SLPD_1904_04_30_P2_004_02.txt

Following ts the address of President David R. Francis at the opening of the Loutsiana Purchase Exposition.  GREAT thinker has said, “The senti- A ment from which it springs determines  the dignity of any deed.’ This Univer- | sa] Exposition was conceived in a sense of | obligation on the part of the people of the) Louisiana Purchase to give expression to. their gratitude for the innumerable bless-_ ings that have flowed from a century of. membership in the American Union, to manifest their appreciation of the mani- fold benefits of living in a land whose clim-| ate and soll and resources are unsur-_ passed, and of having their lots cast in an. age when liberty and enlightenment are es-_ tablished on foundations broad and deep. and are the heritage of all who worthily | strive.  To rise to the full measure of such a sentiment requireé an undertaking of com- prehensive proportions, and the participa- tion of all races and of every clime. |  Six years have passed since the concep- | tion began to assume form. The first year. was devoted to arousing the interest of this. community and securing the co-operation of the state and territories of the Purchase. | The next two years were spent in enlisting the sympathy of other sections of our own country and in gaining the recognition and