International Congress of Arts and Science Part 2

It is the opinion of the Committee that an American of world-wide reputation as a scholar should be selected to preside over the Congress.

All which is respectfully submitted.

(Signed) SIMON NEWCOMB, Chairman; GEORGE F. MOORE, JOHN B. MOORE, HUGO MuNSTERBERG, ALBION W. SMALL, WILLIAM H. WELCH, ELIHU THOMSON, Committee.

The Administrative Board met on January 19 to receive the report of the Committee on Plan and Scope which was presented by Dr. Newcomb.

Professor Munsterberg and Professor John Ba.s.sett Moore were also present by invitation to discuss the details of the scheme. In the afternoon the Board went into executive session, and the following recommendations were adopted and transmitted by the Director of Congresses to the Committee on Congresses of the Exposition and to the President and Executive Committee, who duly approved them.

To the Director of Congresses:--

The Administrative Board have the honor to make the following recommendations in reference to the Department of Congresses:--

(1) That there be held in connection with the Universal Exposition of St. Louis in 1904, an International Congress of Arts and Science.

(2) That the plan recommended by the Committee on Plan and Scope for a general congress of Arts and Science, to be held during the six days beginning on Monday, September 19, 1904, be approved and adopted, subject to such revision in point of detail as may be advisable, preserving its fundamental principles.

(3) That Simon Newcomb, LL.D., of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., be named for President of the International Congress of Arts and Science, provided for in the foregoing resolution.

(4) That Professor Munsterberg, of Harvard University, and Professor Albion W. Small, of the University of Chicago, be invited to act as Vice-Presidents of the Congress.

(5) That the Directors of the World's Fair be requested to change the name of this Board from the "Advisory Board" to the "Administrative Board of the International Congress of Arts and Science."

(6) That the detailed arrangements for the Congress be intrusted to a committee consisting of the President and two Vice-Presidents already named, subject to the general oversight and control of the Administrative Board, and that the Directors of the Exposition be requested to make appropriate provision for their compensation and necessary expenses.

(7) That it be recommended to the Directors of the World's Fair that appropriate provision should be made in the office of the Department of Congresses for an executive secretary and such clerical a.s.sistance as may be needed.

(8) That the following payment be recommended to those scholars who accept invitations to partic.i.p.ate and do a specified piece of work, or submit a specified contribution in the International Congress of Arts and Science: For traveling expenses for a European scholar, $500. For traveling expenses for an American scholar, $150.

(9) That provision be made for the publication of the proceedings of the Congress in suitable form to const.i.tute a permanent memorial of the work of the World's Fair for the promotion of science and art, under competent editorial supervision.

(10) That an appropriation of $200,000 be made to cover expenses of the Department of Congresses, of which sum $130,000 be specifically appropriated for an International Congress of Arts and Science, and the remainder to cover all expenses connected with the publication of the proceedings of said International Congress of Arts and Science, and the expenses for promotion of all other congresses.

In addition to the foregoing recommendations, Professor Munsterberg was requested at his earliest convenience to furnish each member with a revised plan of his cla.s.sification, which would reduce as far as possible the number of sections into which the Congress was finally to be divided.

With the adjournment of the Board on January 19 the Congress may be fairly said to have been launched upon its definite course, and such changes as were thereafter made in the programme did not in any wise affect the principle upon which the Congress was based, but were due to the demands of time, of expediency, and in some cases to the accidents attending the partic.i.p.ation. The organization of the Congress and the personnel of its officers from this time on remained unchanged, and the history of the meeting is one of steady and progressive development. The Committee on Plan and Scope were discharged of their duties, with a vote of thanks for the laborious and painstaking work which they had accomplished and the thoroughly scientific and novel plan for an international congress which they had recommended.

It was determined by the Administrative Board to keep the services of three of the members of the Committee on Plan and Scope, who should act as a scientific organizing committee and who should also be the presiding officers of the Congress. The choice for President of the Congress fell without debate to the dean of American scientific circles, whose eminent services to the Government of the United States and whose recognized position in foreign and domestic scientific circles made him particularly fitted to preside over such an international gathering of the leading scientists of the world, Dr. Simon Newcomb, retired Professor of Mathematics, United States Navy. Professor Hugo Munsterberg, of Harvard University, and Professor Albion W. Small, of the University of Chicago, were designated as the first and second Vice-Presidents respectively.

The work of the succeeding spring, with both the Organizing Committee and the Administrative Board, was devoted to the perfecting of the programme and the selection of foreign scientists to be invited to partic.i.p.ate in the Congress. The theory of the development of the programme and its logical bases are fully and forcibly treated by Professor Munsterberg in the succeeding chapter, and therefore will not be touched upon in this record of facts. As an ill.u.s.tration of the growth of the programme, however, it is interesting to compare its form, which was adopted at the next meeting of the Organizing Committee on February 23, 1903, in New York City, with its final form as given in the completed programme presented at St. Louis in September, 1904 (pp.

47-49). No better ill.u.s.tration can be given of the immense amount of labor and painstaking adjustment, both to scientific and to physical conditions, and of the admirable adaptability of the original plan to the exigencies of actual practice. At the meeting of February 23, 1903, which was attended by all of the members of the Organizing Committee and by President Butler of the Administrative Board, it was determined that the number of Departments should be sixteen, with the following designations:--

A. NORMATIVE SCIENCES

1. Philosophical Sciences.

2. Mathematical Sciences.

B. HISTORICAL SCIENCES

3. Political Sciences.

4. Legal Sciences.

5. Economic Sciences.

6. Philological Sciences.

7. Pedagogical Sciences.

8. aesthetic Sciences.

9. Theological Sciences.

C. PHYSICAL SCIENCES

10. General Physical Sciences.

11. Astronomical Sciences.

12. Geological Sciences.

13. Biological Sciences.

14. Anthropological Sciences.

D. MENTAL SCIENCES

15. Psychological Sciences.

16. Sociological Sciences.

SECTIONS

1. _a_ Metaphysics.

_b_ Logic.

_c_ Ethics.

_d_ aesthetics.

2. _a_ Algebra.

_b_ Geometry.

_c_ Statistical Methods.

3. _a_ Cla.s.sical Political History of Asia.

_b_ Cla.s.sical Political History of Europe.

_c_ Medieval Political History of Europe.

_d_ Modern Political History of Europe.

_e_ Political History of America.

4. _a_ History of Roman Law.

_b_ History of Common Law.

_aa_ Const.i.tutional Law.

_bb_ Criminal Law.

_cc_ Civil Law.

_dd_ History of International Law.

5. _a_ History of Economic Inst.i.tutions.

_b_ History of Economic Theories.

_c_ Economic Law.

_aa_ Finance.

_bb_ Commerce and Transportation.

_cc_ Labor.