Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-19
OPENING EXERCISES

The parade started promptly at 1:30 o'clock at the center of the city and moved out Peachtree.
 Arriving at the grounds the exposition directors, with the distinguished guests, were driven to the auditorium. Ex-GoV. Rufus B. Bullock acted as master of cer- emonies and introduced the speakers. The invocation of Bishop Kinloch Nelson of the Episcopalian diocese of Georgia was delivered in clear tone which was heard throughout the auditorium. He was fol- lowed by Governor Bullock. who intro- duced President Collier MT. Collier re- cciVed great ovation, with cheers and waving of handkerchefs. He began in allow tone, but his voice gradually grew louder until it was heard throughout the hall. His speech was listened to with marked attention and received great applause.
 President and Director-General Coll1er's
 SSpeech.
 "The cotton States and International exposition owes it's existence to a move ment which was inaugurated at the most inauspicious period for such an enter prise to be found in the record of many years. Eighteen months ago the pra cti- cal problem for almost every community seemed to be how to save what it had. rather than to acquire new elements of strength The whole country was in a state of depression and anxiety; business was. almost stagnant; the pulse of indus trial life heat low; capital was apprehen- sive and reluctant; labor had scant em- ployment and diminished wages. The clouds which had darkened every mate rial prospect year before still hung low over the land and he was accounted either utopia or oVer-bold who ventured to propose any great undertaking. For tunately for Atlanta, however, she had among her sons many whose faith in her and in the country had remained unshak- on. even by the severe conditions that then prevailed and in confident antici- patton of a better day soon to come they suggested and set on foot the movement which has led up to this event. The courage, the zeal, the defiance of difficult ties. the indomt ta ble energy which have ever chara acteriZed this people were ex- hihited in scarcely higher degree when they so rapidly rebuilt Atlanta from the ashes of war than they are in the history of this exposition With a unanimity such as few cities have ever displayed in any cause they have stood by the enter prise from it's very inception to this good hour. With a liberality that was royal they have contributed to it; with an en- thusiasm and a pertipacity which have advanced their already well-earned repu- tation forsprocla inning the achievements and prospects of their city they have heralded and chronicled its glories :.
 "rhis advancement of the race and the
 
 to profit inestimabiy by that expanding force in our civilization--the genius of woman. The part it plays here Is large and the use it has made of this opportu- nifty will unquestionably conduce to the fuller recognition of woman's righteous claims and a fairer estimate of the value of her work The way for women who must needs struggle with the world will be widened by the triumphs of feminine capacity and skill which are here ar rayed.
 .'In justice to ourselves, as well as to them. we have invited the cooperation of our negro fellow citizens. They have ac- cepted the responsibility of a department of their own and have filled it with proofs of the progress they have made as free men They were employed largely in the preparation here, as they are in al most all our industries. and they will share largely in the honors and practical benefits of the exposition
 While the city, which originated it, and enlisted the support necessary to its realization, will naturally be its chief heneficiary the effects of this great in dustrial demonstration will be confined to no city. to no state. nor to any one na- ton. The converging lines Of Influence and effort which are embodied in this en- terprise connecting it with every source from which they come, will convey far and wide its invigorating stimulus, its useful lessons and it's practical results. Who shall compute the still further pos abilities which may spring from the inn pressions and investigations of the muititudes who will come hither from ev- cry part of this country and from other lands? We have established here great practical school, filled in every one of it's many departments with object lessons of progress in the arts and sciences, and with illustrations of the most improved applications of power for the profit, com fort and delight of man. From the in- evitable comparison of methods and pro- ducts thus instituted, from the competi- ton of theories and systems. from this battle of ideas we may confidently expect beneficent and far-reaching results. It does not derogate from the national and international character of the exposition