Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-12-25
THE COTTON CENTENNIAL.
The Opening Ceremonies at the
Crescent City.
Rev Orleans In Gala Attire-The Proccs.
sion to the Grounds-Formal Proceed
ings BY City, State and National Dig
nftarics-The Wheels Move.
NEW ORLEANS, La, December

The day for opening the Worlds Indus
trial and Cotton Centennial Exposition
dawned clear and pleasant. Nothing wa.
left undone to make the opening cere
monies brilliant and imposing. Never
before have the streets of the city beer
SO crowded with people.
Already the hotels are full, and great
difficulty is experienced in obtaining
good quarters. The city presented gala
appearance. The buildings along the
principal streets were profusely decorated
Flags, banners and buntings of all colors
and decorative design having been taste
fully arranged along the house fronts,
while at many of the more prominent
street corners triumphal arches were
erected.
- Canal street, the grand boulevard OF
OF the Crescent City, presented spec
tacle never equaled even during carnival
festivities. From the river front away
toward the lake, the eye met nothing but
one vast scene of changing colors. The
stores were decorated SO gorgeously that
one could with difficulty see the build
ings. Flags of ali nations hung from
broad galleries, and steamers were Sus-
pended from roofs to the ground. Even
the wide .sNeutral Grounds" showed bits
OF color.
Long before the hour fixed for the
formation of the Exposition procession,
the crowds began to collect on the broad
banquettes and on the neutral space in
the middle of the street. Soon the thor
oughfare from Rampant street to the river
was so densely packed with people that
thousands despaired OF getting glimpse
OF the procession and took the various
lines of cars for the Exposition Park.
Shortly after ten O'Clock the procession
composed of officers of the Exposition
Commissioner of Foreign countries the
United States Government and the sew
eral States, and distinguished visitors and
citizens, formed and began the march to
the levee, where was mooIed the magniti-
cent steamer Fred. A. Blanks draped in
all the colors of the rainbow.
The procession marched aboard the
Blanks, which swung out into the stream
and headed for the lower limits of the
corporation, SO as to traverse the entire
length of the city in the trip up stream,
giving those aboard view of the entire
shipping, moored along the fifteen miles
of river front.
Reaching the lower end of the city the
Blanks turned and sped up stream, her
course along the route being the signal
for salutes from war ships, ocean vessels
and the screaming of steam-whistles of
the steamboats,. Every vessel was taste
fully decorated with flags, and their crews
on deck and in the rigging, cheered as
the Blanks passed.
The boat landed at the Exposition
wharf at noon, and the party proceeded
to Music Hall, in the main building, where
the opening exercises were to be held.
When the procession reached the build
ing the Ii 600 seats in the hall were al
most filed by persons who had started
for the park before the procession moved,
while thousands congregated in groups
around the vast auditorium.
When the Exposition officers and Com
missioners had taken places on the plat
form, the orchestra struck up the "Presi-
dents March," A reception to Governor
S. d. McEnery followed, and the orches-
ira played National airs.
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, of the Brook
lyn Tabernacle, offered prayer, at the
conclusion of which Governor McEnery
began the opening address.
The Governor referred to the magnitude
of the Exposition, and the benefit it
would confer on the whole country, es-
pecially the South, to whom international
expositions had hitherto been unknown,
and expressed the belief that the inter-
course between people from different
sections of the country would bring the
States closer together, socially and politi-
cally, than they had been for third of
century.
The Exposition poem of Mrs. Mary
Ashley Townsend, s'Xariffa," was then
read, at the conclusion of which Mayor
j. V. Guillotte, welcomed the visitors to
the Crescent City, promising them courte-
GUS and fair treatment by the citizens.
Director General Major L. A. Burke
then presented the Exposition building to
President Ed. Richardson in brief adj
dress. Colonel Richardson, in turn, pre-
scented the building to President Arthur
by telegraph. A Geographic response was
received and read from the President,
officially announcing the opening of the
Exposition.
The machinery began to move slowly,
followed by the whir of two miles of
shafting.
Governor McEnery then received the
Commissioners and distinguished visitors,
and amid burst of National airs from the
orchestra the proceedings came to a close.
? While the building is not entirely COM
pleted, and while half the exhibits are
not yet arranged, still as much progress
has already been made as at any interna-
tional exposition on opening day The
management has used every cndaavor to
push the work as fast as possible, and
the delay has been rather the fault of the
exhibitors than of the officials. Every
thing was in readiness for the former, and
they simply did not take advantage of it.
Great delay, however, was caused by q
blockade of railroads. Many hundred
cars of exhibits have not yet reached the
grounds, the jam being especially heavy
ON the Illinois Central and Louisville s
Nashville. These cars will be brought in
rapidly, and by the time the holidays are
over, everything will be in complete or
der
In the main building one-third of the
space is as yet unoccupied; but exhibitors
are putting up their platforms rapidly.
Those displays complete represent every
conceivable article of manufacture, from
q needle to the mammoth Harris-Corliss
engine. All the displays are tasty and
many are elegant and rich. The space
for foreign exhibits in this building is al
most entirely vacant. This is caused by
the rigid enforcement of customs regula-
tions. Over thousand tons of goods of
the loom are lying in bonded warehouses
and aboard ships, although the manage
ment used every endeavor to secure a
modification of the customs rules and the
usual formalities attending the entry of
imports, and although they were seconded
By customs officials here, and the Treas
ury Department at Washington seemed
willing to make concessions, it was only
Monday night that Collector Badger re-
ceived an order from Secretary McCul-
Loeb TO allow all articles intended for the
exhibit to be sent to the grounds imme-