The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-12-20
The New orleans Fair.

From the Ne,c York Times.
The exposition at New Orleans cannot fail
to be of great service to the Nation as whole,
and especially to the inhabitants of the South
ern States and to their neighbors in Mexico
and Central America. Differing in its nature,
its aims, and its scope from the Worlds FAIR
at Philadelphia and from the Atlanta Exhibi-
ton, it may be more beneficial IN influence
and results with reference to this Nation and
tbis continent than even the first of those en-
terprises. The developing effect of the Phil
adelphia Exhibition has been seen in the
North rather than in the South. The benefi-
cial influence of the Atlanta Exhibition was
exerted in parts of the South. The New Or
leans fair, held on the southern boundary oil
the Republic at port destined to become a
most important station on the highway from
the North and the South to Spanish America,
and from the East to the Pacific slope, will
tend not only to stimulate the industries OF
the South but also to bring our producers and
consumers face to face with the people OF
Central and Southern America and to make
our commercial intercourse with them more
intimate.
The development of the industries and ma
tural resources of our Southern States is
something greatly to be desired by all who
see that national prosperity and complete
and enduring reconciliation of two sections
once divided by war depend in great measure
upon symmetrical and harmonious national
growth. The close of the war found the South
! impoverished and confronted by great prob
| lens relating to labor, industry, and society;
Under the new conditions many OF the old
methods could not survive. 1t was inevitable
that in course of time there should be new
system of agriculture and development OF
manufactures, and that natural resources
| i I LII l,,4, Enrtnn
for the people there were IN the South men
who strove intelligently to hasten those
changes which the new order of things re-
auired. The Atlanta Exhibition opened the
eyes of the people of Georgia, as well as those
of Northern capitalists, to the evils of the old
agricultural methods, the wealth of the State S
mineral deposits, and the many opportunities
for material advancement that had been neg
lected The mines, the forests, the water
! falls, and the soil took on new value. Inc
stimulating effect of that exhibition was felt
in other States-in North Carolina, Alabama,
Virginia, and Florida. Cotton mills were
built, mines were opened, furnaces were start
ed, new towns spraug up, and old ones grew
rapidly. In September, 1888, 1t was shown
that the assessed value of property IN twelve
Southern States had increased S64O, 100000
since the taking of the census. In September
last it was shown that in the preceding twelve
months the assessed value had increased
S2O5, 00O, 900, while the rate of taxation had
been reduced, and the amount of money ex-
pended for public education had in some
places been doubled. Within short time
iron made in Alabama has been shipped to
the Northern markets. The immense coal
fields that surround Birmingham are soon to
give employment to large population. In
Georgia new methods of agriculture have sup
81 h olJ aud hr,p oip to tho fn
er a security and prosperity that he could
not enjoy under the old plan, But there are
regions in the South where the stimulus has
not been felt, where the earth's treasures are
allowed to sumber untouched, where manu-
features do not yet exist, and where the old
methods of agriculture still make the planter
the slave of the money lender. The New
Orleans Exhibition will awaken the people in
States and districts where the new industrial
spirit has not yet appeared.
An extensive display of the products of
Mexico and the Central American States by
the side of our own machinery, agricultural
implements, and other manufactured goods,
will tend to show to people on both sides OF
the line the possibilities of International trade.
If the exhibition shall meet the expectations
of its promoters, its commercial value, from
this point of view, will be very great. The
recent negotiation of commercial treaties has
directed public attention to the fact that we
sell very little in Central American and South
American markets, or to the countries on the
other side of the Pacific. In some way those
markets should be opened to US. 1t is not
probable that the work can or will bedone by
So called reciprocal treaties. The exhibition
may convince some persons that the prize can
be won by wise modification of our tariff
lrass 1t will undoubtedly reveal to many
the great value-not realized by them hereto
fore--of these markets that are now mainly
supplied from Europe.
The exhibition will also be very useful in
tightening the bonds that unite the North and
the South. Every undertaking that brings the
people of the North and the people of the
South together and gives them a better knowl,
edge of each other tends to produce national
harmony and to remove distrust and prejudice
that are born of ignorance.