In reply to these addresses of the officials of the Exposition, the honorary Vice-Presidents for Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy, and Japan made brief responses in behalf of their respective countries.
Sir William Ramsay of London spoke in the place of Hon. James Bryce, extending England's thanks for the courtesy which had been shown her representatives and declaring that England, particularly in the scientific field, looked upon America as a relative and not as a foreign country.
France was represented by Professor Jean Gaston Darboux, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, who spoke as follows:—
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,—My first word will be to thank you for the honor which you have been so courteous as to pay my country in reserving for her one of the vice-presidencies of the Congress. Since the time of Franklin, who received at the hands of France the welcome which justice and his own personal genius and worth demanded, most affectionate relations have not ceased to unite the scientists of France and the scientists of America. The distinction which you have here accorded to us will contribute still further to render these relations more intimate and more fraternal. In choosing me among so many of the better fitted delegates sent by my country, you have without doubt wished to pay special honor to the Académie des Sciences and to the Institut de France, which I have the honor of representing in the position of Perpetual Secretary. Permit me therefore to thank you in the name of these great societies, which are happy to count in the number of their foreign associates and of their correspondents so many of the scholars of America. In like manner as the Institut de France, so the Congress which opens to-day seeks to unite at the same time letters, science, and arts. We shall be happy and proud to take part in this work and contribute to its success.
Germany was represented by Professor Wilhelm Waldeyer, of the University of Berlin, who replied as follows:—
Mr. President, Honored Assemblage,—The esteemed invitation which has been offered to me in this significant hour of the opening of the Congress of Arts and Science to greet the members of this congress, and particularly my esteemed compatriots, I have had no desire to decline. I have been for a fortnight under the free sky of this mighty city—so I must express myself, since enclosing walls are unknown in the United States—and this fact, together with the hospitality offered me in such delightful manner by the Chairman of the Committee on Congresses, Mr. Frederick W. Lehmann, has almost made me a St. Louis man. Therefore I may perhaps take it upon myself to greet you here.
I confess that I arrived here with some misgiving—some doubts as to whether the great task which was here undertaken under most difficult circumstances could be accomplished with even creditable success. These doubts entirely disappeared the first time I entered the grounds of the World's Fair and obtained a general view of the method, beautiful as well as practical, by which the treasures gathered from the whole world were arranged and displayed. I trust you, too, will have a like experience; and will soon recognize that a most earnest and good work is here accomplished.
And I must remark at this time that we Germans may indeed be well satisfied here; the unanimous and complete recognition which our coöperation in this great work has received is almost disconcerting.
What can be said of the whole Exposition with reference to its extent and the order in which everything is arranged, I may well say concerning the departments of science, especially interesting to us. In this hour in which the Congress of Arts and Science is being opened, we shall not express any thanks to those who took this part of the work upon their shoulders—a more difficult task indeed than all the others, for here the problem is not to manage materials, but heads and minds. And as I see here assembled a large number of German professors—I, too, belong to the profession—of whom it is said, I know not with how much justice, that they are hard to lead, the labors of the Directors and Presidents of the Congress could not have been, and are not now, small. Neither shall we to-day prophesy into what the Congress may develop. The greater number of speakers cannot expect to have large audiences, but even to-day we can safely say this: the imposing row of volumes in which shall be given to posterity the reviews here to be presented concerning the present condition, and future problems of the sciences and arts as they appear to the scientific world at the beginning of the twentieth century, will provide a monumental work of lasting value. This we may confidently expect. The thanks which we to-day do not wish to anticipate in words, let us show by our actions to our kind American hosts, and especially to the directors of the World's Fair and of this Congress. With exalted mind, forgetting all little annoyances which may and will come, let us go forward courageously to the work, and let us do our best. Let us grasp heartily the open hand honestly extended to us.
May this Congress of Arts and Science worthily take part in the great and undisputed success which even to-day we must acknowledge the World's Fair at St. Louis.