Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-11-02
ATLANTA LETTER.
Wanted, Some Visitors for a Big Exposi-
tion-The Reign of Red Tape
TenHesseeans at Atlanta.

tion-The Reign of Red Tape
TenHesseeans at Atlanta.
Special Corresponds nee Knoxville Chronicle.
ATLANTA, October 81.
The Cotton Exposition is a decided
success in every particular except that
terested, and that is the consideration
/ which induced them to put their goods on
exhibition. refer, of course, to the mat
ter of attendance-the prime consideration
with both the management and the exhib-
itors.
| Since the 9Th of October the press and
the management have been industriously
discouraging the coming of visitors. Three
weeks ago, when / paid my
first visit to ithe exposition, Director-Ge
eral Kimball said 1--WE are not ready for
visitors yet; indeed, il they should come
they would be in the way, and we should
not know what to do with them" That
WAS quite true then, but now the exposition
is in readiness to receive its guests and they
do not come, and those who have been here
for weeks have suddenly become very impa-
tient. On Saturday the exhibitors took
matters in their own hands, and appointed
committee to go to Savannah and intercede
with the pig-headed Central people for
a reduction in rate, from which [ infer that
the exposition authorities committed the in
explicable folly of undertaking and splen-
didly cousumating this great enterprise
without first securing the active co-opera-
ton of all the railway lines centering at this
point The Central charges q cents mile
each way, a reduction of only half-cent a
mile This road always discriminates
against Atlanta most outrageously, and /
fear the committee will meet with little o.
no success. The w. & A. will do the hand
some thing, and 1 suppose that
Old King Cole will be fairly gorgeous
in his iberality in this partic-
ular, which viii have to be about half the
rates put out on the East Tennessee road
three or four weeks ago. When they first
came out I heard of several cases of the
chills supposed to have been caused by
reading them.
Atlanta is, at the present moment, one
vast web of red tape. You get tangled in
it at the hotels, you stumble over it at the
boarding houses, you are caught in it at
the express and telegraph offices and you
live, move and have your being in it when
you enter the Exposition. Indeed, it has
come to that pass with Inc that feel like
swlndIer and an impostor when l
approach a respectable peanut vender and
invest my loose wealth III the charming but
dangerous fruit of the goober hill, without
previously having produced letters Of rec
! ommendation from responsible parties, or
guarantees OF my entire respectabllity from
prominent gentlemen of TINS great metrop-
Oils. This kind of damphoolery may work
very satlsfactoriiy'when the expected thief
and villain finally arrives, but 1t is trifie
burdenSOme on the hundreds of honest men
who have 10 submit to ii.
had the pleasure to meet Gen. Longstreet
few days ago, and l confess that my ad-
lniratlon for the soldier and the civilian,
sincere as it has ever been, has been much
increased by his appearance and the slight
contact of few moments spent in his
presence. My impression of his features
and bearing was gained from the old war
pictures of him, which represented a man
of stern features and Iigd carriage To-
day, increasing years and peaceful pursuits
have mellowed his bearing to gentle,
courteous dignity, which wonderfully be-
: comes him. His mien is still sol
dier-lke, though his form is
now portly, but not bulky In
l stead OF the full beard seen in the old pic
lures. he now wears side-whiskers and
, mustachois, after the English military style,
and hair and whiskers are both whitening.
l hope President Arthur will call Gen.
Long treet into his Cabinet. l do not be-
lieye that the act would detach any State
from the solid South, but there can be nc
question that it would quicken thought and
weaken the deadening spell of unreason il
thousands of Southern minds. the offices
which Gen. Longstreet has filed since his
first appointment by Gen Grant, were, none
of them, such as to bring him and the rea
4 nature of his connection with the Republi
f can party into strong light before the
Southern people. His own prominenc,
!, obtained for him passing attention from
the bourbon organ, while the nature of hi
offices withdrew him from the public view
: Many persist in regarding him as neutra
in politics, with friendly feeling for prom
inent Republicans, when in truth, l believe
he is as thorough a Republican as can b.
found anywhere. When in 1867 he pub
licly declared that there was nothing tangi
BILE about the Democratic party ex
cept the issues which were stake,
upon the war and there lost,
occurs to me that he then laid foundatio,
which fourteen years connection with tn
Republican party must have covered will
a fre-proof Republican structure.
Put him in the Cabinet where b.
g will be before the Southern eyes continually
and substantial results will occur therefrom
His abilities fit him for the sphere and hi
unquestioned and unquestionable integrit,
q will inspire trust and respect where thos
qualities need cultivating.
# l was in Mike Condon's Office, some day
ago and found him up to his ears in work.
you are getting up directory of Southern
Il millionaires, just put him down in the ad
vance sheets of some few years off as first
"a class railroad magnate.
The Atlanta end of the Coles line to Ma
con will soon be ready for ths ties and tn
;, rails, which are stacked along the route
The yard where the depot will be locates
e fronts ON Mitchell street, separated from tn
- Macon del OF only by the tracks of the Cen
tral Railroad. 1t is q deep hollow at pres
ent, almost as bad place as would be tn
old pond hollow on Gay street, above tn
;. car-shed, at Knoxville. But the flling-i,
t. has begun, and it viii soon be level witt
4 the street
Tennesseeans are as plentiful as musqui
;. toes in this city, but I have discovered th
Q presence of only two, beside myself, at tn
Exposition, Col Killebrew and Franc Paul
If it was matter of life and death to scar
IS up as many as four of US, | suppose tina
II Sam Small would serve temporarily, al
J though he and his little grip-sack have be
l. come naturalized here by this time