Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-16
NOTABLE ADDRESSES
OPEN CONFERENCE
GOVERNOR SMITH, PRESIDENT
OGDEN AND DIR. MITCHELL
WERE HEARD AT OPENING
SESSION OF CONFERENCE.

GIorying In a blaze of light, the big
auditorium of Atlanta's new auditorium
armory was for the first time in history
thrown open to the public Wednesday
evening. 1t was the occasion of the first
session of the twelfth annual conference
for education in the south.
A big audience streamed continuously
through the doors into the auditorium for
an hour. A river might have been flow
ing in upon sands. The hundreds who
entered were swallowed in the vastness
of the place, and il was not till the very
last of them had arrived that the eye
could appreciate their numbers. There
were actually between twelve and fifteen
hundred people in the audience-a re-
markable attendance in view of the slight
chilliness of the evening and the more
or less perfunctory interest in which
opening programs are always held by
the general public. They were contained
in a space which can seat more than u
500.
Hardly secondary to the interest in the
program felt by those who attended, was
that displayed in the auditorium itself.
Explanations of admiration and wonder
were heard on all sides. Strangers within
the city, who have looked upon some OF
the most magnificent edifices In the
world, were generous in their praise.
Travelled Atlantians, too, reveled in the
tremendous beauty OF what will now
henceforth be their city's pride.
Acoustics Wonderful
Every prediction that had been made
for the auditorium was fulfilled. Its ac-
ustic properties, even with one-fifth
capacity audience, proved wonerfuL
Blank walls towering behind the speak
ers' stage battered the human voice back
over the heads OF the audience TO lofty
blank walls at the far end. Possibly
there was some reverberation. Wednesday
evening. but that will be eliminated when
the audiences are bigger; and even as
IL was. il was not Objectionable. The
beauty of the furnishings, too-simple,
neat. tasty-has not been exaggerated.
Several sections of chairs in the balcony
are still under the hands of the workmen
who are arranging the seats, but the
last of this detail will have been complet-
cd before the time for the great music
festival that will be the formal opening
of the auditorium. The lights. high
overhead. evenly distributed, bathed the
hig interior in a brilliance that hardly
knew a shadow.
X Orr. as chairman of the execu-
tive committee, called the conference 10
order. and introduced Governor smith,
The governors appearance on the plat
form. a few moments before, had been
the signal for applause that was dell
cate courtesy and to which the states
chief executive, typifying in his othclsl
person the hospitality of Georgia, bowed
acknowledgements. His introduction by
Chairman Orr was the occasion for an
other wave of applause.
Governor Smith did not confine his re-
marks to a welcome of the conference,
though he made that cordial enough. He
entered upon a brief discussion of the
problems of education here in the south.
He depressed to a consideration of the
bearing which they have upon the race
problem, and said that as the negro in
tlisputably Is better conditioned where he
is most under the control and guidance
of the white man. the negro's best friend
must concede that the colored race
should be evenly distributed through all
sections-north and east and west as well
as south This was heartily applauded.
He discussed the growing menace OF
child labor; the increasing betterment OF
rural schools and the consequent i'm
provement OF farm conditions.
President Ogden's Address
r. c. ogden, president of the confer
ence. followed Governor Smith with his
annual address-the tenth since he first
became head of the conference. The
president prefaced his formal address
which he read with a few extemporane-
Gus words. thanking the governor for
his welcome. The address of the presi-
dent is reproduced in another column Of
this paper.
One of President Ogden's most striking
statements was that conditions are sure
ly rendering toward the ultimate estab-
lishment of a separate department of ed
ucation in the national government, after
which. he said, bureau for the physical
examination and care of school children
will naturally follow. He told of the
needs which are felt I'm that important
branch of modern-day school work, and
the almost destitute condition in which
thei national congress, with niggardly APP
preparations, continues to leave it each
year.
His prediction. too, was striking that
under such national systemization the
whole educational community of the
country would be merged into an effec-
tive organization in which so-called col
leges that are really preparatory schools
would fall into proper place and the true
dignity and worth OF each institution in
the country would be laid bare before the
eyes of the student population. This pre-
diction of President Ogden's calls for the
application OF pure food law to educa-
ton, that everything may be branded
truthfully.
DIR. Mitchell Speaks
DR.. S. c, Mitchell. president of the Uni
versity Of South Carolina, at Columbia,