FARMEKS' INSTITUTES. 313 



contact with each other. The world's vast riches and storehouses of production 

 are the gifts of one common Heavenly Father allotted to his children, spread 

 over every zone and every clime. And -what can be more conducive to the universal 

 good than calling all nations to take their place side by side in the arena of indus- 

 trial rivalry? To the extent that the appeal shall be answered, the benefits will be 

 realized, and that will Ije by a belt of nations encircling the globe. Every State 

 in tliis grand union will be there. All the provinces of the Dominion of Canada 

 will be there, and they will more than astonish those of their boastful American 

 cousins who have never attended any of their provincial industrial fairs. Cen- 

 tral and South America Avill doubtless put in an appearance witli their rich 

 tropical productions ; and Europe, from the Islands of Great Britain, washed 

 by the waters of the Atlantic, to the Japan Islands, washed by the waters of 

 the Pacific, will be represented there. Imagine, if you can, P. T. Barnum's 

 grand hippodrome representing the varieties of national life and character mag- 

 nified a hundred thousand fold, and you will approximate to some idea of one 

 particular aspect of that exhibition. 



It is impossible to conceive of this commingling of nations for the piirpose of 

 exhibiting the products of their soils and their industries withoiit regarding it 

 as a great promoter of peace and good will among the nations of the earth. 



Again, international exhibitions will undoubtedly hasten the removal of vari- 

 ous things which now prevent the most extensive intercourse of nations. One 

 great hindrance to the jierfect understanding of the institutions and character- 

 istics of other countries is the want of a common language. 



Since the days of international exhibitions, the attention of nations has been 

 directed to this hindrance, and suggestions have been made with reference to 

 its removal. The difficulties experienced from the want of a common language 

 are very great. Some one has suggested that an agreement should l)e generally 

 entered into to adopt one language as the second language to be taught in all 

 lyceums, schools, and colleges, Avhich second language should be taught concur- 

 rently with the language of the nation. Thus, while each nation would pre- 

 serve its own language, they would at the same time have at their service a second 

 language which all would understand, and of Avhich all might make use. Much 

 would be gained also by unity of money, and the universal adoption of the deci- 

 mal system of weights and measiires. A common meridian also should be 

 agreed upon, thus obviating many difficulties of calculation connected with phi- 

 losoj^hical research. It has been well said, ''Nations are divided among them- 

 selves only because they do not understand each other, — because the confusion 

 of hutidreds of different languaa'cs hinders them from communicating to each 

 other their ideas, and their aspirations, and to make known to each other their 

 wants and their interests. Let them have the means of understanding each 

 other, and all barriers will disappear, rivalries will be smoothed, hatred will be 

 extinguished, prejudices will vanish, a rich emulation will replace the antago- 

 nism which has so often caused destruction and mourning. War, that bloody 

 scourge and deplorable relic of barbaric ages, will eventually become an impos- 

 sibility, and the civilized nations of the globe united into one common thought, 

 animated by one similar principle of intellectual and moral life, will march 

 together in a steady and uninterrupted step toward those great and mysterious 

 destinies which a Christian civilization opens to the modern world." 



And now, having sketched some of tliose benefits likely to flow from the great 

 undertaking which is to crown our centennial year, let us ask ourselves in con- 

 clusion to what final issue does such an assembling of the nations point? Who 



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