Two notable congresses were held in the United States during the year 1904, for the purpose of promoting the peace of the world. The Inter-Parliamentary Union held a meeting, the twelfth in its history, in connection with the World's Fair at St. Louis. This organization was founded at Paris in 1888 by thirty members of the French Chamber of Deputies and ten members of the British Parliament, for the purpose of promoting the cause of peace and arbitration. Scoffed at from the beginning, the Union continued to grow until it included parliamentary delegates from every European country having a constitutional form of government. The meeting of the Union at St. Louis was the first to be held in the United States, for this country took no part in the organization until 1903. Russia and Turkey, having no parliaments, are not represented in the meetings of the Union. It is a noteworthy fact however that the Czar sent an official representative to the meeting in 1896 and that it was due to his report of that meeting, more than to any other cause, that the Czar invited the nations to send representatives to The Hague in 1898. [Illustration: Ten men seated around a conference table.] Russian and Japanese Peace Envoys in session at Portsmouth, N. H. In the congress at St. Louis, representatives from the deliberative bodies of fifteen nations were present. Among these delegates were some of the well-known public men from Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, the United States, and various other countries. They were practical men and not dreamers. Two important resolutions resulted from the gathering. One of these called upon the powers to intervene and put an end to the war between Russia and Japan. The other invited the President of the United States to call a second peace congress, similar to the Hague conference. The resolution, addressed to President Roosevelt, stated that there were a number of questions left unsettled from the first Hague conference and that new problems had arisen since that time which demanded readjustment, such as the use of wireless telegraphy in the time of war. On October 3 of the same year an international peace congress was held in Boston. Numerous congresses of this nature have been held from time to time since the meeting of the first one in London in 1843. Since the year 1888, when a congress was held in Paris, an international peace congress has met each year with the exception of 1895, the year of the Boer war, and in 1898 and 1899, on account of the Spanish-American war. The first of these congresses in America was held in conjunction with the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893. There were in attendance at Boston distinguished statesmen, clergymen, scholars, and professional men, and a number of noted women, representing the many peace and arbitration societies in Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and numerous other countries.