An hundred years have passed--what wonders wrought Along the Mississippi's mighty stream! The changes time's transforming wand hath brought Seem but the unreal visions of a dream! Where stretched in vast expanse to western sea The pathless forest and the trackless plain, Great States and teeming millions soon should be, And orchards fair and fields of waving grain And every art of peace through that broad land should reign. IV Hail to the Statesman whose far-seeing eyes Saw in the germ the nation that should be, Saw how a mighty empire should arise And span the continent from sea to sea, And building for the future, led the way With prescience and high courage, daring fate, An emperor's domain in a single day Bought for a purse of gold! a vast estate, From Europe's despot gained--to Freedom consecrate! V Conquest of Peace! on thy triumphal day No mourning captives, chained to victor's car, Nor spoil of war, nor bloodshed marked thy way, Nor hate, nor wrong did thy escutcheon mar! No throng of armed hosts thy mountains crossed. Thy forests echoed to no battle cry, No glory gained with nation's honor lost, Nor victor's plaudit, echoed with a sigh. Louisiana won--nor any doomed to die! VI Conquest of Peace! No Alsace here doth kneel, And Lorraine, scarred with unforgotten scar; No riven Poland, 'neath the warrior's heel, Spoil of the victor from the field of war. The sun that shines thy boundless plains along Lights not the smallest hamlet but is free; The winds that sweep thy mountains bear no song Save that the patriot sings--where Liberty And Peace and Law now are, and evermore shall be! VII So be it ever, through the coming age Our nation's destiny shall be fulfilled, Not by the tears that greed or passion wage, Not by the blood of foes or brethren spilled! But in the wiser and the nobler way The patriot Statesman taught us, when of yore His victory of Peace in one brief day Won glory greater than a year of war! So may it be, dear land, with thee for evermore! At the conclusion of the exercises the benediction was pronounced by the Reverend Doctor Wintner, of Brooklyn, New York, in the following words: "May the Lord our God, Creator of the universe and Father of mankind, bless all those in our home city afar off, and also those near here, and may He look down upon you in His kindness and grace, and grant you peace forevermore. Amen." THE LUNCHEON Immediately after the formal exercises, the delegation were guests of the State Commission at luncheon, at which Commissioner William Berri presided. Covers were laid for about 200. At the conclusion of the luncheon toasts were responded to by several. The program of remarks follows: