The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-06-15
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTER.
Events Of the Week-The Centennial
Committee.-Exhibits of the Brazilian
and English Governments.
Special Correspondence Of tie Anderson Inssaiseneer
PHILADELPHIA. June 8, 1876.

| PHILADELPHIA, June Q, 1910.
."Dese am rudder libely times wei
habben nowp remarked the sable gen
tleman who handed me my beef stake
and onions the other morning at the
Continental Hotel, "de wedder am fine
and dsr's heap people in town"-ant
he was right, for we have just passed
through a week of delightful weather
such as I have seldom seen even in June
In general excitement it has exceeded
the opening week, and l think the mum
ber of visitors will almost equal that very
interesting occasion. Early in the week
the Knights Templar began to pour in
from every portion of the country, and af
they came not alone, but in the majority
of instances, those who were lucky
enough to have wives, brought them
along, while the fortunate possessors Of
families ranging anywhere from five to
eleven in number, were not forgetful Of
their marital obligations, and brought
the dear little cherubs to see the fun too
and as natural consequence, this extra
addition to our population, as my colored
friend remarked, "made tings ruddeI
libely." The events of the past week
have been numerous and important
principal among which, were the Deco.
ration Day-the conyocatiou of Knights
Templar-the meeting of the Medical
Society of Pennsylyania-and the meet.
ing of the Social Science Association. In
the closing portion of this letter I shall
briefly notice each of these events, but
trust 1 may be pardoned if I digress one
moment to say word in behalf of the
Centennial Committee. There are many
excellent people in and out of Philadel-
phia, just now specializing on the posi-
bility of the financial failure of the Cen
tennial Exhibition, and who are con-
stantly informing the public of this short
coming, and that lamentable oversight oi
the Centennial Committee in not adopt
ing their peculiar views-and are frank
enough to say what they would have done
if they were in the committees place
wretched scribblers without brains
enough to drive a second class fish
wagon, are constantly calling in question
the wisdom and policy of the gentlemen
having charge of the most gigantic under
taking of modern times, and requiring an
amount of forecast and judgment fully
equal to the government of a nation.
1t is barely possible that if the United
States had been raked with fine tooth
comb, a few better men might have been
found for the positions on the Centennial
Committee than the gentlemen who now
occupy them, but even that is exceeding
| ly doubtful. Human wisdom has never
been deemed infallible, and in all proba-
bility never will be. Even the Almighty,
whose judgment is isunerring, having made
his last and most perfect work, man, in
his own image and likeness, in little
while repented that he had made him.
Is it to be wondered at then, that there
have been some mistakes, some errors OF
judgment, some shortcomings of perform
ance? Don't look at these spots ON the
sun; look at the sun itself. Don't seek
for what they have not done; look at
what they have done, and if mans
judgment is not warped as crooked as q
rams horn, he must confess, without any
disparagement to the exhibitions of other
lands, that no grander exhibition than
this at Philadelphia has ever been given
on the face of the globe.
Having relieved my mind, / will now
| return to Brazil. On entering the pavil.
ion erected by the Brazilian government,
nothing impresses you more strongly
than the lightness and elegance of every
thing she exhibits. Spain looks gloomy
and forbidding. Brazil is light, airy,
beautiful. Near the door are cases Of
| costly books. admirable in workmanship
and rich in splendid binding, rare con-
tributions to science and art, and worthy
of.the great nation they represent. The
show of cotton goods and cloths is not up
| to the standard of English manufactures,
or of the products of the loom in the
United States; still they have abundance
of the raw material, and under their
present wise and energetic ruler, will no
doubt avail themselves of the brains and
muscle. of other lands. The countries
south of Brazil have long been famous fol
hides; here we have the manufactured
| leather, and it seems to me have never
seen it's superior. The exhibition oi
manufactured articles of various kinds is
also exceedingly creditable, as also are
her numerous agricultural products Of
coffee, sugar and grain, and give her a
status among the nations of the earth fol
which northern people were scarcely pre-
pared. But if Brazil were twice as big
and as rich as she is, we could only afford
to give her passing glance, for greater
than Brazil meets you at every turn, q
potentate by divine right in the arena Of
science and art, an autocrat in philoso-
ply, a fearless apostle in religion, O
daring demigod in war. I refer to those
dauntless Islanders upon whose blood
red flag the sun never sets, and whose
reveille beat is heard around the world. u
I confess it fills me with admiration
which I find it difficult to express when
1 see grouped in this comprehensive man.
ner the grand production of England and
her Colonies. When look at the map
| of this, our mother land, and see that you
might drop that seagirt isle within the
limits of the State Of New York, and
then have room to spare. I say it fills
me with admiration unspeakable, when
see the wonders she has achieved in every
department of human knowledge. She
meets you everywhere into the
machinery department and her engines
are among the finest and most substantial
ever made by human hands-in cotton
goods she has no superior in the world
and it is esteemed no small compliment
to stand her equal on any of the marts OF
commerce in silks she rivals the looms
of Lyons; in carpets she is almost with,
out peer; in cutlery she is master OF
the situation; in silverware she need not
fear to enter into competition with the
artisans of any land, and in the million
and one kinds of small items that 60 to
make up the business of the world; She !!
marvellous to behold. Go where you will
in any of the departments and there you
see on great flags, Great Britain and
Ireland, Colonies, or Colonial dependen.
cies, and when taken together there il
nothing that man produces or secures by
h.o oo,,roro n,