Eepoet of Board of Gbneeal Managers. 133 



Ziadies atid Gentlemen ; 



It 18 with feelings of profound pleasure that I reciprocate the greet- 

 ings of Mayor Harrison, and express the gratitude of all New Yorkers at 

 the kind manner in which they were conveyed. It is an honor, indeed, 

 for New Yorkers to be present upon this memorable occasion, and we 

 have more than ordinary satisfaction in testifying to our appreciation of 

 the energy, industry and liberality which have distinguished the people of 

 Chicago in getting up this magnificent exposition. There can be no doubt 

 that the result of such expositions as this will be to bring together all the 

 peoples of all countries in closer communion. 



New York has been, indeed, anxious to obtain the location of the 

 World's Fair, but, although a New Yorker of New Yorkers, I cannot help 

 expressing the belief that it would be diflBcult, if not impossible, for New 

 York or any other city on the globe to have exceeded the magnificence of 

 this great fair. It is not alone Chicago that is to be congratulated ; it is 

 the whole country, and, indeed, the whole civilized world, of which this 

 great exposition is but an epitome. We take pride, as New Yorkers, in 

 being a portion of that great country, the genius of which has made such 

 an exhibition possible. 



No one who has visited the great White City can ever forget it, and 

 the spectacle of the Court of Honor, illuminated by electric lights, with its 

 fountains playing, surrounded by buildings of superb architectural con- 

 struction, is a dream of beauty materialized. There is one sad reflection 

 connected with the White City. It is that within a few weeks, or months, 

 at furthest, the magnificent specimens of architectural art, together with 

 all that they contain of human greatness and civilization, will pass away. 

 I cannot help but think that an outlay, however great, that would tend to 

 preserve those magnificent buildings in monumental marble would be an 

 expenditure for which the country would receive a hundredfold in the lib- 

 eral education which our population would receive in visiting them, and 

 in the expansion of mind and elevation of thought which they would 

 eventually have. 



The best effects of mankind from all portions of the globe; architec- 

 ture in its grandest forms; the marvelous possibilities of electrical science 

 as shown by the human voice transmitted so as to be heard far away over 

 a wire; the beautiful and astonishing productions of manufactures and the 

 liberal arts; machine power, which challenges the admiratioQ of mankind; 

 the best products of the fruits of the earth ; in fact, this great exposition, 

 with all its wealth of the products of civilization and progress, closes an 

 era and marks an epoch. It is the transfiguration of man's industry and 

 man's effort. It is a subject to which it would be impossible for me to 



