Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1895-09-27
FRIDAY, sEpT.27
THE GREAT ST LOUIS FAIR
And ITS Relation to the Indus
trial Future of the Miss
issippi Valley.

without repetition, sogeneral and
COZ prehensive was the commeada-
ton with which he was favored.
A similar observation might well
be applied TO the great st. Louis
Fair and the vast industrial region
of which 1T has become the proud
and legitimate exponent. In this
and foreign countries the Fair is
synonym for all that is hone st and
inspiring in wholesome emulation,
while the fame of the Mississippi
Valley has set latitude and longl-
tude at defiance and pervaded the
marts of civilization and the re-
treats of barbarism. Untiring and
inseparable, the advancement OF
one has been the progress of the
other, and if the praise of press
and patrons has fallen into a
groove. it is because human elo-
auence is slower than human
achievement, for the s.half has not
been told.n If encomium has al
ready begun to hnger lame and in
adequate by the wayside, how can
the Imagination picture even in ap-
pro1imate outline the future of this
great institution and the country
for which it stands as industrial
sponsor!
Eastern poetry recognizes
"TIate of Tears" and the Western
world. with as much sentiment and
more practicality, can point to a
Gate of Progress. This de igna-
ton very properly belongs to st
Louis, the most substantial of great
American cities, dauntleSs in
drouth and mistaken in panic, by
nature the emporium of the heart
of the country and by business
acumen the keystone of a tinan-
cial world beyond ambitions Wis
ions. Call it not the Future
Great''-repudiate the term as a
back number-call it rather the
Future Greatest or the Great AL
ready. Regarding st. Louis as
the Gate of Progress, we must be-
hold in its great Fair a sign board
towering high in the horizon OF
all nations, pointing the mani
fold achievements of the present
and limiting the illimitable wonders
of the future.
Reason is tardy and the scoffer
is persistent, but truth overcomes
prejudice in the end. Through
natural vicissitude and financial
depression, the st. Louis Fair,
like a lily of the Rhone, that is
freshened by the battling waters,
has developed into an enterprise
of which not only Missouri, but
the whole West, is Justly proud.
While country fairs have narrow
ed in exhibits and dwindled in at
tendance, this stupendous combi-
nation of capital and display of re-
sources, by an enthusiastic co,
operation characteristic of st.
Louis, has grown in significance
and popularity until it has "day-
lighted" all Western competitive
exhibitions. AS the structure of
Vespasian absorbed the festivities
of Rome, so this gigantic institu-
ton has overshadowed all hollow
limitations and sworn to the surviv-
al of the tittest. Like another
Osiris, it stands as the guiding
genius of mighty river, and its
influence has become a factor in
the veal of nations. Its past is
open to the world, is present is
unchallenged, and surely, with
such names as d. R. Francis, c.
c. Maffitt, j. X. Gwynn and 9th
ers in its management, its future
can safely be trusted to the vindi-
cation of events.
If the influence of the st. Louis
Fair upon Mississippi valley en-
terprise already felt can only be
measurably determined, specula-
tive philosophy is baffied before its
relation to the industrial future of
this magnificent region. Liberal,
impartial, comprehensive, it in
yites the West and admits the
world, and it is not in human ma
ture to fail to profit by such dis
play of what is most honorable and
satisfactory among men-the fruits
of labor. This institution has al