The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-10

Last week there were In Philadelphia two
very notable Incidents, both of which re.
dound to the honor and to the advantage of
that steady-going city. One of them was
the opening of the American Commercial
Museum, q new and important institu-
ton ; and the other was the meeting of
the International Commercial Congress, to
which the business organizations of South
America, Central America. and Mexico had
sent fifty delegates. These delegates ar
rived in New York yesterday. for the pur-
pose of examining the manufacturing and
mercantile interests Of the commercial
metropolis of the United States.
We praise our esteemed contemporary,
Philadelphia. in that it has been the first
city in this country to discern the impor.
tance Of such an institution as the CONNER
cial Museum, and the usefulness of such a
meeting as that Of the Commercial Congress,
IN which the greater part of the republics
upon the American continent are represent
ed. Philadelphia has thus served her own
interests and those of the United States.
1t was An admirable speech that Presi-
dent MCKINLEY made last Wednesday at
the opening Of the museum, and another
not less admirable that he made on the
evening Of the same day at a banquet in
honor of the delegates to the Congress.
81 hav seen." he said, "the remarkable
spectacle Of the representatives of all the
fifteen American republics with the prod
ucts Of their skill and their soil in one
great warehouse" He spoke of it as a
thing unprecedented nj most promising
for the growth of commercial and indus
trial prosperity, planned along broad and
progressive lines, promoted by systematic
study, and executed under scientific meth
DDS. "Who can doubt" he asked, when
referring to the delegates before him, "that
the deliberations of these able and public
spirited men, acting together freely and
cordially, animated by a common impulse
and a COMMON interest, will result in still
closer relations of international comfy and
a higher prosperity for ALI
Not less fervent or buoyant than the
speech of President MCKINLEY was that
of Minister SALVADOR DA MENDoNCA of
Brazil, who spoke of the International Com
mercial Museum as a permanent and evo-
lutionary exhibition Of the products of every
Zone Of our hemisphere" as a " centre for
the Industrial life Of all American coun-
tries" as a receiver and distributor of in
formation regarding products, merchan-
disc, markets, and prices, and as an insti-
tuition whose future development may be
surmised, but cannot be reckoned."
The next most important speech of the
occasion was that of Governor HASTINGS
of Pennsylvania. who expressed a confident
hope that the establishment of the Museum
and the meeting of the Congress twill mark
the beginning of a system OF trade relations
which will shortly grow into national sig
nihcance, which will bear all the fea-
lures Of true commercial reciprocity, which
will bind together AZ one family the PAN
American republics, and which will even
tually unite and cement the nations of the
Western Hemisphere In the bonds of mu-
tual interest and advantage. constituting a
perpetual congress of peace"
The various speeches, from which we take
the foregoing sentences, were reported In
THE SUN of the day after their delivery,
and we trust that they were closely studied
by all those of our readers who are inter.
ested In the development and prosperity of
American commerce. We do not know
that any Of the speakers spoke with more
confidence than the occasion warranted.
1t was the day after the opening of the
Commercial Museum that the ~Internationa
Commercial Congress assembled within it's
walls. On the first day of its meeting an OF.
ganization was effected, committees were
chosen, various matters of business were at
tended TO, and instructive addresses were