Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1895 — ATLANTA'S BIG SHOW. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ATLANTA'S BIG SHOW.

MARVELOUS BEAUTY OF THE SOUTHERN EXPOSITION. Its Future Now Denonda I)non the Public-President Cleveland Tou>-he<l the Hutton to Put the Wheels in Motion—A Superb Exhibition. All the World Represented. The Atlanta Exposition is a reality. On Wednesday, at 3:30 p. m., President Cleveland, at Gray Gabies, touched the button, -and as quickly , as the current to the inland metropolis of Georgia the "tnrzx oL machinery was heard, and the - South's great show was open full speed. Like ail great enterprises of this kind, the Atlanta Exposition vitas not in a complote condition on its opening day. The finishing touches will have to be put on many buildings and much of the exhibits were not in place.' But this is not discouraging to tho promoters o! the exjxmition. They do not expect to: be in good running shape until Oct. 10: The exposition's future depends upon the public. Atlanta brains; and pluck, and energy, and perseverance have done their best. The money of the citizens of the stirring Southern city has been invested in the enterprise without stint and without hope of profit. The universal desire is to better bring to the attention of tiie United States, to the attention of the world, the advantages of the “New South?; its manifold resources, its enterprising business men, and its hospitable people. - 'Die Highly” trained labor of the most advanced countries of the globe is to contribute its best endeavors to the show.

France, Germany, Russia, England, and Italy, have sent their best products in liberal arts and in the sciences. The fertile Smith has emptied the choicest fruits of its fields and hills and factories into the exposition. The highest types of agricultural products possible to the rich lands of the Southern States are here in attractive arrangement, The products of the South’s factories are heaped in abnndaneedu the buildings. The great resources of mine and forest show the vast possibilities of this section. The countries of South America will be most creditably represented. There is no doubt that one of the cardinal purposes of the exposition, the opening up of better trade relations between the South and the South and Central American countries, will be realized as a result of the enterprise. Our own government is not behind. It presents its riches in a manner that will arouse the patriotic pride of very loyal American. Eclipses New Orleans. The exhibition at Atlanta will completely eclipse that given at New Orleans with its dearth of facilities of all kinds. Not withstanding the government helped it more than a million and a half of dollars, the latter was an unsuccessful local fair. That at Atlanta will represent all parts of the country, though naturally and appropriately it will bo largely devoted to an exposition of the progress which the South has made since the war and of its resources not yet fully developed. A peculiarly interesting feature of it will be the section devoted to the negro. For the first time the colored people will have their own building and will show the world what they can do in the arts and industries and how much they have accomplished in the upbuilding of the South. Indeed, Atlanta has everything in its favor— a united people working harmoniously together, ambition, public spirit, business enterprise, and local patriotism. Miniature World’s Fair. The Atlanta Exposition will be a World’s Fair only on a reduced scale. Those who visited and admired the White City in Jackson Park cannot fail to find pleasure in a look from the entrance gate in Piedmont Park. . The Midway of the World’s Fair is reproduced. It is not of the same magnitude. Some attractions are to be seen not on exhibit in Chicago and many Of the old Midway features are missing on Atlanta's thoroughfare of nations. Over |

200 Chinese arrived direct from the Flowery Kingdom. They were on exhibition opening day iu the Chinese Village. They were as much astonished as were’ the early seekers after the sights, - who pakl a quarter to get inside the gates. The scenic railway is doing business right along, and a second edition of the Ferris wheel is turning around with car- " loads oF peopler- Tfls “not as large as the .original. The streets of Cairo is an attraction, with its camels, donkeys, and dancing girls. Shooting the chutes can be enjoyed, with all the accessories to be had at Coney Island, Atlantic City, or 63d street in Chicago. A roof garden will be constructed on the top of the Forestry Building,! and an enterprising theatrical manager of “Atlanta haiTiulTtfa theater on the Midway, where vaudeville shows of a high.order will he given. The Mexican Village, with its bull fights, the Illusion Ilali, and a dozen other attractions - wilT tempt the dollars out of visitors’ pockets. At the east end of the “Midway life in troupe of colored people. A rude theater has been constructed of wood of historical interest. It was first cut in 1818 on Piedmont Park, where the exposition buildings are erected. A house was built from it, which remained in the park until Gen. Sherman took possession of the conntry. Gen. Sherman destroyed the buildings and used the lumber in the breastworks he built at Atlanta. At the close of the war the lumber was purchased by Henry 11. Smith, an Atlanta cotton merchant. The lumber has been used in six buildings before being put in the present negro theater and has every evidence of hard usage. There will lie a continuous Georgia barbecue on the grounds and life in the mining camps in California in 1849 will be depicted true to life. Electric cars from tho business center of Atlanta run to the

main entrance of the exposition. At the entrance is the. Administration Building and just east of it the Fire Department House, where several'companies and apparatus wilt stay during the exposition, flllstory of the Fair. Now that the exposition has thrown open its gates to visitors from all parts of the world the story of the conception of the enterprise will be read with interest In a recent conversation on the subject Editor Clark Howell, who has been one of the hardest workers for the success of the undertaking in Atlanta, said: “On thfe morning of the 17th of December, 1893, only two months after the closing of the World’s Fair, Colonel William A. Hemphill suggested to me in casual conversation that Atlanta ought to inaugurate some movement which would act as an antidote for the hard times from which the whole country was suffering. I promptly acquiesced iu the suggestion that something must be done. ‘I do not know,’ said he, and then, suddenly stopping: ‘I hare it; Jet’s have ait exposition!’ whereupon he developed the idea that the best why to moetthe general depression was by launching an undertaking which would bring our people together and give them something to do while others were talking about disaster and depression.” Mr. Howell then told how the people were inspired with the exposition idea, of the busjness men’s meeting when the first active steps were taken, the appointment of a general subcommittee and the determination to raise a preliminary fund of at least $200,000. Continuing, he said: “But it was necessary that there should be some distinctive central idea, around which the exposition should be built. It would not do to go before the world that Atlanta was getting up an exposition with the sole idea of stemming tho tide of depression. Out ,of the discussion wns evolved the keynote on which the music of the whole movement wns based. It was that the exposition should have as its leading, purpose the establishment of closer trade relations between the United States and the Central ajtd South Americanrepublics. The suggestion mot the immediate approval of the industrial and commercial centers. “Tiie $200,000 needed ns a preliminary fund had been pledged in cash subscriptions in less than a week, even the newsboys and the children contributing their mites, the city appropriating $73,000, the additional $125,000 being raised "in personal subscriptions. To this tho county added $75,000 in work, and when the Leg-

Ulatnre met the following 1 fall It gave |25,000 more, making the aggregate subscriptions from the city, the State and the county $300,000." ATfef fefemng to of permanent organization, when it was found that the movement had assumed-such magnitude that it Fad even then far surpassed the most liberal expectations or hopes of its founders, Mr. Howell continued: “The -story of the fight for congressional recognition and of the government’s appropriation of $200,000 is too long to "tell at this time, but suffice to say that we got it, and from that moment the success of the movement was assured, and the enterprice, already beyond the bounds of our most sanguine expectations, doubled in scope at once. Commissioners sent to every State in the Union, to every South and Central American republic and to every European country. From April, 1894. for nine months, these commissioners traversed every part of the globe explaining the purposes of the exposition anti inviting the participation of the \vorld. Every State in the Union appointed eommissioners,—as j did—many European countries, and almost every South .and.- Central American republic. The plans and specifications of the buildings were'approved in the early part of tho prcsentyear.-Threehundrcdthousand dollars in bonds, guaranteed by the gate 1 receipts, were issued, on which cash was promptly advanced, so that the exposition soon found itself in possession of ample funds with which to push the work of Construction, The movement has progressed without a hitch from thfit day to this and the result will be seen by the more than 2,000,000 visitors who are expected this fall.’’ -

DUNRAVEN —“I won’t play with you any more."