The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-11-22
The Great Southern Exposition.
NUMBER TWO.

Mississippi owes her exhibit chiefly to
the railroads. Spasmodic efforts weremade
by individuals to present suitable dis
play. and while they were partially sue
cessful knowing how much better could
have been done one does not feel like COM
mending the result. A pretty reception
ROOM in pagoda form, has its roof COM
pletely hidden in long gray MOSES, and its
pillars are of cotton, corn, coal, iron ore.
sorghum, flax, millet and tobacco. The
floor has q bright carpet and easy chairs
tempt the visitor to u long rest. The pro-
duets along the lines Of railroads are fairly
well represented.
From Corinth, Miss. there is a very good
display of silk worms and their products,
and the persons engaged in silk culture at
/ that place deserve favorable consideration,
for they are quietly buildingu up what ought
sometime tobecome, in America. athriving
industry. 1t receives a good many stabs
from persons who, ready to jump at any
thing which promises big dividends on a
small capital. launch into it ignorant of
the business and unwilling, OF untitled, to
give to it patient, persistent attention.
Buying the eggs and then not half caring
for them results as it would to plant corn
and leave the weeds to finish the crop.
The chief harm done in the former case is |
| that the investment is lost, and the howl
ings Of disappointment discourage people |
who might succeed 1t is surprising how
differently some things work from others
for example. we seldom hear much about |
the success of a person in farming OF in
any new enterprise like the culture of silk,
but we do hear of numerous failures !; |
while, on the other hand, one never hears |
anything Of the thousands who purchase
a lottery ticket and draw a blank while |
| the zone among ten thousand who gets |
prize finds his name in every,paper in the
/ country.
ALABAMA
is another of the States which left the
labor of preparing an exhibit to the rail
roads. The Louisville and Nashville, which
crosses the State from north to south, with
an arm reaching out both east and west,
and the Great Southern. (which runs from
the northeastern portion in asouthwestern
direction to Mississippi, and the Cincn
natl, New Orleans and Texas. have each
contributed literally to the display of min
erals and timbers-so good, indeed. that it
is proposed to make a permanent exhibit
ton of them.
Alabama ought to have exercised great
liberality toward this Exposition. She has
Weakened from her dulce far n5e,ate, and
prosperity almost phenomenal has dawned.
but only a beginning of what can be has
been made. Probably no place in the en-
tire South has shown such rapid growth as
Birmingham decade ago it was a ham
let of q few cabins to-day, it has thirteen
thousand people, and the capital invested
in the iron interest amounts to immense
sums. Towns are springing up all about.
and the ''boom is not only progressive
but Il permanent one.
A native of Winchester, MI. Albert G.
Danner is at the head Of one of the most
extensive lumber companies in the State.
He left that nlaeo-yufSa SiA-toa-4 sssAars of
age, going first to Missouri. Now he is
one of the wealthy men of Alabama, pres
ident Of the Bank of Mobile, and owner of
immense tracts of land, mills, ETC., all ac-
cumulated since the war.
1t would be folly to attempt to describe
what
KENTUCKY
has done toward filling space. Her pro-
ducts of the soil, mines, and mechanical
industries are scattered all about. Louis
vile began by subscribing about 100000
as q guarantee fund. an opportunity to
"help" being offered even the servant
girls, many of whom, it is said, contributed
their mites. 1t has been harvest for
Louisville, Especially for hotels, boarding.
houses, hackmen and street cars. Much
of the time every available place has been
crowded beyond comfort-but that is bet
ter than to have too much room.
Kentucky has been very SLOW 1t has
chung to old traditions with surprising
tenacity and has not yet reused to q COM
plete realization of the fact that the peO-
pie who ''dead-head' their way along the
journey Of life travel only on the slow
trains and never are on times Kentuckians
need the education to be derived from fire.
quent visits to the Exposition, and though
it looks q little mean for the Directors to
make Saturdays Kentucky Day, F." and to
reduce the entrance fee on that day, and
no other, from fifty cents to half that sum,
we can readily forgive them for we all
know what an army of illterate people
they have in Kentucky who ought to have
every inducement offered them to tempt
them to come, and look, and learn.
DACoTA
The Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul
railroad company has very attractive lit
tie booth, in which are some of the pro-
ducts of breezy, bustling, booming Dacota.
But Southrons would rather talk of these
cooler places in the summer Snow and
Billiards are not suggestive of comfort.
VIRGINIA
is another State which was content to leave
the work of representation to the rail
roads, and think she ought to be ashamed
Of her indifference. Here was IAN oppor-
tunity to advertise the resources of the
State with very little trouble and not much
money. Emigration and capital are needed
and, it is to bepresumed, desired, and with
liberal display of the products of the
State more persons would be attracted
thither than ever will come from a thou
sand columns describing the country. Such
an exhibit as either Arkansas OF Tennessee
makes, carries conviction to the practical
man far more than words can do. If any
one doubts it, let him examine the visitors
register in the office Of Commissioner Of
Agriculture for the State of Tennessee.
Since the opening Of the Exposition over
seven hundred names have been added to
! this register. the majority of them from
the north and northwest. Excursions for
the months of November and December.
from Illinois and Wisconsin, are arranged.
and the amount Of real estate already
changing hands indicates that some come
to settle. 1t is such Il '.boom'' as this that
Virginia wants, yet she failed to help her
self to it when the best possible oppor-
1