At the appointed hour the Director of Congresses, Dr. Howard J. Rogers, called the meeting to order, and outlined in a few words the object of the Congress, welcomed the foreign delegates, and presented the members, both foreign and American, to the President of the Exposition, Hon. David R. Francis.
The President spoke as follows:—
What an ambitious undertaking is a universal exposition! But how worthy it is of the highest effort! And, if successful, how far-reaching are its results, how lasting its benefits! Who shall pass judgment on that success? On what evidence, by what standards shall their verdicts be formed? The development of society, the advancement of civilization, involve many problems, encounter many and serious difficulties, and have met with deplorable reactions which decades and centuries were required to repair. The proper study of mankind is man, and any progress in science that ignores or loses sight of his welfare and happiness, however admirable and wonderful such progress may be, disturbs the equilibrium of society.
The tendency of the times toward centralization or unification is, from an economic standpoint, a drifting in the right direction, but the piloting must be done by skillful hands, under the supervision and control of far-seeing minds, who will remember that the masses are human beings whose education and expanding intelligence are constantly broadening and emphasizing their individuality. A universal exposition affords to its visitors, and these who systematically study its exhibits and its phases, an unequaled opportunity to view the general progress and development of all countries and all races. Every line of human endeavor is here represented.
The conventions heretofore held on these grounds and many planned to be held—aggregating over three hundred—have been confined in their deliberations to special lines of thought or activity. This international congress of arts and sciences is the most comprehensive in its plan and scope of any ever held, and is the first of its kind. The lines of its organization, I shall leave the Director of Exhibits, who is also a member of the administrative board of this congress, to explain. You who are members are already advised as to its scope, and your almost universal and prompt acceptance of the invitations extended to you to participate, implies an approval which we appreciate, and indicates a willingness and a desire to coöperate in an effort to bring into intelligent and beneficial correlation all branches of science, all lines of thought. You need no argument to convince you of the eminent fitness of making such a congress a prominent feature of a universal exposition in which education is the dominant feature.
The administrative board and the organizing committee have discharged their onerous and responsible tasks with signal fidelity and ability, and the success that has rewarded their efforts is a lasting monument to their wisdom. The management of the Exposition tenders to them, collectively and individually, its grateful acknowledgments. The membership in this congress represents the world's elect in research and in thought. The participants were selected after a careful survey of the entire field; no limitations of national boundaries or racial affiliations have been observed. The Universal Exposition of 1904, the city of St. Louis, the Louisiana territory whose acquisition we are celebrating, the entire country, and all participating in or visiting this Exposition are grateful for your coming, and feel honored by your presence.
We are proud to welcome you to a scene where are presented the best and highest material products of all countries and of every civilization, participated in by all peoples, from the most primitive to the most highly cultured—a marker in the progress of the world, and of which the International Congress of Arts and Science is the crowning feature.
May the atmosphere of this universal exposition, charged as it is with the restless energies of every phase of human activity and permeated by that ineffable sentiment of universal brotherhood engendered by the intelligent sons of God, congregating for the friendly rivalries of peace, inspire you with even higher thoughts—imbue you with still broader sympathies, to the end that by your future labors you may be still more helpful to the human race and place your fellow men under yet deeper obligations.
Director Frederick J. V. Skiff was then introduced by the President as representing the Division of Exhibits, whose untiring labors had filled the magnificent Exposition palaces surrounding the Festival Hall with the visible products of those sciences and arts, the theory, progress, and problems of which the Congress was assembled to consider.
Mr. Skiff spoke as follows:—