FIRST ANNUAL BANQUET. 143 



self, " If the St. Louis drivers are so well informed about 

 their Botanical Garden, what must the general public be I" 

 For I supposed that the drivers were not so likely to be in- 

 terested in the plants as the majority of the populace. Of 

 course, there could be no doubt that the St. Louis people 

 fully appreciate the Garden. It is a source of pleasure and 

 instruction of the best kind, but, as a stranger, you will 

 pardon me if I refer to one point which does not seem to 

 me to have been touched upon by the previous speakers. 

 One speaker before me has mentioned that the Garden has 

 a local interest. Excuse me. It has a very much more 

 than local interest. Why, only a short time ago, I had a 

 letter from Edinboro'. The Professor there said " What 

 a start they have at St. Louis!" Why, of course they 

 have I He knew it as well as I did. A knowledge of the 

 Shaw Garden and its promise for the future is not limited to 

 St. Louis by any means. It has been known for years 

 abroad, and the ample endowment you now have has fairly 

 surprised everybody in America. No other Garden in this 

 country has anything like the endowment which the Shaw 

 Garden has, and not many in Europe can be compared with 

 it. In a very admirable Book, we are informed that ' ' where 

 much has been given, much shall be required." Much has 

 been given here, what shall be required? That St. Louis 

 shall take the lead in scientific investigation. There is no 

 doubt whatever that, with such an intelligent, such an ac- 

 tive body of men as your Board of Trustees, the interests 

 of St. Louis will be looked out for as far as the Garden is 

 concerned. But the highest interests of St. Louis are the 

 interests of the United States — they are the interests of 

 the world. They are the interests of Science in general ; 

 and Science itself is more than local, it is universal, where- 

 ever man is found. Now you have here in St. Louis a 

 Garden with an endowment far surpassing that of any other 

 Garden in America, and possibly equalling that of the best 

 Gardens in Europe, with a fund which may be and should 

 be spent for the purposes of investigation. 



