Liberate and save capital from every alleged and real form of a grasping, destructive, and disloyal selfishness, which may turn even the present midday of national prosperity and contentment into the threatening deepening gloom of an advancing cyclone of unavoidable loss and destruction.
Give to the possessors of our fabulous wealth an ever-increasing philanthropy, devoting a surplus of possessions unheard of by our fathers to education, literature, arts, and mercy, thereby making themselves the beloved and blessed favorites of a happy and grateful people.
We pray Thee that labor and toil may ever be held in due honor and respect in our broad land. Help us to realize that labor, be it of hand or brains, is the sinews and backbone alike of our past, present, and future as a free people.
Grant, O God, to the leaders in the world of labor the highest and most patriotic ideals of citizenship—ideals and purposes commending themselves to the intelligence and justice of the entire people.
And as neither capital alone, nor labor alone, could have built this wonderful exposition, grant, O God, that capital and labor all over our glorious land may learn to join hands in fair-minded cooperation for the upbuilding of such conditions of society which will prove an inspiration to ourselves and a worthy example to others, ending all forms of illegal coercion by one party or the other, and calling into permanent existence that truest and greatest America which is ever the dream of loyal and patriotic hearts.
We pray Thee help us to realize and profess, amidst the justifiable joy of a happy people, that Thou art God alone, and that there is salvation only in the name of the Blessed Redeemer. Grant that we may continually see in the cross on Calvary the tested emblem of a new life for time and eternity, a life of insight, energy, and the power of universally recognized leadership ever characterizing the nation whose boon is the Bible and whose master is Christ. Bless and protect the President of our nation, the governor of the State, the mayor of this city, and the president of this exposition, with all their associations. God of our fathers, give unto us all that sincerity of purpose, that rectitude of action so necessary for the preservation of our rights and privileges. Make us the toiling means for promulgating for Thee, and ever more successfully, the divine message of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and to Thee, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, shall be glory now and forevermore. Amen.
Second. The following is a brief outline of the sentiments expressed by
Mr. Thurston, president of the day:
We are here to welcome the ambassadors, ministers, and
representatives of friendly foreign nations.
Here we gather to commemorate an event which changed the whole history of America, for the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase extended the boundaries of the young Republic, which up to that time had no seacoast, except that of the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and gave us a continental domain extending from ocean to ocean.
We come here to celebrate, through this magnificent exposition, the centennial anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. This is not an exposition of a city or of a State, or even of the United States; it is an exposition of and for the world.