Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1895 — COTTON STATES AND INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COTTON STATES AND INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION

yvl l\ THE Cotton J \ States and Inter- ? national ExposiI f£T^§;' 'r! tion at Atlanta, Ga., opens Sept 18 and closes Dee. ’ 31 of this year. Southerners aver that the marvelous agricultural, mineral, lumber and manufacturing resources of the South were not fully represented at the World’s Columbian Exposition. On the eve of a revival of business and of an industrial expansion and activity such as this country has not before known, there can be no doubt that now is the time to show the world tho possibilities of our wonderful Southern land. The South now invites the world to come to Atlanta in order to realize fully the fastness of her territory and to better appreciate its material advancement In recent years, to study its wonderful possibilities and to see and understand what a factor it is in the progress of a nation which now surpasses every other nation b its mechanical triumphs and In its productive industries. A great exposition is a “flash photograph of civilization on the run.” It is not a museum and can only be kept open a portion of the year. The national fair, the precursor of international expositions, Is of great antiquity. Long prior to the time of Christ the sovereigns of Egypt, by imperial decrees, set apart times and places for displaying the products of the country. Similar fairs, and largely of a commercial character, continued through the middle ages and, alternately, through the enterprise of the French, English and Americans, the International exposition came into existence, finding its best example In the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1898. And there is promise of a fair equally

Instructive to be held in Paris at the close of the century. In a smaller way, and most valuable in their lessons, were the fairs of Antwerp, San Francisco, Lyons, Liverpool, Milan and Madrid, and similar fairs are now projected for New Zealand, Tasmania, Constantinople, Mexico and Jerusalem. As the means of transportation and intercommunication have improved, the fair has been found to be the best general school for "teaching onehalf the world how the other half busies itself, and what one-half can furnish In exchange for the products of the other half to their mutual advantage. Mechanical Industry. Onrage is oneof mechanical industry,and the improvements in mechanical devices during the last half century far exceed in number and value all that have been made during the preceding 2,000 years. In man’s struggle to bring the forces of nature under his control, to subject the material world to his uses, he has not only acquired a more skillful hand but a better trained mind, and, instead of remaining a mere machine himself, he has grown to ha a handler of machines, thereby mnltb

plying his physical strength many fold. Of the 900,000 patents issued by other nations and the 550,000 issued to inventors in the United States, by far the larger number have been awarded during the pant fifty years. These patents, better than anything else, tell of the marvelous industrial activity of our time. Civil society is competitive; and nations of the earth are engaged in an intense but peaceful straggle for industrial supremacy. Paradoxical as it may seem, the product* of Mnstry in thip otruggle have not. only Incranood enormously through the use of w thin cry, hot have become so cheep as t» ho srtthin reach of the masses of the

people, who can now provide themselves with hundreds of home comforts and conveniences t>t which their grandfathers did not even dream, and, while this cheapening process has been going on, the earnings of operatives and workmen have steadily grown larger. Transportation, by means of steamships and railroads, has steadily grown cheaper, and now the products of other sections of our country and of other countries can be sent across seas and continents and afforded at prices within the reach of all. The strong men to-day are the captains of industry, men who, a century ago, would have been leaders of armies. They have become skilled producers instead of trained destroyers. The phrase “A family of nations” now has the deepest meaning, for nations are rapidly becoming mutually interdependent. Even the former exclusiveness of China and Japan will never again be possible. Those nations cannot longer live by themselves, but must become members of the “family of nations.” How Expositions Pay, To the man who can see nothing beyond “gate receipts," the Cotton Centennial Exposition held at New Orleans ten years ago was “a failure,;’ but to the enlightened economist it is known to havo been the great awakening impulse which carried a thousand dollars into Southern enterprises and into developing tho matchless resources of that wonderful land for every dollar “lost* in that exposition. The best agencies of civilization, such as schools, courts of justice, parks, museums, art galleries and architectural monuments pay little if anything at “the gatee,” but remotely they pay most richly in all that makes civilization of tho highest value. Men, too, are beginning to realise that such agencies have a commercial value bCyond computation, and that, without them, we would only be a race of propertyless semi-civilized beings. Whether millions are mgctii or lost at the gatee of a great exposition, the whole country reaps an incalculable benefit therefrom in new and quickened impulses and in a larger grasp of constructive and peaceful pursuits. The Great South. One who has not visited the Sogth can form but the faintest idea of its magnitude and resources. A few illustrative comparisons, therefore, cannot but be helpful in this connection. Inclusive of New Mexico, the Indian Territory and Oklahoma the area of what we term the

South is 1,094,750 square miles. This area is twenty-four' times that of the State of New York, or is'large enough to make twenty-four States the size of New York with more than enough territory remaining to make three States like Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Thla great Southern area is also equal to the combined areaß of England, Ireland, Scotland, the entire German Empire, Aus-tria-Hnngary, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland Denmark, Spain, Italy and France, with a surplus sufficient to make two States like Delaware arid Rhode Island. These European.countries above named have a population to-day of 230,000,000, or more than three times the I present population of all the United States and Territories, or nine times the present population of the South. ,/Ehqjpopulation of the State of Massachusetts is 300 to the square mile. A population of like density in the South would If peopled as densely atr England the South would have a population of 602,000,000, a number equal to. two-fifths of the human beings now on the globe. Saxony is the most densely peopled country of Enrope, having 633 persons to the square mile. An equally dense population in the South would give that section 693 millions or twenty-gtoe,times as many as it now has, a number pearly equaling half the population of tbif'earth. Kesonrce&pf the South. “The Sooth,” as wo-use the term, embraces the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Territories pf New Mexico, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Space does not paonit us to speak of the resources of the South, except in a general way. The fair will adequately set them forth, and the several States will issue descriptive pamphlets and books which can be obtained by visitors. For centuries Egypt was the granary of the world, yet its productive area, the valley of the Lower Nile, has never exceeded one one hundred and fiftieth part of the area of the South. On less than onetenth of the acreage admirably adapted to the raising bf-cotton, and with an imperfect cultivation which does not bring from the land one-half of what it can easily yield, the South will produce 9,000,-; 000 bales of cotton this season, or threefourths of the world's entire cotton crop. The coal, mineral, lumber, agricultural and horticnitoral resources of the South an simply inexhaustible, and it would require the labor of a population ten times as large as the present one to healthfolly develop these resources. The writer recently visited the iron region of Alabama and merely reiterates here what he ■aid and wrote twenty-eight years ago, when this iron was practically untouched. Iron can he made there more cheaply than

anywhere else in the world. Limitless quantities of iron ore, coal and lime stono lie together, and while few may be inclined to credit the startling statement, it is nevertheless true that pig iron can be made in Alabama to-day so much under $7 a ton as to astound one capable of estimating the cost of that product The writer has taken pains to prove beyond a doubt that steel of best qualities can be made of this iron, and, in the near future, steel will be made in large quantities in Birmingham add neighborhood at prices which will astonish this iron age. In 1890 Alabama stood second as an iron-

producing State, and Pennsylvania stood third, Michigan, of course, being first The world is now making and consuming yearly about 30,000,000 tons of iron and Alabama alone could easily furnish that amount every year for the next thousand years, by the end of which time her iron mines might be fairly well opened , and in good working condition. The Site and Buildings. The site of the Atlanta exposition is Piedmont Park, which is situated only two miles from the center of the city. The park contains 190 acres, is hilly in character, and has been so treated that it forms a circular valley surrounded by a rim of terraced hills. It appears like a vast amphitheater, the arena-like center of which has been made very attractive with park features and lakes. The fair buildings, now entirely completed, are so placed around thiß plaza, and in many cases on elevations, that they can all be seen from almost a.ny point in the park, giving innumerable impressive views. In addition to tho Government Building the following is a list of the larger structures: The Manufactures and Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Fire, Agricultural, Auditorium, Administration, Machinery, Minerals, Negro, Transportation, Electricity and Woman’s. In architecture the Romanesque style seems to be emphasized, yet tho traveler will notice some clever adaptations of widely-known architectural designs. Exhibits will bo made by several European countries, from Mexico, and from all the Central American States, from Argentina, Chili, Paraguay and Venezuela. The fair will thus present much that is very interesting and instructive from neighboring countries of the western hemisphere, countries with which we have large and increasing business relations. The following States will have special buildings: Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. The States Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Maryland ami Arkansas will have State exhibits. Besides these State exhibits there will be individual exhibits from every State in the Union. Amusement features will not be wanting at Atlanta. There will be Mexican, Guatemalan, Japanese, Chinese, Esqnimo and German villages. Hagenbeck’s trained animals will be there and Buffalo Bill with his hardy riders is coming. Incidentally this fair, like others, will, no doubt, have the urbane Arab from New Jersey selling relics from the Holy Land, which may have been manufactured in Connecticut. The petticoated Albanian from Tipperary may also sell pressed flowers gathered at Bethlehem, Penn. But this kind of merchandising serves as a diversion to throngs, helps defray expenses and harms nobody. The City of Atlanta. Atlanta is the beautiful capital of Georgia. Its site is the Chattahoochee ridge, over a thousand feet above the sea level.

its altitude giving it a cool and equable climate even in summer. Its present population is 110,000. It impresses the visitor as decidedly metropolitan in every way. Its wholesale and retail houses do a business aggregating $175,000,000 a year, and there are now 600 establishments where manufacturing is done. It is a iarge cotton mart, one firm there handling $20,000,000 worth of cotton a year. It is a great railroad center. Four direct lmeg jof road run north and east, three go west and northwest, and three to the South Atlantic and Gulf ports. The city ha's-an excellent system of pnblic schools and an industrious and enterprising population.

Its water supply is one of ths beat bt tfM world, ail tho watar being perfectly filtered before it ia admitted into the water mains. It is everywhere lighted by electricity and has 100 miles of street railroad, the largest mileage in proportion to its population of any city in the country. It has sixty miles of granite block pavement and 180 milea of brick sidewalks In 1860 the city had but 5,000 people. The visitor rides along miles of streets bordered on either side by costly and beautiful residences. Peach Tree street can hardly be matched for beauty by any, street in any city of America. With its beautiful homes, its shade trees, shrubbery and flowers, it seems a veritable-par-adise as an abode for man. Northern men; who visit Atlanta and expect to find itj composed of tumble-down shanties for a! thriftless population and "fifty years behind the times," will be not a little amased to find that it is probably a quarter of century in advance of many pretention* Northern towns, and that there is much in Atlanta which most Northern places could profitably imitate, and nothing in which the Gate City is behind them. Ib is pleasant to speak of the'delightful andhospitable manner in which an accred-; ited visitor is received in Atlanta, and of the many ways in which his stay there is, made a continuous delight. All who visit the fair will be amply provided for.

though all the available room in the city will be required to accommodate the visitors. The undertone of this fair will be another impressive lesson in human brotherhood, in the mutual helpfulness of industrial effort and in exchange of services. Earth has no equal area comparable with the South in natural resources and in all the elements for diversified industry. Entering as we now are upon another era of business prosperity and confidence, capital will soon be seeking new opportunities for investment, and tho Atlanta fair will start inquiries which will present numberless opportunities for good investments. Within the coming ten years a thousand millions of dollars will go into Southern enterprises from the North and from Europe which can be traced to les-

sons, suggestions and impressions given and taught by the great fair. The resulting material advances and successes will not only unite men in peaceful pursuits, but will tend to do away with the militant and destructive ideas which have dominated the world in the past and substitute for them a combination of men in peaceful - industries which will conduce to greater comfort and happiness, and which will hasten the advent of that auspioious day—- “ When the war drum throbs no longer And the battle flags are furled, In the parliament of man The federation of the world.” DUANE DOTY.

MRS. JOSEPH THOMPSON, President Board of Lady Managers.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BUILDING.

THE WOMAN’S BUILDING.

SOME BUILDINGS IN ATLANTA.