The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-20
EXHIBIT TALKED OF
 BY THE BUSINESS MEN
Mobile Convention Considers the Question of a Showing at the Worlds Fair
 at St. Louis.

terested, and said as to roads 1t cost the people of the United States $60OO yearly in one way and another because of the bad roads. He favored the Brownlow bill, if amended properly. He spoke of free rural delivery as a result of good roads. His remarks on the United States Marine Hospitals work in the health and quarantine movement and of his efforts in its behalf and the resultant good therefrom. The speech was mas terly one.
 The next order of business was the Relations of Alabama to the St. Louis Worlds Fair" w. K. P Wilson of Mobile being slated for this address. His ad- dress was as follows:
 Mir. President and Gentlemen of the Con-
 vention:
 The subject or text of my address, "The Relation of Alabama to the St. Louis Worlds Fair" should suggest to every patriotic and progressive citizen of this State an inquiry of absorbing interest In little less than one year from this time there will be opened at St. Louis the gates of a universal exposition which will be not only far greater in extent than any of the great expositions that have preceded 1t In Europe or America, but which in its chief characteristics will differ from any of its predecessors. Tt
  human ingenuity and skill, but will show first, the raw materials, then, step by step, the methods of handling them and the process by which they are changed from their natural state into things of usefulness and beauty" In short there will be displayed in the enormous and magnificent exhibit buildings not only the finished products of every civilized nation of the globe, but 'the exhibit buildings will become, in some respects, | the great work shops for many indus- | tries
 The views of the late President Me | Kinley, as to the value of expostions as l factors in the development of the agri- | cultural and indus trial resources of | nation are now household words in many | parts of our country. He called them ''Timekeepers of Progress" In a brief endeavor on this occasion to impress up- on the people of Alabama the immeasure- | able value of the opportunity of the St. Louis Exposition will present to them to display and advertise the rich and va | ried resources of their State, I cannot | do better than to quote from the we'll known speech of MT. Mckinley delivered | at the Pan-American Exposition-the last public uterance of this man of revered memory. He said, in speaking of the | value of expositions: "They record the worlds advancement. They stimulate the | energy, enterprise and intellect of the | people. and quicken human genius. They | open mighty storehouses of information | to the student Every exposition, great or small. has helped to some onward step. Comparison of ideas Is always educa- tional, and as such '~structs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry fol- | lows, which is the spur to industrial i'm l proYement. the inspiration to useful in- vention, and to high endeavor in all de- partments of human activity" Who will say that these are not words of wisdom and of peculiar interest to us at this l time?
 This same President, gentlemen, as you all know officially invited all the civil 1 lized nations of the world to join the people of the United States and take part In the great exposition which will be held in 1904. It should be emphasized here, therefore, for purposes of argu- ment, that not only have all the leading nations of the earth accepted this invita- tion and are preparing to exploit their varied resources and products for the | delectation and profit of millions of vis- itors, but all the States and Territories of our own country, with only two excep- tions, have made generous financial pro- vision for exhibits there. Gentlemen, it is cause for sincere regret up to the pres | ent time, that our own State of Alabama, the State which enjoys the rate distinc- tion and honor of being the first on the | roll of great commonwealths; the State | which has been endowed by nature with the richest gifts of soil, mineral, timber and climate, Is one of these notable ex- | captions Are We really to have cause for humiliation and loss of prestige or are the efforts being put forth by the com mercial organizations of the State, rep resented by this body. to raise a fund to provide creditable display of our re- sources at the great Fair, to be crowned with success. Surely the highest and best interests of all the people of the | State of Alabama are involved in this movement. It Is one, l may say. that more than any other, concerns the great agricultural interests of the State, be- cause-and I say 1t without fear of reas- onable ccntradiction-the greatest bene- ficiaries of representative exhibit at St. Louis of the products of our soil, will be the farmers of Alabama. Hundreds of thousands of acres of splendid farming lands in our State gre lying idle which should be peoped and cultivated How have the great Western and Northwest ern States been populated and wonder fully developed? Simply by taking ad- vantage always of such opportunities as we are now considering for displaying to the world at large the products If their farms and factories and by constant and persistent advertising. We must do this, gentleman not only to convince home seekers of the fertility of our soil and the advantages of our climate, but to dis abuse their minds of their wrong concep- tions of social conditions here. We have a great State as a whole. It's diversified resources are practically unlimited; the plain, practical business question then
 is, can Alabama afford 10 ne ab- sent from the great Fair at St. Louis? Alabamas distinguished Senator, Hon. John T. Morgan answered this question briefly and to the point during his recent visit to Mobile. He was asked by him who now addresses you what he thought of the movement on the part of the commercial organizations of Alabama to have the State creditably represented at the St. Louis Exposition, in view of the fact that all, or nearly all, of the ether States of the Union would be so represented there. His answer. briefly and pointedly given. was: Under such circumstances, 1t is a necessity for Ala bama to be represented at the Exposi- ton, and in a creditable manner" That, gentlemen. is an answer to all and sun dry questions regarding this most i'm portant movement, an exhibit of the re- sources of our State at the great Exposi- tion. in comparison and In competition with the exhibits from her sister States, | Is, briefly and positively stated, a neces- sity. Now gentlemen, you all know the meaning of that significant word; it re- quires no definition ct my hands. You fEA hot l