The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-04-16
A CRISIS FOR THE SOUTH.
What Gov. Evans Says oft Atlanta
Exposition.

South Carolina will have a credita-
BILE exhibit at the Cotton States and In
ternational Exposition, If the Cover
nor and the State Commission can ac-
complish 1t. Mr.. e. j.. Roche, the
State Commissioner, had long con.
ference with Gov. Evans last week
concerning the work he has to do in
the State, Mr.. Roche has been all
over the Exposition grounds and build
ings, and became thoroughly acquaint-
ed with the space to be filed. Mr..
Roche has been in many Of the upper
counties in the State and be is greatly
encouraged at the outlook. Yester-
day he went up co the State Fair
81 ounds and examined the portion of
the old State exhibit of lne woods,
which was not taken to Clemson Col
lege. He finds that there Is practi-
cally nothing in 1t that he can make
use Of
Gov. Evans considers the coming
exposition turning point in the his
tory OF the State, in the South In fact.
He regards it as the most important
event of the last twenty years. In
talking about the outlook yesterday
he said: Mr.. Roche and have had
conference today in reference to the
organization the several counties
necessary means to secure the ex-
hibits. Mr.. Roche Is to visit every
county in the State at once, col
lect what exhibits he can, give
suggestions to the people of the several
counties and thoroughly organize the
work in each county. He has been to
Atlanta and he has seen the gounds
and buildings and knows what class
OF exhibits arc most needed. He has
seen too what space we have to fill.
aln great many counties the commits
slons have already met and organized
the work; those which have not done
30 are preparing to do so at once. The
central committeeman, Mr.. Roche re-
ports are looking after the work of
organization in the upper part of the
State very thoroughly. lam receiving
many letters from individuals who are
Interesting themselves in tho matter.
1t is vitally important that each county
in the State should be- represented in
the general exhibit. We have been
given the most cOnspicous place in the
buildings, and would hate to see any
county left out. or course we have
got to depend entirely on our people of
each county for means to properly dis
play our resources, and the people Of
each county should begin to collect
any amounts that they can and for
ward them at once, however small
they may be to the central 6uance
committee.
:" We find that the valuable old
State exhibit which was was moved to
Clemson College was totally destroyed
in the fire and We will have to start
from the ground up to replace many
of the valuable things that were in tho
exhibit. This is q serious loss, but we
will have to repair it. Mr.. Roche Is
now arranging with the saw mill men
throughout the State to furnish sam
Piles of the various kinds of woods.
This collection will have to be made up
entirely new.
II am glad TO see that the people
of Columbia have begun to move in
this most important matter, and |
hope that their efforts will amount to
something. This is going to be the
most important exposition, from
Southern standpoint, that has ever
been held. The present time | regard
as the crisis In the South this Is the
turning point for + South in her in
dustrial march, =, AZ we should each
and all do all that we can to make this
exposition grand display OF every
resource that we have. Now Is our
golden opportunity, and we must, in
deed, cannot, let it pass. We must
show to the world our wonderful resour-
ces and development. II we let the
opportunity pass we will be irretrievab-
ly injured injured in the future. This
ID why | am so anxious to have the
people OF this State come to the front"