been secured--the
first step accomplished. Two years have since elapsed. During
that period the work has been pushed in every State and
Territory and possession of the United States, and in every
civilized country on the earth. The disappointments experienced
and the obstacles encountered have but served to spur to renewed
effort those who, from the inception of the movement, had
determined to carry it to a successful consummation.

The further encouragement of the General Government on the
provision for its own exhibit, the cooperation of 41 States and
Territories and possessions of the United States, the pledged
participation of 32 foreign countries are the results of
vigorous domestic and foreign exploitation. That, and what you
behold here to-day in physical shape, we submit as the product
of five years of labor, nearly four of which were devoted to
propaganda and appeal and organization.

The plan and scope, comprehensive as they were in the beginning,
have never diminished at any stage of the progress; rather have
they been amplified and enlarged.

St. Louis, with an ever-widening sense of the responsibility,
and an ever-growing appreciation of the opportunity, has, up to
this moment, risen to the full measure of the duty assumed. The
management of the exposition has never despaired, but with a
realizing sense of the mighty task it has undertaken, and
mindful of the limitations of human capabilities, with
singleness of purpose and with personal sacrifice for which it
neither asks nor deserves credit, has striven to meet the
expectations of those whose trust it holds.

The Exposition Company makes its acknowledgments to those
faithful and efficient officials whose intelligent service have
contributed so much toward bringing the enterprise to its
present stage. The company expresses its obligation to the
artists and artisans who have reared these graceful and majestic
structures and whose labors have been inspired more by pride in
the end to be achieved than by hope of material reward.

The Universal Exposition of 1904, when the date of opening rolls
around one year from to-day, will, with its buildings completed,
its exhibits installed, be thoroughly prepared to receive the
millions of visitors who will enter its gates. The distinguished
assemblage which