The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-05-02
JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION
Booming Guns and Wav-
ing Flags Spectacle
For Thousands.
MAChINERYNOTREADY
Thirty Eight American Ships In Line,
with Twelve Foreigners, Make Up
q Column Four Miles Uong-The
Mayaower Begins the Great Re-
view Early.

Norfolk, Va, April 30.--President
Roosevelt formally opened the James,
town Exposition Friday, and in do
ing so served notice to all whom 1t
may concern that neither political
consideration nor the pressure of
friends Of the railroads had swerved
lin one particle from the course OF
action he had prescribed for himself
IN the effort to curb what he be-
ieves to be the unjust and Illegal
PRACTICES of corporate wealth. Be
ag thus formally open for business,
he Exposition will now settle down
o month or six weeks of hard
work getting in shape to do that
business. BY that time it will be an
exposition in fact as well as in name,
md then visitors to 1t will be amply
repaid for their travel and efforts.
The ceremonies moved off with
,ut hitch with the exception of the
2erilous crush that threatened to
develop into a serious panic when
he President began to speak. The
weather was all that could have
,een desired, fair skies and fresh
Jreeze lending all that weather can
% the enjoyment of a crowd. And
here was a crowd. Probably 10000
persons managed to get out to the
Exposition grounds first and last,
some by trolley, some by steam cars,
most of them by boat, and a few
Eary and experienced ones by the
low but reliable horse and wagon
,oute not to overlook the lucky pos
lessors of automobiles.
The official programme begun with
IN omission which is one of the
ihings that are not scheduled to be
made up by and by There was to
nave been a salute of 800 guns at
nnrise, fired by the Norfolk Blues,
The local artillery organization of
he Virginia National Guard. That
vas one for each year since Capt.
lohn Smith came ashore and laid
The foundation for the Virginia coll
any. The guns were not fired be-
;ause, as with the Governor of Gu
Sm, there was no powder. There is
never going to be any powGer. The
Exposition Company tho .ght the
Blues should buy their own saluting
ammunition, and the Blues were
sure that If they were willing to get
up before sunrise in order to shoot
It up the Exposition certainly should
ae willing to pay for 1t. The diff
arence of opinion being irreconcili-
9ble, the powder remaining unbought
md there was no salute.
Imposing Naval Spectacle.
But there was plenty of BOOM
'ng from other guns than those
If the Blues, and 1t kept up pretty
much all day. The President had
B. some down the Potomac in the con-
,erted yacht Mayfower, and was
prepared very early in the morning
or his part in the days exercises.
t began for him at $50, when the
iaynower steamed along the line
ne Exposition side of HAMPTON
roads. Teh seadogs Of five foreign
Mations were there, separated by n
Iide stretch Of cleaning water from
double line of white-sided
,aen-of-war that were flying the Stars
Ind Stripes. All the twelve foreign
Ars and thirty-eight Americans were
'ressed In the best of their festival
)unting, and together they made an
inspiring spectacle for the thronGs
of people that crowded the water
ront along the Exposition grounds.
AS the Presidents yasht swung by
ne first of the foreigners the guns
Jegan to roar, and then for an hour
acre was no cessation of the fire.
Zach foreign ship in its turn sent
up the Stars and Stripes to the fore
aruck, and blazed away twenty-one
lines In Its honor. Then the May
iower swung up the line of Ameri-
IAN vessels, and each doomed out its
salute to the President.
Landing at the exposition grounds
=oon after II o'clock, in launches.
President Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt,
the Presidential party and the naval
"a sNh' NdllOuS SuuduIOnl
we're met by Harry st. George Tue
ger, President Of the exposition.
"Old Virginia salutes you" said
mr. Tucker. The esident re-
turned the salutation. and with Mrs
Roosevelt was driven to the grand
stand on the Parade between two
lines OF soldiers from the Twenty.
third United States Infantry, who
In open file, covered the entire course
from the shore front to the inaug
rral stand.
After the overture by the augmen
sed band, the air being "JamestowT
Dixie" prayer was offered by the
Right Rev. Alfred Magill Randolph
Bishop of Southern Virginia. Tn,
9fiicial opening choruG, gathered
from all the tidewater cities.
President Tucker made a length,
address, reviewing in detail the his
tory OF the jamestown colony.
America" he said, "can have n,
higher mission among the nations
of the world than in the simpl
81 H.. II.