THE RESULTS OF THE CONGRESS 127 



quently expressed criticism that the different religions and their 

 denominations ought to have found place there shows a mis- 

 conception of our purpose; a Parliament of Religion did not belong 

 to this plan. 







III 



THE RESULTS OF THE CONGRESS 



The programme of the Congress, as outlined in the previous 

 pages, was in this case somewhat more than a mere programme. It 

 not only invited to do a piece of work, but it sought to contribute to 

 the work itself. Yet the chief work had to be done by others, and 

 their part needed careful preparation. Yet very little of the prepar- 

 ation showed itself to the eyes of the larger public, and few were fully 

 aware what a complex organization was growing up and how many 

 persons of mark were cooperating. 



It was essential to find for every address the best man. Specialists 

 only could suggest to the committees where to find him. It has been 

 told before how our invitations were brought to the foreigners first 

 till the desired number of foreign participants was secured, and how 

 the Americans followed. As could not be otherwise expected, interfer- 

 ences of all kinds disturbed the ideal configuration of the first list of 

 acceptances; substitutes had sometimes to be relied on; and yet, 

 when on the nineteenth of September President Francis welcomed th,e 

 Congress of Arts and Science in the gigantic Festival Hall of the St. 

 Louis Exposition, the Committee knew that almost four hundred 

 speakers had completed their manuscripts, and that it was a galaxy 

 which far surpassed in importance that of any previous international 

 congress. And the list of those who stood for the success of the work 

 was not confined to the official speakers. Each Department and each 

 Section had its own honorary President, who w r as also chosen by the 

 consent of leading specialists and whose introductory remarks were to 

 give additional importance to the gathering. At their side stood the 

 hundred and thirty Secretaries, carefully chosen from among the pro- 

 ductive scholars of the younger generation. And a large number of 

 informal, yet officially invited contributors, had announced valuable 

 discussions and addresses for almost every Section. Invitations to 

 membership finally had been sent to the universities and scholarly 

 societies of all countries. 



That the turmoil of a world's fair is out of harmony with the 

 scholar's longing for repose and quietude is a natural presupposition, 

 which has not been disproved by the experience of St. Louis. When 

 Professor Newcomb, our President, spoke to the opening assembly on 

 the dignity of scholarship, the scholar's peaceful address was accentu- 



