ADDBESS OP WELCOME 



GEORGE T. MOORE 

 Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden 



It becomes my pleasant duty at the beginning of the pro- 

 gram celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organiza- 

 tion of the Missouri Botanical Garden to formally do what I 

 am sure has already been done over and over again by each 

 member of the staff — welcome most heartily those guests who 

 have done us the honor of coming to share with us the simple, 

 yet I hope adequate, ceremonies which have been arranged for 

 this occasion. At one time it was expected that this welcome 

 would be extended by Mr. Houston, who, because of his triple 

 offices, as a member of President Wilson's cabinet, a Trustee 

 of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Chancellor of Wash- 

 ington University, as well as the grace with which he would 

 have addressed you, would most suitably have performed this 

 duty. Pressure of public work has prevented the Secretary of 

 Agriculture from being with us, however, and I can only hope 

 that you will feel that the welcome extended to you now 

 carries with it as much cordiality and good will as if it came 

 from an officer of the Government, the Garden, and the 



University. 



Nothing could be more fitting at this time than some account 

 of the life and work of the founder of this Garden, who de- 

 serves, both because of his far-sighted planning and his mag- 

 nificent gift, to rank as America's foremost patron of botany. 

 Most of you are no doubt familiar with the simple but im- 

 pressive biographical facts concerning Mr. Shaw. How he 

 came to this country from England with his father in 1818, 

 being eighteen years of age, and after brief stays in Canada 

 and New Orleans, settled in St. Louis. With a small stock of 

 hardware he began business in one room, which also served 

 as his bedroom and kitchen. From such a small beginning — 

 and this on borrowed capital — scarcely more than twenty 

 years were required by this pioneer merchant to amass a 



Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard., Vol. 2, 1915 



(29) 



