Message on the Reopening of the New York World's Fair.

On the occasion of the reopening of the New York World's Fair, let me congratulate you and your colleagues on your success in continuing an undertaking that was of such incalculable value last year.

Fairs have been means of communication between peoples for at least fifteen centuries. They have often served to keep lines of communication open when disorder, war, or misfortune closed other channels. They were places where people, as people, could exchange ideas, teach each other, learn from each other, trade goods, make contacts, and find new friendships.

They have always been of first importance in commerce. Lord Coke, in an ancient English treatise, took occasion to say that every fair was a market, and so it has proved.

The custom of merchants which has led to international practices unbreakable even by war, was developed, at least partly, through the common-sense intercourse of businessmen at the international fairs.

But these gatherings have made a greater contribution to modern life. They taught the Western World to value elements of culture which were common to all human beings. The lively art of international political reporting, and even of political satire, was enriched by the art of the strolling players who set up their booths and, often humbly, offered to all comers their entertainment, their drama, and their half-humorous, half-jesting comments on the life of the time.

No one has ever yet gone to an international fair without appreciating the genius of other countries, and because of that, he is able to have a greater respect for the accomplishments of his own.

The World's Fair is a symbol of international common sense. It deserves to have every success.