Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-05
THE ATT,ANTA EXPOSITION.

Hon. A K. Mcclure has letter in his
paper, the Philadelphia Times, which is
quite eulogistic of the Atlanta exposi-
ton, and is written in that graceful and
forcible style for which he is famous He
speaks of the wonderful advance made
in this exposition over that of 1882 At
that time the revival of prosperity at
the south was in its infancy. Thirteen
years have shown wonderful develop
ment AS to the reception and treatment
of visitors at Atlanta Mr.. Mcclure testi-
'fies as follows:
ut has been falsely stated in some of
the northern papers that visitors to the
Atlanta exposition are swindled in every
way possible by hotels, boarding houses,
hacks, etc. These statements are grossly
unjust to the people of Atlanta. Excel
lent accommodations can be had from the
best hotels down to the cheapest boarding
houses at entirely reasonable rates, and
any visitor can reach the exposition
grounds from any part of the city in
first-class street car for the single fare of
cents. Indeed, SO far from attempting
to extort from visitors. the people of At
lanta seem to have united their efforts
to extend the most generous hospitality
to all who shall come to meet them on
their beautiful exposition grounds. No
one should be hindered from visiting At
lanta because of the fear of extortion."
He concludes his interesting letter thus:
THE most gratifying lesson of the At
lanta exposition Is in the development of
the wonderful advancement the southern
people have made in industrial economies.
Before the war the south was divided into
two claSses-thoSe who rule and those
who served. The one was born to mas
terry, and the other to servitude, whether
white or black, and there was then no
need for diversified industries or for the
development OF new sources of wealth.
The result was that the waste of the
south could have fed and clothed abund-
antly her middle and poorer classes. Ne
cessty has taught the south what philos-
ophya and craftsmanship would have
failed to teach them in generations. To-
day we see represented in the Atlanta
exposition how marvelously new products
have been created, and especially how
infinitely the economies of industry are
used to reap the fullest rewards of capital
and labor in everything produced. This
is the foundation of southern prosperity.
and it has become so well established, as
is illustrated by the exposition, that the
advancement of these states must greatly
increase in momentum from year to year,
and there are those living today who will
see the south more generally prosperous
than the great states of the north which
now overshadow both south and west in
wealth and general prosperity.
1.-THE people of the north should give
generous patronage to the Atlanta expo
Sition. Our industries, our commerce.
our financial interests and our general
business and social intercourse, have be-
come so intimately interviewer with the
people of the south that all sectional feel
ing has faded away, and both have learn
ed that they can mutually enlarge their
prosperity by mutual intercourse. Es-
pecially should Philadelphia, with her in
telligent and substantial commerce, in
dustry and trade, send tens of thousands
of visitors to the Atlanta exposition. At
lanta Is the center of the great producing
south. 1t offers vast fields for northern
enterprise and the extension of northern
trade, and Philadelphia is better equipped
than any city of the country to be in the
closest relations for the supply of the
rapidly growing needs of the south. The
steady and marvellous increase of wealth
in the southern states makes them most
desirable customers in every line of COM
merce and trade, and especially offers in
wiling markets for the great mechanical
products of Philadelphia, that has the
largest number engaged in skilled me-
chanism of any city on the continent.
Aside from the patriotic considerations
which should make north and south
gladly embrace each other in such indus
trial and commercial display as that pre-
sented at Atlanta, the material interests
of both sections call for the generous
fraternizing of Philadelphia and Penn
sylvania with the sons of the Empire
State of the south on the beautiful
grounds of the Atlanta exposition"