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.