 ■exposition thus set forth the peculiarities of every land and of 
 every clime, it illustrated also in living forms every phase of human 
 progress, from days before those of the Pharaohs and of Confucius 
 ,to the moment when the President of the United States, by a touch 
 of his finger, released all the sprites that were awaiting his signal 
 of emancipation. 
 
 The Exposition of 1900 of Paris culminated in the grand fete 
 given in its magnificent Salle des Fetes, on the occasion of its dis- 
 tribution of awards. Upon a broad platform at one side of the 
 spacious apartment were seated the President of France, his min- 
 isters and the ambassadors and commissioners of all visiting nations. 
 This august body was fringed by the most curiously notable gath- 
 ering of native soldiers from all French Colonies, dependencies, 
 .and protectorates, of all colors and statures, quaintly uniformed 
 and fancifully armed. Upon the opposite side of the vast amphi- 
 theater were grouped in splendid effulgence the representatives of 
 all the nations and all the groups which had participated in the 
 Exposition. From the floor by ranged steps that led to the lofty 
 .gallery rose the serried ranks in gorgeous uniforms, bearing aloft 
 princely banners with the ensigns and emblems of every art and 
 •craft. Nothing more splendid, nothing so significant could be im- 
 agined than was witnessed on this arena more famous than the 
 Field of the Cloth of Gold. This splendid array was fitly pre- 
 sented in an apartment which for magnificence of design and for 
 beauty of decoration stood without a peer or parallel. 
 
 Considered with reference to its demonstration of existing life 
 throughout the world, as an epitome of present science and past 
 history the World's Fair is the grandest and most exhaustive of all 
 encyclopedias. 
 
 But, says a student, appalled with its magnitude and weary 
 ■with its investigations, "the burden is too great, the task is too 
 stupendous, I can never master its multitudinous details." 
 
 Do not attempt it. You do not sit down to read the diction- 
 ary. Even the matter-of-fact Scots woman found the dictionary 
 iull of braw stories, but unco short. Nobody takes the encyclo- 
 pedia in course, not even Charles Dudley Warner's Encyclopedia 
 of the World's Literature. The merit of these works is that they 
 offer to show you the things you want, when you want them. 
 They are to be consulted, not devoured. 
 
 9 
 
So it is in the study of an exposition. Learn broadly what it 
 contains, then discriminate carefully the subjects to which you will 
 give your attention. 
 
 The great expositions which have made luminous the last half 
 of the nineteenth century were masterful instructors. They 
 demonstrated the attainments which had been achieved ; they 
 pointed the way to future effort and farther success. 
 
 In more instances than one the history of the great expositions 
 records their power to startle nations from fancied security into 
 new and vigorous action. The surprises of the Exposition pro- 
 moted by Prince Albert in 185 1 are not yet forgotten. It was 
 there made evident that in certain particulars the people of the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland did not maintain t he- 
 supremacy which they had long fancied was their own, and a com- 
 mission of Parliament was directed to report upon the facts and 
 their causes. In due time important educational reforms were in- 
 stituted, and the agitation found a responsive echo in the United 
 States, to which may be attributed the foundation of so many great 
 technological and industrial schools in our own country. 
 
 The art exhibits at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 were a 
 revelation to the masses of the American people. From them 
 flowed an inspiration that founded art schools, and engrafted art 
 instruction upon many of our school systems, followed by a genuine 
 revival of plastic, pictorial and descriptive art that enriches all our 
 life public and private. 
 
 The architecture of the Exposition of 1893 springing up with 
 the swiftness of an exhalation and with a simulated solidity that 
 emulated the massiveness of Athenian temples, reared a city whose 
 magnificent grandeur was the delight of all nations. 
 
 The millions who wandered through the thoroughfares of the 
 Chicago Exposition, who skimmed the lagoons in launch or gon- 
 dola, and consciously or unconsciously absorbed the beauty and 
 the art revealed by decorated walls and towers and domes, carried 
 to their homes impulses whose benificent results have already 
 borne seed a hundred fold. 
 
 The series of great expositions which we have thus rapidly 
 considered, includes eight, one in England, five in France and two 
 in the United States. If I were permitted to choose the word 
 most exactly fitting the function of these expositions in their rela- 
 tions to the world, that word is Educative. Not exclusively, but 
 
 10 
 
eminently, have these expositions been the educators of the world. 
 Each in turn has learned from its predecessors, one might almost 
 say its ancestors, lessons which in expanded form are transmitted 
 to its successors. 
 
 But for the merit of a thoroughly educative exhibit the late 
 Exposition at Paris was without a peer or parallel. Its classifica- 
 tion was a decided advance upon anything hitherto developed. 
 The method of making wherever possible an active exhibit replace 
 the former still exhibit was worthy of all praise. More than usual, 
 though perhaps not as much as might have been, the divisions of 
 the classification were characterized by some common informing 
 element about which things might be grouped. There is no dis- 
 coverable reason why rye-flour, palm leaf hats, ten-penny nails and 
 jewelry should be grouped together, because they all happen to be 
 manufactured articles. An intense interest surrounds the methods 
 which allow visitors to see, whenever possible, the methods and the 
 machinery by which things are made. 
 
 As to buildings, they were finished and decorated ; the instal- 
 lations within them were always effectively arranged ; and in the 
 higher lines of thought and its illustration exhibits were fully 
 developed and adequately presented. The encyclopedia had a 
 multitude of new chapters, and the older ones were rewritten, 
 presenting the latest analysis. 
 
 In certain ^instances her buildings were superior to any other 
 ever built for exposition purposes. These were the palaces of fine 
 arts, greater and lesser, built of stone, steel and glass in the high- 
 est style of French architecture, beautiful and enduring ; and the 
 audience room called the Salle des Fetes, unique in form, grand in 
 proportions, and decorated by every art that the French have 
 carried to perfection, could hardly be excelled in beauty of design 
 or fitness for its purpose. The Exposition of 1900 was character- 
 ized by completeness of design, fit adjustment of methods, thor- 
 oughness of preparation, excellence of arrangement, and perfection 
 in detail as in ensemble. They will be wise men who can better 
 its work, from start to finish. 
 
 In studying the precedents shown by the other great World's 
 Fairs it is interesting to observe their development, as indicated 
 by several important items. It was reasonable to expect that each 
 should represent a greater area of enclosure, a greater area cov- 
 ered by roof, more elaborate and exhaustive preparation involving 
 
 11 
 
the expenditure of more money, and that its benefits should be 
 enjoyed by an ever increasing throng of visitors. It is not my 
 purpose to harass my hearers with masses of statistics, but in a few 
 points I wish to show that those who are planning the coming 
 Exposition have considered these points and are making adequate 
 preparation for the ever cumulative needs of an universal and 
 international World's Fair. 
 
 The areas under roof at some of the successive Fairs were as 
 follows : 
 
 London, . 1851, . 21 acres. 
 
 Paris, . . 1867, . ' 37 acres. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1876, . 56 acres. 
 
 Paris, . . 1889, . . 75 acres. 
 
 Chicago, . 1893, . 200 acres. 
 
 Paris, . . 1900, . . 125 acres. 
 
 St. Louis, . 1904, . 250 acres. 
 
 The expense incurred in several of the exhibits was : 
 At Paris in 1867, . $ 4,000,000 
 
 At Philadelphia in 1876, . . 8,500,000 
 
 At Chicago in 1893, . 19,000,000 had been 
 
 expended in September, 1892, and the disbursements to June 1, 
 
 1894, were $27,250,000. 
 
 The cost of the St. Louis Fair is yet to be ascertained. At 
 present there is a strong probability that expenditures will exceed 
 those of any other World's Fair. 
 
 As to the attendance of visitors, we find the following: 
 
 London, 
 
 1851, 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 Paris, 
 
 . 1867, . 
 
 8,500,000 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 1876, 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 Paris, 
 
 . 1878, . 
 
 . 13,000,000 
 
 Paris, 
 
 1889, 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 Chicago, 
 
 . 1893, . 
 
 . 28,000,000 
 
 Paris, 
 
 1900, 
 
 48,200,000 
 
 The facts which we have hastily laid before you are such as 
 impress themselves upon all exposition managers and compel them 
 to mould their actions accordingly. 
 
 The smaller, local expositions have been content to fill their 
 space with such exhibits as would in themselves be attractive,, the 
 
 12 
 
exhibitors having been induced to pay for space. Such a thing as 
 completeness in the exhibits of a department was impracticable 
 from the nature of things. In a World's Fair, encyclopedic and 
 universal, the desirability of illustrating all possible phases of an 
 art or a science becomes apparent and impressive, and will evoke 
 the highest skill in those who have to promote and install the ex- 
 hibits, in such an administration as will avoid redundancy, supply 
 deficiencies, and will so arrange exhibits as to cause them to sup- 
 plement and illustrate each other. A skillfully arranged depart- 
 ment becomes a great mosaic, each element filling a place defi- 
 nitely determined by its inherent relationships, and not an acci- 
 dental one like that of the beads on a rosary. 
 
 Another most important lesson, but one not easily made effec- 
 tive under the exhuberant pressure of American exhibitors, is that 
 an exhibit becomes impressive and instructive, not by its magni- 
 tude, but by its quality. An exhibit may easily smother itself by 
 its own multiplicity of detail. A thousand bushels of wheat from 
 one harvest can teach the enquirer no more than a single measure 
 thereof. One singing lute may in the exquisite subtility of its har- 
 mony surpass all others of the world ; this fact will appear when 
 it has been laboriously compared, not with each lute ever made, 
 but only with the few known to. have surpassing merit. Hence it 
 becomes evident that the encyclopedic collection presented for 
 consideration and study at an Universal Exposition should consist, 
 not of a bewildering multitude of mediocre things, nor even of 
 objects comparatively worthy, but of materials carefully chosen 
 for their surpassing excellence. A worthy exhibit of wheat, for 
 example, from the prairies of one of the Dakotas would show, not 
 a sackful from every man's granary, so exactly alike that without a 
 private mark no exhibitor could prove his own sample, but a few 
 specimens carefully chosen for peculiar quality. For example, one 
 bushel shown at Charleston from a New Mexican ranch, and weigh- 
 ing 66£ pounds, availed more than all the other wheat shown at 
 that Exposition. 
 
 The Louisiana Purchase World's Fair has the purpose, as it 
 has the opportunity, to gather and install a series of exhibits in its 
 various departments that shall surpass any of its illustrious prede- 
 cessors 
 
 It has a site artistically adapted to the display of the grand 
 structures already lifting their serried battlements and lofty towers 
 
 13 
 
toward the over-arching sky. The scheme of these buildings will 
 rise before the observer, gradation after gradation, until it culmi- 
 nates in the noble art building crowning the summit with its magni- 
 ficent proportions, the whole interwoven into one grand and har- 
 monious prospect. These buildings will offer under roof an extent 
 of more than 250 acres, an area adequate to an orderly classified 
 and educative arrangement of the most full and complete presen- 
 tation of exhibits drawn from every quarter of the wide earth, that 
 the world has yet seen. Knowing that at each successive fair the 
 world has accumulated a larger assemblage of objects worthy to 
 claim the inspection and careful study of the people, those who 
 plan the areas of display, are furnished room according to their 
 needs. 
 
 The Fair will be international, as the nations of the earth have 
 in large degree already signified their acceptance of the invitation 
 offered by the President under the authority of Congress. The 
 Fair will be universal, its material drawn from all the regions of 
 the earth. It will be encyclopedic, each subject presented in an 
 orderly, classified and exhaustive arrangement. It will be in the 
 highest sense educative. Passing leisurely and thoughtfully through 
 its vast halls, observing, reflecting, comparing, the judicious ob- 
 server will have acquired more information, in a form easier to 
 be remembered and better adapted for after-consideration, than 
 he could gather in many years of fatiguing travel, costly both as 
 to time and money. He does not need to traverse the wide 
 world ; the world is brought systematically before him. This is 
 the unspeakable gift which the Louisiana Purchase Exposition will 
 offer to all its visitors, and especially to the citizens of the Trans- 
 Mississippi, in whose domain this last and greatest World's Fair 
 has already planted the standards of its vast encampment. 
 
 The Trans-Mississippi, an empire in itself, spans the Republic 
 from the boundary of the Canadian forests to the shores of the 
 American Mediterranean, and from the Father of Waters to the 
 Western Sea. Some present remember when the most of their in- 
 formation concerning this half of the United States was derived 
 from Cooper's Astoria, which was the story of Lewis and Clark's 
 Journey from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River, or 
 from the descriptions of the Pacific Coast and its commerce in the 
 hides which formed its only export, found in Dana's "Two Years 
 Before the Mast." The maps in the geographies of those days 
 
 14 
 
marked the southern part of this great domain as Llano Estacado, 
 the staked plain ; another part as the American desert, and they 
 squandered the Rocky Mountains promiscuously over all the rest. 
 This vast area is now occupied by twenty-three States and Terri- 
 tories, with an indefinite capacity of making more. 
 
 What can this great Trans-Mississippi do for the Louisiana 
 Purchase World's Fair? 
 
 i. It can do its part, a great part, indeed, towards making 
 the Fair what it has undertaken to be, a compendium, an epitome 
 of the best things which each of your States, Territories, Cities, 
 communities, have achieved. No part of the Union is more richly 
 endowed with nature's choicest gifts, than are, each in its way, the 
 States of the Trans-Mississippi. One is rich in wheat, another in 
 corn, or in cotton, or in sugar, in silver, in gold, in copper, in 
 apples, in fruits, in big trees, in the scarped canyons of rivers, in 
 snow-crowned mountains. It is occupied by people notable for 
 intelligence, enterprise, determination and success. 
 
 Out of all of these things, with the fascinating method of 
 manipulation which you possess, you can present exhibits of pre- 
 cious things which will delight the dazzled eyes of a waiting world. 
 Yet why do I say this — urging you to action ? You need no urg- 
 ing, for you are already preparing these exhibits, for which the 
 expanded halls already described will scarcely find room. 
 
 2. You can boom the World's Fair. Having taken pains to 
 inform yourselves of the earnest purposes of those who are arrang- 
 ing its most intricate details, of the lofty ideals as to its quality 
 that are ever uppermost in their thoughts, of the wide experience 
 they bring to bear upon devising and executing its various work, 
 you will be convinced of the absolute fidelity of the representa- 
 tions made you. You will present these views to your friends and 
 neighbors, until the whole communities where you dwell are leav- 
 ened with the desire to see for themselves the marvels of this last 
 and greatest demonstration of the world's work. 
 
 3. You can come yourselves, bringing with you your wives, 
 your children, your neighbors, and the stranger within your gates. 
 
 15 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 010 072 494 7 
 
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