What an ambitious undertaking is a universal exposition! But how worthy it is of the highest effort! And, if successful, how far-reaching are its results, how lasting its benefits! Who shall pass judgment on that success? On what evidence, by what standards shall their verdicts be formed? The development of society, the advancement of civilization, involve many problems, encounter many and serious difficulties, and have met with deplorable reactions which decades and centuries were required to repair. The proper study of mankind is man, and any progress in science that ignores or loses sight of his welfare and happiness, however admirable and wonderful such progress may be, disturbs the equilibrium of society. The tendency of the times toward centralization or unification is, from an economic standpoint, a drifting in the right direction, but the piloting must be done by skillful hands, under the supervision and control of far-seeing minds, who will remember that the masses are human beings whose education and expanding intelligence are constantly broadening and emphasizing their individuality. A universal exposition affords to its visitors, and these who systematically study its exhibits and its phases, an unequaled opportunity to view the general progress and development of all countries and all races. Every line of human endeavor is here represented. The conventions heretofore held on these grounds and many planned to be held--aggregating over three hundred--have been confined in their deliberations to special lines of thought or activity. This international congress of arts and sciences is the most comprehensive in its plan and scope of any ever held, and is the first of its kind. The lines of its organization, I shall leave the Director of Exhibits, who is also a member of the administrative board of this congress, to explain. You who are members are already advised as to its scope, and your almost universal and prompt acceptance of the invitations extended to you to participate, implies an approval which we appreciate, and indicates a willingness and a desire to coöperate in an effort to bring into intelligent and beneficial correlation all branches of science, all lines of thought. You need no argument to convince you of the eminent fitness of making such a congress a prominent feature of a universal exposition in which education is the dominant feature.