Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-01
OF PRESIDENT
At st. Louis Worlds Fair
Dedication.
TALKS OF EXPANSION
COMPARES OUR HISTORY WITH
OLD WORLDS.
Mr.. Cleveland Devotes His Remarks to
the Importance Of the Louis
lana Purchase.

An Associated Press dispatch from st.
Louis last night gives the following de-
tails of the dedication exercises after the
close of The Stars report: The doors of
the Liberal Arts building were opened at
O'Clock, and at 2:15, when President
Roosevelt entered the building, he was
greeted by prolonged applause. At 2:25
the assembly was called to order by Presi-
dent Francis. He introduced Cardinal Glib
bons who delivered the invocation.
Following the invocation of the cardinal
former Senator Thomas H. Carter of the
national commission who acted as presi
dent of the day, was introduced He
spoke briefly the work of the commits
sion.
After the rendition of 1.-THE Heavens
Proclaiming' by the chorus of 1000 voices
David r. Francis, president of the fair
association, delivered the address pre-
presenting the buildings of the fair.
Mr.. Francis said
ITO the Pres dent of the United States,
to the accomplished representatives of
foreign countries, to the chief executives
of the sovereign states, to the senators
and representatives of the National Con-
gress, to the great concourse of visitors
here congregated. we extend greeting. If
you are pleased with what has been &C
complshed, your approval is abundant re-
ward for the labor we have performed.
We bear in mind and trust you do not
overlook that this celebration is of no
state. of no section, but of the entire
country. 1t is our hope and our expectaA
ton that every section and every COM
monWealth, and, In fact, every community,
will cherish a proprietary interest and lend
a helpful aid to this worthy undertaking,
to the end that it may prove as nearly as
may be commensurate with the country
and the century whose achievements and
advancement it Is designed to comment
crate.
The beautiful picture whose outlines
you now behold will, to adopt the smile
of the chief designer, when completed,
compose song that will reverberate
around the globe.
And now. Mr.. President, 1t is my pleas
ing privilege and high honor to present
to you for dedication the buildings of the
Louisiana purchase exposition. May a
high standard of citizenship and broad
er humanity and the mission of the coun-
try whose worthy representative you are,
be sustained and fostered and promoted
by the uses to which these structures
are devoted. May the happiness of man
kind be advanced and broadened by the
lofty purposes that inspired this under
taking and moved our own and our sister
countries to unite in its accomplishment"
President Roosevelt's Speech.
At the conclusion of President Francis
address terrific cheers broke forth to greet
President Roosevelt, whose dedication ad-
dress was, in part as follows:
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: At
the outset of my address let me recall to
the minds of my hearers that the soil upon
xxy1,i Th cta I1f1
successfully the possession of two mighty
empires Spain and France, whose sons
made a deathless record of heroism in the
early annals of the new world. No history
OF the western country, can be written
without paying heed to the wonderful part
played therein in the early days by the
soldiers, missionaries. explorers and traders.
who did their work for the honor of the
proud banners of France and CASTLE.
While the settlers of English-speakine
stock, and those of Dutch, German and
Scandinavian origin who were associated
with them, were still clinging close to the
eastern seaboard, the pioneers of Spain and
of France had penetrated deep into the
hitherto unknown wilderness of the west
and had wandered far and wide within the
boundaries of what Is now our mighty
country The very cities themselves-St
Louis, New Orleans. Santa Fee, New Mexico
bear witness by their titles to the nation
alities Of their founders. 1t was not until
the revolution had begun that the English
speaking settlers pushed west across the
Alleghenes, and not until a century ago
that they entered in to possess the land
upon which we now stand
Former Acquisitions.
OF course. it was not with the Louisiana
purchase that our career of expansion be-
gan. In the middle of the revolutionary
war the Illinois region, including the pres
ent states of Illinois and Indiana. was
added to our domain by force of arms. as a
sequel to the adventurous expedition of
George Rogers Clarke and his frontier rifle
men. Later the treaties of Jay and Pinck-
ney ma terially extended our real boundaries
to the west. But none of these events was
Of so striking a character as to fix the
popular Imagination. The old thirteen col
onies had always claimed that their rights
stretched westward to the Mississippi. and
vague and unreal though these claims were
until made good by conquest settlement
and diplomacy, they still served to give the
impression that the earliest westward
movements of our people were little more
than the filling in of already existing ma
tional boundaries
But there could be no Illusion about the
acquisition OF the vast territory beyond the
Mississippi, stretching westward to the Pa
cific, which in that day was known az
Louisiana. This immense region was ad-
mittedly the territory of foreign power
of European kingdom. None of our peo-
PIE had ever laid claim to foot of it. Its
acquisition could in no sense be treated IA
rounding out any existing claims When
we acquired 1t we made evident once for
all that consciously and Of set purpose we
SPRING RESORTS.