New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-22

cially Of Southern women. should be shown N
the world With that idea In view II was deter.
mined TO erect Womans Building. and put 1t In
charge of a board OF women. About forty OF the
leading women Of Atlanta were made members
OF this board. Of whom Mrs. Joseph Thompson lis
popular and efficient president; Mrs. n. y. Black
Mrs A. F. Thornton Mrs Oil. Mrs. l.. NJ Cor.
dom Mrs. FELTON,. Mrs. George NJ Taylor, Mn
Hugh Hogan and Mrs. Clarence Knowles may BE-
mentioned though they ALI deserve honorable
recognition. These women have accomplished
wonders In getting together a splendid exhibit OF
woman's work, which. however. cannot be In
stalled for a week or two yet, owing 10 I'm.
fortunate delay in finishing the Womans Build.
ing Newly orkers Will be interested TO know thar
one OF the best rooms In this building is the New
York City Room. for which splendid exhibit OF
New-York wOmen's work has been gathered or
the New-YOrk Committee Mrs Joseph Bradley
Reed. its chairman and Mrs Theodore Sutro have
taken the laboring oar and 10 their zeal and per.
sistency the New-York City Room will owe much
Of its success.
THE WORK OF THE NEGROES
But among the makers OF the Exposition the
negro must not be forgotten Literally OF course,
he built IT, for the labor Of Georgia. as OF the
South generally is exclusively black. And II
may be mentioned here in passing that what At
lanta fears most now Is that the boom created by
the Exposition may draw to 1t some OF the de-
graded foreign white labor that is found in the
North. The people here are absolutely satisfied
with black labor and want nothing else. They
know the negro. and can control him. With
black labor they troubled by none Of the
problems Of trades-unionism and anarchy that
exist elsewhere. And when they think OF these
problems they are more convinced than ever that
the negro is simply indispensable to the South.
But It Is not merely az laoorer that the negro
figures in the Exposition. To Northern people
probably, the Negro Building. with its remark
hi % hnn dior. q.
prise and genius, will seem 10 be the dominant
note OF the whole Exposition. The people Of At
lanta hope that such will be the case They wan,
the North to understand that the negro In
Georgia at least has every advantage that a
white man possesses The list OF negro educa-
tional institutions in this city IS a pretty good
proof that this Is no mere figure OF rhetoric
There negro prOperty-owners in Atlanta:
there is a drugstore owned by negroes that does A
business OF between 10000 and $4,000 year:
there is a negro In Macon worth more than $780,
000 who rents houses 10 white people and Is a
man Of consequence In the business world All
this indicates that the negro race question and
the negro social question are ceasng TO be con-
sidered together In the South. As Booker T.
Washington said In his fine address at the Open
Ing Of the Exposition: I'm all things that are
purely social we can be as separate as the fingers
yet the hand in all things essential to
mutual progress" That exactly describes the
negro problem as II exists In Atlanta to-day. Its
people rejoice in the intellectual and industrial
advance OF the negro race. They want TO help II
on. and they want the North 10 cooperate with
them. Such leaders Of the negro race Mr.
Washington meet with nothing but encourage
ment and goodwill In the South. His selection as
a speaker al the opening exercises Of the EXPOSE
ton will do more he himself said. and as the
people OF Atlanta are also saying, to cement the
friendship Of the two races than any occurrence
since the dawn OF freedom. In the Atlanta Expo
sition the Southern negro takes his proper place
as an integral and important element IN the life
and progress Of the South: and he does with
the cordial appreciation Of the South itself. A
more detailed description Of the negro exhibit
will be given in another letter. 1t Will suffice
here TO say that its excellence and variety will
surprise all who have not been following closely
the recent advances Of the race in the South.
This brief sketch Of the makers OF the EXPOSE
ton would not be complete without a recognition
OF the fact that behind those who were person.
ally charged with the work OF creating II stood
the citizenship OF Atlanta. The whole city was Q
unit on the question OF making the Exposition q
success. Beyond any merely selfish reason for
this feeling was the belief that the Exposition
would make the whole South and its resources
known TO the world as they never had been known
before. Atlanta. of course, hopes 10 be benefited
directly by the Exposition, and it has good rea-
son for hoping: but il is well aware that 1t will
reap an indirect benefit far greater and more last
ing II the Exposition shall be the means OF at
tracing to the South the capital and the best
citizenship of the North and the West. And for
this reason II has striven TO make the Exposition
re-eminently a miniature picture OF the Souths
Industrial, commercial and agricultural possbli'
ties to-day.