CHAPTER IV.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXERCISES.

One Hundred Thousand People in Attendance— Grand Orchestra of Two Hundred Pieces and a Chorus
of Five Thousand Voices under Theodore Thomas— Bishop Fowler's Prayer and the Opening
Address of the Director-General— Hempstead Washburne's Brilliant Remarks— Reading and
Singing the Dedicatory Ode.

N the afternoon of the 2ist of October, 1892, where only a
few years before a solitary Indian was monarch of all he
surveyed, there transpired an event which will forever
perpetuate the name and fame of Columbus. This event
will always be known as the Dedicatory Exercises of the
World's Columbian Exposition, and took place in the un-
finished Manufactures Building in the presence of one
hundred thousand people. There were exercises, or
there had been for a week or more before, in various
portions of the globe, all in honor of the man who discov-
ered America, conspicuously in Italy and Spain, and at va-
rious points throughout our own country.

When Vice-President Morton, representing the dignity of the United States,
supported on his right and left, respectively, by President Palmer and Director
General Davis, marched down the center aisle, between the long columns of dis-
tinguished men on the speakers' stand, to take his position facing that immense
audience, the great iron girders supporting the roof of the Manufactures building
were made to tremble by the cheer that met him. Instantly 100,000 handkerchiefs
were in the air, waving such a salute as no man ever received before.

After the Vice-President had bowed his acknowledgements of the demon-
stration the Director General, at exactly 1 130 o'clock, touched the electric signal,
Professor Thomas waved his baton, and with one burst of melody the orchestra
sounded the opening strain of the " Columbian March." The effect was instanta-
neous and wonderful. A hush fell upon the multitude, and all through the great
auditorium penetrated the harmony of Professor Paine's composition.

Then 5,000 voices in one tremendous chorus swelled the volume of the
music. For five minutes the audience sat as though entranced. And many
seconds had elapsed after the baton had been given its final wave before the burst
of applause came.

It had been useless to attempt to quiet that throng until it had worked off

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

the enthusiasm acquired while the " Columbian March" was being produced. But
there is an end to all things, and so when Bishop Charles H. Fowler stood forth
and waved his hands in an appeal for peace the hush that fell was as impressive as
had been the applause. And then the eloquent divine with head bowed, his voice
wonderfully loud and clear, uttered a fervent prayer.

Upon the conclusion of Bishop Fowler's nrayer, Director-General Davis read
the opening address as follows:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: By virtue of my official position it is my pleasurable
duty to present the noted personages who, at this hour, in their several functions,
are to contribute to the exercises with which we here dedicate the grounds and
buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition.

In a presence so vast, on an occasion so pre-eminent in the progress of uni-
versal affairs, I am moved by emotions
that can sweep a human heart but once
in life. Awe overmasters inspiration, and
both are lost in gratitude that I am per-
mitted to inaugurate these ceremonies.
The citizens of our common country may
be pardoned the pride and satisfaction
with which we study the historic steps by
which our people have been led to their
present exalted position. Of the great
nations of the world, the United States is
the youngest; our resources are equal to
those of any other nation. Our sixty mill-
ions of people are among the most intel-
ligent, cultured, happy and prosperous of
mankind. But what we are and what we
possess as a nation is not ours by pur-
chase nor by conquest, but by virtue of
the rich heritage that was spread out be-
neath the sun and stars, beneath the
storms and rains and dews, beneath the
frosts and snows, ages before a David, a
Homer, or a Virgil sang, or before Italy's
humble and immortal son had dreamed
his dream of discovery. This rich heritage is ours, not by our own might, not
even by our own discovery, but ours by the gift of the Infinite. It is fitting that,
on the threshold of another century, we reverently pause in the presence of the
world, and with confession and supplication, with thanksgiving and devotedness,
with praise and adoration acknowledge our dependence on the Creator of the uni-
verse, the God of nations, the Father of mankind.

Nature has given us a virgin soil of incomparable richness and variety. Our
climate is so diversified that all the fruits of tree and vine ripen under our autumnal

INVITATION TO THE DEDICATORY CEREMONIES.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. Q7

skies. The great seas that form our boundaries, and with their ebb and flow bathe
our shores, are rich with all the treasures of the deep. The granite vaults of our
mountain chains are stored with untold mineral wealth. In the prodigality of
nature, bountiful provision has been made for our multiplying people, and in times
of emergency, from our great abundance we may succor and comfort the distressed
and afflicted of other lands. A single century has placed this people side by side
with the oldest and most advanced nations of the world — nations with a history of a
thousand years.

But in the midst of our rejoicing no American citizen should forget our
national starting point, and the quality of the manhood on which was laid the very
foundation of our government. Our fathers were born under foreign flags. The
very best brain and nerve, and muscle, and conscience of the older governments
found their way to this western continent. Our ancestors had the map of the world
before them; what wonder that they chose this land for their descendants! Over
the very cradle of our national infancy stood the spirit and form of the completed
civilization of other lands, and the birth-cries of the Republic rang out over the
world with a voice as strong as a giant of a thousand years. From the morning. of
our history the subjects of all nations have flocked to our shores and have entered
into our national life and joined in the upbuilding of our institutions. They have
spaded and planted, they have sown and gathered, they have wrought and builded,
and to-day, everywhere over all this land, may be seen the products and results of
this toil, constituting our national prosperity, promoting our national growth. To
all such the doors of the nation are ever open.

The World's Columbian Exposition is the natural outgrowth of this nation's
place in history. Our continent, discovered by Christopher Columbus, whose spirits
were revived as his cause was espoused by the generous-hearted Queen of Spain,
has throughout all the years from that time to this, been a haven to all who saw
here the promise of requited toil, of liberty and of peace.

The ceaseless, resistless march of civilization, westward, ever westward, has
reached and passed the great lakes of North America, and has founded on their
farthest shore the greatest city of modern times. Chicago, the peerless, has been
selected for the great celebration which to-day gives new fire to progress, and sheds
its light upon ages yet to come. Established in the heart of this continent, her
pulse throbs with the quickening current of our national life. And that this city
was selected as the scene of this great commemorative festival was the natural out-
growth of predestined events. Here all nations are to meet in peaceful, laudable
emulation on the fields of art, science and industry, on the fields of research, inven-
tion, and scholarship, and to learn the universal value of the discovery we com-
memorate; to learn, as could be learned in no other way, the nearness of man to
man, the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of the human race.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the exalted purpose of the World's Columbian
Exposition. May it be fruitful of its aim, and of peace forever to all the nations of
the earth.

<# .HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

At the conclusion of the address of the Director-General Hempstead Wash-
burne, then Mayor of Chicago, made the following brilliant remarks:

MR. PRESIDENT, REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, LADIES AND
GENTLEMEN: This day is dedicated by the American people to one whose name is
indissolubly linked with that of our continent. This day shall add new glories to
him whose prophetic vision beheld in the sta"rs which guided his audacious voyage
a new world and a new hope for the peoples of the earth.

The four centuries passing in review have witnessed the settlement of a
newly-discovered continent, the founding of many nations, and the establishment in
this country of more than sixty millios of people whose wonderful material pros-
perity, high intelligence, political institutions and glorious history have excited the
interest and compelled the admiration of the civilized world.

These centuries have evolved the liberty loving American people who are
gathered here to-day. We have with us the pioneer bearing in his person the free-
dom of his western home — the aging veteran, whom all nations honor, without
whose valor government, liberty and patriotism would be but idle words. We have
with us builders of cities, founders of states, dwellers in the forests, tillers of the
soil, the mechanic and the artisan, and noble women, daughters of the republic, not
less in patriotism and deserved esteem than those who seem to play the larger part
in building up a state.

There are gathered here our President and stately Senate, our grave and
learned Judges, our Congress and our States, that all mankind may know this is a
nation's holiday and a people's tribute to him whose dauntless courage and un-
wavering faith impelled him to traverse undismayed the unsailed waste of waters,
and whose first prayer upon a waiting continent was saluted on its course by that
banner which knows no creed, no faith, no nation — that ensign which has repre-
sented peace, progress and humanity for nineteen hundred years — the holy banner
of the cross.

Those foreign nations which have contributed so much to our growth will here
learn wherein our strength lies — that it is not in standing- armies — not in heredity
or birth — not even in our fertile valleys — not in our commerce nor our wealth — but
that we have built and are building upon the everlasting rock of individual character
and intelligence, seeking to secure an education for every man, woman and child
over whom floats the stars and stripes, that emblem which signifies our government
and our people.

That flag guards to-day 21,500,000 school children of a country not yet four
centuries old and who outnumber nearly four times the population of Spain in 1492.
This is our hope in the future — the anchor of the Republic — and a rainbow
of promise for the centuries yet to come.

As a mark of public gratitude it was decided to carry down into history
through this celebration the appreciation of this people for him before whose name
we all bow to-day.

You, sirs, who are the chosen representatives of our people — you into whose
keeping we entrust our property and our rights — you whose every act becomes a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 99

link in that long chain of history which spans four hundred years without a break
and whose every link signifies a struggle and victory for man — you who present that
last and most perfect experiment of human government have by your official acts
honored this young city with your choice as the most fitting place to mark this
country's dawn.

She accepts the sacred trust with rivalry toward none and fellowship for all.
She stands ready to fulfill the pledges she has made. She needs no orator to speak
her merits, no poet to sing her glories. She typifies the civilization of this continent
and this age; she has no hoary locks, no crumbling ruins; the gray-haired sire who
saw her birth to-day holds on high his prattling grandchild to see the nations of the
earth within her gates.

Over the very spot whereon we stand, within the memory of men still young,
the wild fowl winged their migratory flight.

Less than a century ago the site of this young city was unknown; to-day a
million and a half people support her honor, enterprise and thrift. Her annual
commerce of one billion and a half tells the eloquent story of her material great-
ness. Her liberty to all nations and all creeds is boundless, broad as humanity and
high as the dome of heaven. "Rule Britannia," the "Marseillaise," "Die Wacht am
Rhein," and every folksong of the older world has drifted over the Atlantic's stormy
waves, and as each echo, growing fainter with advancing leagues, has reached this
spot it has been merged into that one grand chorus, "My Country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty, of Thee I Sing."

This, sirs, is the American city of your choice ; her gates are open, her people at
your service. To you and those you represent we offer greeting, hospitality and love.

To the Old World, whose representatives grace this occasion, whose govern-
ments are in full accord with this enterprise so full of meaning to them and to us,
to that old world whose children braved unruly seas and treacherous storms to
found a new state in an unknown land, we greeting, too, as children greet a parent
in some new home.

We are proud of its ancestry, for it is our own. We glory in its history, for
it was our ancestral blood which inscribed its rolls of honor; and if to-day these dis-
tinguished men of more distinguished lands behold any spirit, thing or ambition
which excites their praise, it is but the outcropping of the Roman courage on anew
continent, in a later age.

Welcome to you men of older civilizations to this young city whose most
ancient landmark was built within the span of a present life. Our hospitalities and
our welcome we now extend without reserve, without regard to nationality, creed
or race.

Then was read and sung the dedicatory ode, written at the order of the Ex-
position managers by Miss Harriet Stone Monroe, of Chicago.

FLOOR OF MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR,