construction of the buildings he will now present to the
President of the United States for dedication.

Third. Grand chorus: "The Heavens Proclaiming."

Fourth. Presentation of the buildings by Hon. David R. Francis,
president of the Exposition Company:

The people of the Louisiana Purchase are proud of their
membership in the Federal Union.

They are grateful for the benefits that have flowed from a life
under the enduring institutions framed by the founders of the
Republic. They congratulate their brethren on the position our
country occupies among the nations of the earth, and felicitate
themselves on the part they have performed toward raising it to
its present prestige and power.

They felt it a patriotic duty to fittingly commemorate the
completion of the first century of their connection with the
American Republic, and the rounding out of an important epoch in
the life of the Republic. In the discharge of that duty this
exposition was conceived. The inhabitants of the fourteen States
and two Territories comprised within the purchase selected St.
Louis as the scene of the celebration.

The people of this city, grateful for the honor conferred,
promptly accepted it and cheerfully assumed the immense
responsibility it entailed. The century just closed, unequaled
as it was in every line of progress, furnishes no more striking
evidence of the advance of civilization than the development of
the Louisiana territory. A celebration in such an age and in
such a country, to be fit, should be upon a scale in keeping
with the best and the highest, and should be planned upon lines
broad enough to take in every people and every clime.

A scheme so ambitious in its inception naturally had
comparatively few advocates and encountered many antagonists and
more doubters. It could not be accomplished without the
recognition and the aid of the General Government, which, for a
time, it seemed impossible to enlist. It was decided that the
amount required to launch an undertaking so comprehensive should
be the same as that paid for the empire which Jefferson
purchased--$15,000,000. The Congress said to St. Louis, "When
you have secured two-thirds of that sum, we will provide the
remaining third." The conditions were accepted and fulfilled.

After three years of struggle the sinews had