The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-10-17

MAIN ENTRANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
BUILDING.
planned bitterly of the climate the first
week. The managers had some difficulty
in compelling the men to wear enough
clothing for public appearance, and lady
visitors who peered into the straw huts
for a study of African domestic life
found one glance enough and retreated
rosy red.
Just the same a negro-that is,
miscegene--was the hero of opening
day. 1t is taken by common consent,
but all things considered the speech of
Professor Booker T. Washington was
the neatest and most appropriate of the
day, and beyond that the mere fact that
he was ON the platform, that the eight
negro commissioners were in the pro-
cession with the rest, and that the Ne
gro building is one of those most sought
for on the grounds are of telling signifi-
cance OF equal interest is the fact that
the ladies have managed their depart
ments without jar, and the wits will
not have SO much fun with them as at
Chicago And as to the rest we now
realize the great gain in constructing
the main buildings around the natural
amphitheater and appreciate the merits
of the plans of Mr.. Grant Wilkins, chief
of construction, and his assistants.
The main entrance is at Fourteenth
street, middle of the west side of the
park, where the Administration build
ing fronts the outside space. 1t is said
to be a combination of six or seven old
castles and looks as if it might be all
that and more. Inside an advance of a
few rods between the Auditorium and
the Georgia State building brings one
to the brow of considerable hill, from
which he looks down into the great oval
basin which adds SO greatly to the
beauty and general effectiveness of the
plan. In the deepest part of this basin,
ON the east and south sides, is the SO
called Clara mere, two crystal lakes
Joined by broad neck, over which there
is bridge. A third or more of the floor
of the basin is taken up by the grand
plaza, in the center of which is the foun-
tain, and all the space left vacant by
mere and plaza is dotted with state and
foreign buildings and minor attractions
In the mere is apparently low con-
ical island, but it is an illusion, mere
SHE'LL and in the immense space under
it is the electrical machinery which is
to produce the marvellous colored foun-
tains, more marvellous, the engineers
say, than anything heretofore seen ON
this earth.
On the commanding points of the
terrace around this central basin are the
principal structures. Boldly conspicu-
GUS on the northeast is the largest,
Manufactures and Liberal Arts, $50 by
351 feet, with floor area of 1913, 900
square feet. Straight north is the Gov
eminent building. tho first to be ready
for visitors, and on the slope back of it
is the camp of United States soldiers.
Northwest is the Fine Arts hall, at the
best point of all for an imposing effect
as seen from the plaza. And it is well,
indeed, that it is SO, for one cannot
help contrasting its size with that of the
marvellous palace of art at Chicago.
That was indeed imposing as seen across
the lagoon, but as one goes up to this
one by the three long flights of steps an
illusion of size is produced and, seen
from the plaza, it glows like great
white temple set on a hill. This ar
rangement was one of the happiest con-
ceits of Wilkins & Co. On the east is
the Electrical building, SO placed as to
throw a flood of light into the basin.
All the wonderful arrangements by
which the effects are to exceed all here
tofore known have had explained to
me three times, and therefore know
enough about it to know I had better
not try to describe it. On the extreme
south is Machinery hall, f1anked ON one
side by Minerals and Forestry and on
the other by the California building,
while ON the southwest is Agriculture,
and on the southeast Transportation,
and this ends the list of large structures.
In all the corners and otherwise va
can't spaces are state buildings and for
eign buildings, Mexican village and a
forty -niner mining camp" scenic dis
plays and many minor attractions, and
last, but far from least, there are the
Midway heights, with their ostriches
and oriental dancing girls, congress of
beauties, German village, Cairo streets
and lot more too tedious to mention.
And through it all and over it all, so
to speak, one sees a tendency to boast
Perhaps it is not fair to contrast this
with the great exposition of 1898, for
that was worlds work and no one
could boast as against another, but here
one sees that the south is pretty we'll
satisfied with herself and thinks she has
now reached point where she can chal-
lenge the world to a comparison in many
lines of progress. In the Georgia build
ing, for instance, one soon learns that
this state has increased her taxables 100
per cent in three decades; that her capt.
tai invested in iron works and foundries
has increased $50 per cent in ten years,
and her cotton mills nearly as fast; that
in one year 500, 900 spind1es have been
added to the cotton manufactures of
the south, and that of the so, 900, 600
spindles in the entire world the south
now claims 5 per cent. Not far away we
are Informed that 10 years ago Georgia
did not know her cotton seed was of any
great value, while now she has 81 mills
working up $50, 900 tons of it annually.
And finally we are told, and even the
letters seem to have sort of comp1ecent
swagger as they tell it. that Georgia is
educating more colored children than
all the Christian missions of the world
and paying $450. 900 year for the pur-
pose Well. IN second Thoughts. q aorpia