The representatives of the cabinet of President Calvin Coolidge noted the changes that had taken place in the 150 years since the Declaration of Independence and the 50 years since the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, but also addressed the nation's moral and spiritual condition. The mention of improved ease and comfort might ring warning bells in the minds of those who regard such improvements as often being accompanied by moral and spiritual decline; of course, if people alive in 2026 were to travel in time back to 1926, they might take issue with that era's ideas of ease and comfort. The speeches of Messrs. Kellogg and Hoover showed how American leaders viewed the country's past, present, and future. It should be remembered that the Great War was less than a decade in the past, and the Civil War and Centennial were within living memory of many of those in attendance (the Civil War was about as far removed in time from 1926 as the Vietnam War is from 2026).
As reported in The New York Times, June 1, 1926 (bold in original):
...Mayor Kendrick then declared the exposition open and introduced Secretary Kellogg, who said in part:Mr. Kellogg went on to co-author the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928, which outlawed war as a way of solving disputes between nations, and for which Mr. Kellogg was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929. He died on December 21, 1937, the day before his 81st birthday. Mr. Hoover succeeded Mr. Coolidge as President of the United States on March 4, 1929, and was in office through the early years of the Great Depression, losing his bid for re-election to Democratic Party nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Mr. Hoover died on October 20, 1964 at the age of 90. Neither Mr. Kellogg nor Mr. Hoover would likely recognize the country that now still goes by the name of United States of America.
"We have assembled in celebration of the formal opening of the Sesquicentennial Exposition of the City of Philadelphia, on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of our nation. I like to think of the ceremony as the inauguration of the edifice which this exposition typifies. It is an edifice which this exposition typifies. It is an edifice which has its foundations in the pride and history of one hundred and fifty years and which will represent in its completion the achievement of a virile and versatile people, dedicated to the peaceful pursuits of art, commerce and industry.
"Citizens of Philadelphia, I congratulate you on this mighty conception. I congratulate you on the energy and patriotism which have made it possible. I congratulate you on marking by your civic effort the great milestones of the nation's history, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But, beyond all, I congratulate you on being citizens of the city that can truthfully be called the birthplace of the United States.
"President McKinley once said: 'Expositions are the timekeepers of progress. They record th world's advancement.' This is a pertinent saying, full of wisdom and observation. Expositions enable each generation to view itself and offer a very salutary opportunity for each generation to compare itself with the past. They are cross-sections of the life we lead and should be viewed with the keenest scrutiny.
"But the greatest value to the people of the United States of celebrations such as this, commemorating great moments in our history, lies in the fact that they keep alive the spirit which animated our ancestors in their struggle for independence and that thay constantly bring to the mind of the present generation the benefits of of the representative democracy under which for nearly a century and a half we have enjoyed that blessing of liberty and the stability and security of law.
"I have been reading recently what was said by the speakers at the opening of your other exposition just fifty years ago. They were amazed at the mighty progress of the nation in its first hundred years. We are no less amazed at the extraordinary development of our scientific and industrial life, in the development of our resources, in the exploitation of our potentialities, above all in the increased ease and comfort which has come to our common citizens during our own lifetime. Facts and figures of staggering dimensions could be cited to instance this progress. My time does not permit it, nor is it needful to any of us since we have ourselves lived through these bewildering and kaleidoscopic changes.
Hold Ideals of Fathers.
"What is more difficult to assess is the spiritual quality of our people. Are those rugged virtues still in us, that unshaken belief in the efficacy of law which is the heritage of civilization, that love of country and devotion to duty which animated that quiet group of men on July 4, 150 years ago?
"We recently took our part in a great war, a great soul-stirring event. Millions of our people went abroad, millions more gave up their normal occupations and undertook strange tasks. All of us were thrown with violence from the routine of our daily thought by the rush of great emotion. For some the pendulum swung back, life was flat and had lost its savor and in that dullness and disillusion agitators arose and are still active who questioned those institutions and that civilization which is ours and which had been accepted previously without question.
"Demands were made for changes in the fundamental law of our Government whoch would sweep away the guarantees of personal liberty, security of property and stability of Government. Even through these days, however, the great mass of our people held fast to their faith. The rugged virtues persisted and even in the complexities of our modern life Americans looked with direct gaze through sophistry and distortion and held with simple faith to the ideals of our fathers.
"Throughout the life of our country there have been the greatest changes in the economic and social conditions of the world ever recorded in history in a similar period. There have been revolutions and upheavals in society which have imperilled the very existence of stable governments but our people have held fast to those declarations of liberty and human rights and those principles of government enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and promulgated in the Constitution of the United States.
"Nations stand out in history as being animated by one straight and inflexible purpose, but this is seldom the case. We often forget that in other periods than our own, men have doubted, internal struggle has been rife. Some of man's greatest works have been the result of the bitterest struggle. The Constitution of the United States itself was fought with intense bitterness, and it was only the overwhelming personality of Washington which obtained its acceptance in the legislatures in certain of the Colonies.
"This questioning of our institutions was then but a normal thing. So we may stand secure in the belief that at heart this nation has not changed, that the things which the founders of our Republic longed for, we still long for, in so far as they have not been attained, that we are willing, when necessary, to fight to maintain these things which they fought for.
Exposition a Rededication.
"That no nation, however, is more reluctant than our own to enter war has been shown forcibly by our stimulation of and participation in all forms of international gatherings for the maintenance of peace and for the finding of methods for putting an end to war.
"However, in the last analysis, this meeting in Philadelphia is the sort of international gathering that we really prefer. When nations come together to show their products and wares in friendly rivalry, endeavor to stimulate their mutual trade and try to make themselves understood by their neighbors through their exhibits and friendly intercourse, that indeed is the happiest form of international gathering.
"While I am speaking of the international side of this exposition, may I mention an interesting coincidence between your exhibition fifty years ago and today? In 1876 a courtesy visit was made by the Swedish Fleet during the exposition and one of the young navy officers was his Royal Highness Prince Oscar, now known as Prince Bernadotte, who was enthusiastically received by Philadelphia. The nephew of this Prince Oscar, his Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden, has done us the honor of visiting the United States and will come to Philadelphia as did his distinguished uncle. I know that his visit will be an equal success.
"Secure then in the permanence of the faith of early America,. grateful for the material progress of this nation, let us consider this exposition, the tangible evidence of our one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, as a rededication of the nation to American ideals, a fresh acceptance of America's burdens and a renewed gratitude for the bounty of America's blessings."
Secretary Hoover's Speech.
Secretary Hoover, the next speaker, drew a contrast between the condition of the United States now and at the time of the centennial of its independence.
"We have in this half century more than doubled our population. We have multiplied ten times in natural wealth. We have progressed vastly in science, in invention, in art and industry and in our social and national life.
"In the field of science the discoveries of fifty years ago were comparatively only upon the borderland of the great unknown continent of nature. The explorations of that day were set out here in a richness of exhibits. But since that time the men of science have pushed deeper and deeper into the unknown lands of nature and have brought new discoveries and inventions. A multitude of blessings to humanity have flowed from their labors.
"In the field of industry I would recall to you that the greatest tool then known to man was shown at the exposition of fifty years ago--the 1,400 H.P. Corliss steam engine. Here, too, was the first public appearance of Bell's telephone. They were wonders of the time. Today we build a single steam engine of 70,000 H.P.--fifty times as large. The transmission of power and electrical devices for relief of human labor were just in their infancy; the gasoline engine, the automobile, the aeroplane and the radio were unknown.
"Since then also science and industry have given us the steam turbine, radium, X-rays, moving pictures, talking machines, refrigeration, the linotype, typewriter, the harvester and tractor and a hundred other tools and comforts. Vast progress marks our chemical industries. We have advanced in the construction of buildings and homes, in the manufacture of textiles and a thousand other things. And today we are on the threshold of other great discoveries, the bare beginnings of which will again form a part of these exhibits.
Educational and Social Progress.
"From the inventions of this half century and the control of the powerful forces of nature men have been able to produce vastly more; to diffuse the benefits more widely; to decrease the sweat of men; to lift the standards of living; to increase the comforts of all our people to a higher level than ever before in the history of the world. With it all poverty and fear have become less, happiness has increased.
"We may be proud of the educational progress of our people in the fifty years' span between these expositions. During this time we have extended free education throughout the land. Free entrance to the doors of free opportunity, through education, is now open to all of our youth from the lowest grade to the university. We have seen the number of children in the public schools treble while our population but doubled. The youth in our high schools are ten times as many as fifty years ago. Those who attend our institutions of higher learning have increased in number over seven times.
"Progress in art is not to be measured by spans of fifty years but we may recount the important advance in commercial architecture as an outstanding accomplishment. Moreover, we have wider diffusion of the finer arts of decoration, music and literature through our people.
"In our social life we are steadily finding a better adjustment between our industrial and social systems. The rights of the public in the development and use of the great tools of power, transportation and industry are better controlled; the relations of employe and employer are upon a juster basis; we have gained greatly in spirit of cooperation and mutual helpfulness in such community. Our frictions are growing less. All of which shows fundamental social progress.
"Politically we have gained greatly in national unity. This great experiment in democracy is demonstrating the hopes, the prayers and the wisdom of its founders. Our national institutions have grown stronger and the resolute spirit for a democracy dedicated to an equality of opportunity among men that has not diminished but has gained in strength. We have risen in power and influence among nations until no foreign danger threatens our shores.
No Economic or Foreign Dangers.
"Morally we have made gains toward a higher plane in the conduct of our commercial relations. In many particulars we show improvement in the conduct of our national and local Government, though we suffer a national misfortune in the growing disrespect for law.
"Our dangers today are not economic or foreign; they lie in the possible submergence of the morel and spiritual by our great material success, and if this exposition, and the many conferences and congresses to be held here, serve to stimulate the moral and spiritual sense of our people it will have served a great and lasting purpose.
"The American people may well be proud of the accomplishment which will be shown here. It is the demonstration of the progress of peace, and it should contribute to the advancement of peace--for we invite all people to our shors to participate in our celebration of the arts of peace.
"This exposition of the arts, sciences and industry should not only point the way to further progress and the information, learning and good taste, but should strengthen the spirit of our people in reolution to further effort.
"This stock-taking of progress should contribute to mark the road to further advancement. We have yet much to do if we would make America that land of contentment and happiness, of service to the world and God."
