Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

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.