World's Fairs and Expositions   World's Fairs & Expositions
Defining America and the World, 1876-1916
Edited by Jim Zwick
 

The World's Event for 1895: The Cotton States and International Exposition

By Clark Howell

Editor of the Atlanta Constitution

American Review of Reviews 11 (Feb. 1895).


The most conspicuous international attraction of the current year will be the Cotton States and International Exposition, to be held in Atlanta this fall, beginning the middle of September and continuing until the first of January, 1896. 

It is remarkable to contemplate that the movement which will culminate in the splendid success of this international enterprise was not suggested until but little more than a year ago -- to be accurate, the proposition was first made during the Christmas holidays which ushered out 1893, and it was not until the first week of the year just passed that the business men of Atlanta had taken the matter under formal consideration. 

The enterprise originated with Col. William A. Hemphill, business manager of the Atlanta Constitution. Always fruitful in resources, and with a well developed capacity for meeting business emergencies, Col. Hemphill, brooding over the general depression which clouded the exit of the old year, and not dreaming that the new year, 1894, had in store even more serious business and industrial travail than its unhappy predecessor, devoted his Christmas holidays of a year ago to the development of the plan, then confided only to himself, for the rehabilitation at least of Atlanta's energy, and it was to the writer that he first unfolded the scheme. To make a long story short, he proposed an exposition of the resources of the Southern states which, at the great World's Fair, just concluded in Chicago, had occupied a position of trivial consideration, not through fault of the management of the fair, but because the states of the South, encumbered by constitutional limitations, or not appreciating in advance the magnitude of the Chicago enterprise, had failed to take advantage of the splendid opportunity presented them of displaying to the world their limitless resources. It is true a few of the Southern States were represented, but even with them the phenomenal scope of the World's Fair, with its endless variety of exhibits from all parts of the earth, minimized their effort and rendered it unsatisfactory. 

Atlanta is a peculiar city, and its chief characteristic has ever been the ease and readiness with which it has surmounted apparently insurmountable obstacles in the marvelous development of the city. Her people are never more contented than when working for Atlanta, and however extreme or violent may become the heat of factional agitation there has never been a time when every element of her citizenship has not been ready to bury its difference in its willingness to meet on common ground in anything that looked to the development of the city, or the material advancement of her welfare. 

Atlanta works best when under pressure and on the upgrade, and the fact that the proposed Exposition was launched amidst business depression which amounted to almost a panic throughout the civilized world, lent additional inspiration to the business men of the city in their determination to make a success of the venture. Indeed, had there been no business stringency, and had the channels of trade and commerce been opened to their accustomed activity, the Atlanta Exposition would never have been considered -- certainly not until much more time had elapsed since the closing of the World's Fair, which had been the universal triumph of human ingenuity as developed on the line of expositions, and which necessarily would overshadow and minimize any similar effort by this, or any other country, for years to come. 

But with dauntless energy Atlanta determined to erect a break-water against the tide of business depression -- to apply a tonic, as it were, which would keep its business active and stimulate its physical system, however much may be the distress of other cities and other sections. Col. Hemphill's scheme, given to the writer, was transferred by him to the editorial columns of the Constitution, and the first week in 1891 saw the most representative gathering of Atlanta business men ever assembled in the Chamber of Commerce. The movement immediately materialized, a committee of representative business men was appointed to formulate the plan, and in the office of Mr. S. M. Inman, the head of the greatest cotton house in the world, that committee christened the undertaking the Cotton States and International Exposition, fixed the date for throwing open the gates at the 18th of September, 1895, and declared that the keynote of the undertaking would be the establishment of closer trade relations between the United States and the South, Central and Latin American Republics, thus vastly amplifying Col. Hemphill's conception. 

Temporary organization was effected, a charter obtained, and the people of Atlanta were asked to make good their manifestations of approval of the enterprise by responding to a call for a popular subscription of $200,000, which they did in less than ten days -- an achievement unparalleled in the spontaneity of response and which could probably not have been duplicated by any other city of its size in this or any other country. 

While the enterprise was in its formative state a special commissioner was sent to every leading city in the United States to confer with the chambers of commerce and other trade organizations for the purpose of securing their approval of the effort Atlanta had launched to open the channels of commerce between the United States and South America. From everywhere came words of encouragement and approval. The representative business organizations of almost every prominent city in the United States passed resolutions of hearty sympathy, and all seemed to be particularly impressed with the merit of the suggestion that the time was ripe for reaching out for Central and South American business, four-fifths of which is now controlled by Europe, while every consideration demands that the United States should at least command its just proportion of the vast commerce of the sister countries lying to the south of us. 

New Orleans, Galveston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, one after another, responded approvingly; the Governors of the states did likewise, and when, in the spring of 1894, the management of the Exposition was prepared to go before Congress with a request for federal recognition of the enterprise, it was supported by the unhesitating and unqualified sentiment of the leading trade and business organizations of all parts of the country. Accompanying the Directors of the Exposition to Washington were prominent business men from Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, while from the states of the North and far West were sent warm words of encouragement. Congress appropriated $200,000 by a strictly non-partisan vote, the Senate voting unanimously and the House almost so. This secured the government recognition so much desired, and so essential to the purpose of having other countries represented, for without the United States as a participant the Exposition could of course not expect to secure the active co-operation of other countries. 

The next step was the appointment of foreign commissioners to lay before the people of the countries with whom we were seeking more cordial trade relations, the advantages of active participation and adequate representation at the Exposition. Col. I. W. Avery was sent to Venezuela, the United States of Colombia, Brazil and the Argentine Republic. Charles H. Redding was dispatched to Mexico and the Central American Republics and Mr. W. P. Tisdell was given like authority for other South American countries, and their efforts have been rewarded by the acceptance of all of the greatest of the South American powers, the Argentine Republic having recently made a liberal appropriation for the purpose of removing its display at the World's Fair to Atlanta, and for exhibiting it in amplified form. Venezuela, Brazil and Honduras have done likewise; a splendid display of Mexican resources has been assured, and word is expected every day from Chili, Ecuador and Peru. 

In the mean time, while the Exposition Commissioners have been active in the foreign field, local commissioners have been at work at home. Louisiana was the first state to order a state exhibit, the Board of Agriculture of North Carolina has recommended the same for that state; Tennessee and Florida will do likewise, and the Department of Agriculture of Georgia, in addition to its regular annual appropriation, has been given $17,500 by the state for the collection of an exhibit of Georgia's resources. 

While all these things were going on the Exposition Company passed from formative state to preliminary organization, and from that to a permanent basis. Mr. Charles A. Collier, a leading banker and business man, was made president; W. A. Hemphill, H. H. Cabaniss and W. D. Grant, the three vice-presidents in the order named; Gen. J. R. Lewis, a Union veteran, secretary; Mr. A. L. Kontz, treasurer; Mr. A. W. Smith, auditor; Mr. Grant Wilkins Chief of Construction; Mr. W. G. Cooper, Chief of the Department of Publicity and Promotion; Capt. E. L. Tyler, Chief of the Department of Transportation; Capt. J. W. English, Chairman of the Executive Committee; Mr. S. M. Inman, Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Board of Directors being as follows: 

A. D. Adair, Forrest Adair, J. H. Allen, M. F. Amorous, H. M. Atkinson, W. Y. Atkinson, W. H. Baldwin, E. P. Black, R. B. Bullock, H. H. Cabaniss, E. P. Chamberlin, C. A. Collier, G. T. Dodd, R. P. Dodge, D. O. Dougherty, J. W. English, C. A. Evans, J. B. Goodwin, W. D. Grant, P. H. Harralson, C. E. Harman, G. W. Harrison, W. A. Hemphill, Clark Howell, E. P. Howell, H. T. Inman, S. M. Inman, A. L. Kontz. Isaac Liebman, R. J. Lowry, Jno. A. Miller, T. B. Neal, J. W. Nelms, C. S. Northen, J. G. Oglesby, H. E. W. Palmer, E. C. Peters, F. P. Rice, E. Rich, A. W. Smith, J. J. Spalding, R. D. Spalding, H. C. Stockdell, Jos. Thompson, E. L. Tyler, W. H. V enable, B. F. Walker, A. J. West, Grant Wilkins, H. L. Wilson, S. F. Woodson, James R. Wylie. 

The City of Atlanta appropriated $75,000 for the enterprise, and Fulton county, in which Atlanta is located, assured help to the extent of $75,000, the city guaranteeing in addition abundant fire and police protection and the use of the city water for hydrant and lake purposes on the grounds. The railroads centering in Atlanta offered help to the extent of $30,000, and, in addition to this, guaranteed greatly reduced freight and passenger rates during the Exposition. The grounds of the old Piedmont Exposition Company, embracing 189 acres, on the suburbs of the city, and on which more than $300,000 had been expended in previous successful local and interstate exposition enterprises, were tendered to the new Exposition free of charge, with all improvements. 

Thus it was that the Exposition management was enabled to start business with an accredited balance of nearly $1,000,000, including the government and other appropriations, and voluntary subscriptions. 

There are no big salaries, no reckless expenditures and no needless appropriations for form or show. Day after day the directors, consisting of the most prominent business men of Atlanta, meet to consult concerning the progress of the movement, and their work is a work of love and a tribute to their devotion to the city. When committees are sent to other cities or states, they pay their own expenses from their own pockets, in order to avoid encroachment upon the Exposition fund. Everybody in the city, from the richest landlord to the street urchin, is ready to do his part, and all consider it a part of the obligation of their citizenship to talk Exposition, and to talk Atlanta, "from early morn to dewy eve." The Atlanta newspapers have surrendered their columns to the Exposition, and the press of the whole country has been exceedingly liberal in its dealing with the enterprise, and much of its success is due to the earnest encouragement and loyal support of the newspapers and the magazines. 

One of the chief features of the Exposition will be the Woman's Department, and a special board of women managers under the direction of the most prominent women of Georgia have this in charge. Mrs. Joseph Thompson is President; Mrs. W. H. Felton, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Mrs. A. B. Steele, Secretary. Through their own exertions $15,000 has been raised for the erection of the Woman's building, the plans for which, in a competitive contest, were accepted from the design of Miss Elise Mercur, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and the building will be one of the most attractive on the grounds. With the women of Atlanta the Woman's Department has been the uppermost theme for the past year, and all social functions have been secondary to this all-absorbing topic. The women have worked like beavers, and so earnest and far reaching is the Atlanta spirit that even the little school children have contributed their mite toward the Exposition fund. 

Another striking feature of the Exposition will be the Negro building, with a floor space of more than twenty-five thousand square feet, in which will be displayed the evidences of educational, business and industrial development of the Negro race at the completion of its thirtieth year of emancipation. The Negroes have taken unusual interest in it and they have been given every possible assistance by the management of the Exposition. This suggests the fact that the World's Fair at Chicago, as complete as it was, had no systematic or organized display illustrating the progress of the Negro race, and the action of the Atlanta management in making this feature one of the prominent points of interest of the Exposition is a striking evidence of the good will and cordial feeling existing between Southern white people and the Negroes -- between former masters and former slaves. The Negroes wanted an independent exhibit at Chicago, and many of the most prominent of the race urged upon the World's Fair Board the importance of a building devoted especially to this purpose. Through misconceived fear, however, that such recognition might be construed as an offense to the white people of the South, they were denied this privilege at Chicago, whereupon the South promptly follows, making evidence of the sentiment of its people, and promises to make this display of the progress of the Negro race one of the leading attractions of the Atlanta Exposition. In every state of the South the Negroes are organizing for the collection of their exhibit, and they already have met with such success as to give assurance that their unique exhibit, valuable, as it will be, as a historic contribution of social development, will be one of the most attractive centers of the Exposition. 

The grounds of the Exposition are beautifully situated and within easy access of the centre of the city. They are reached by five electric street lines, and the Southern Railroad is now engaged in the extension of its terminals so as to offer easy facility for the daily transportation of immense crowds. 

The architect of the Exposition is Mr. Bradford L. Gilbert, well known as one of the most prominent architects of the country and the designer of the Auditorium Hotel at Chicago. With the exception of the Woman's building and the Fine Arts building, designed by Mr. W. T. Downing, one of Atlanta's leading architects, Mr. Gilbert's plans have been adopted for the other buildings. There will be twelve buildings in all, as follows: Government, Manufactures and Liberal Arts, Transportation, Electricity, Mining and Forestry, Agricultural, Fine Arts, Administration, Woman's, Negro, Tobacco, and Horticultural. Each of these buildings is of liberal dimensions and of tasty architecture. They are now under construction and under bonded contract to be completed by the first of June, giving three months for the placing of the exhibits and allowing ample time to guarantee that the Exposition gates will open on the day fixed. 

In addition to the main buildings above designated there will be numerous pavilions, a theatre and music hall, individual state and foreign buildings, and an aggregation of attractions similar to that of the Midway Plaisance at Chicago, but to be called "The Terraces" in Atlanta. All of the striking exhibits of the Chicago Midway, including Hagenbeck, the Streets of Cairo, the German and Austrian villages, have been secured, and, in addition to these, contracts have been made for an ideal Japanese, Mexican and Cuban village. This feature will be none the less interesting in its sociological aspect than the remarkable attraction which gave the Chicago Midway an individuality the world over. 

All the buildings are ranged around a beautiful artificial lake of 30 acres, supplied by the pipes of the city, from the Chattahoochee river, seven miles distant. Nature has done for the grounds what unlimited money could not have done, and when the finishing touches have been put on and the gates opened to the public, they will present a scene of natural and artistic beauty second to no public park on the American continent. 

The wonderful growth of the enterprise within these twelve months has shown that it came at an opportune time. Any movement or effort that comes out of time will fall flat, but the same movement, coming when the public mind is focused upon the subject, will catch and spread. This has been the case with the Cotton States and International Exposition. It has already reached ten times the proportions upon which it was originally projected, and almost every week adds some important feature. 

The movement for an increase of foreign trade, which springs from necessity, has been stimulated by recent information, showing the extent to which American products have been manufactured abroad and resold in other foreign countries. For instance, England sold to Japan in a year $17,000,000 worth of goods, and of this amount $14,000,000 consisted of cotton goods. Almost every pound of this material came from the Southern States, but comparatively a small proportion of the $14,000,000 was paid to the Southern States for the cotton, four-ounce goods having been sold to Japan for as much per yard as England paid us per pound for cotton. This shows what the South could do to add to the profits of the cotton crop if the whole of it was manufactured in the neighborhood of the cotton fields. In view of these facts, an important movement by New England cotton spinners has developed within the past few months for the erection of extensive cotton mills in Georgia and other Southern States. Every week brings the news of some new enterprise of this kind, and if the present rate of investment is continued the bulk of cotton spinning and weaving will soon be done in the Southern States. This prospect has suggested the opportunity for a new conquest in the markets of South America, where Great Britain has, up to this date, held sway in the sale of cotton goods -- the line which we should have monopolized. 

The United States is the largest customer for the, products of Latin America, but Latin America buys much less from this country than of Great Britain or France. The handbook of American republics, issued by the bureau operated in connection with the State Department at Washington, gives a compilation of the exports of the Latin American countries by destinations, and of the imports by sources, as follows:

Exports from Latin American Countries by Destinations

United States   $207,384,389
United Kingdom   89,484,508
France   127,015,687
Germany   86,513,714
Spain   15,425,278
Italy   6,093,294
Belgium   44,604,167
Total   $576,6121,037

Imports into Latin American Countries by Sources

United States   $90,804,640
United Kingdom   177,241,778
France   109,952,100
Germany   52,237,906
Spain   28,774,350
Italy   13,649,925
Belgium   33,209,666
Total   $505,868,165
Thus it will be seen that while this country buys more than a third of the surplus products of Latin America, it sells those countries little more than a sixth of what they buy. We are their best customer, but we come in third for their patronage. England sells them nearly twice as much and France a fifth more, though we buy about as much of Latin America as England and France together. This is an unnatural condition. It is to the interest of these countries to trade with those who trade with them. "One good turn deserves another," is a principle good in international trade as it is in the every day life of individuals, and when unnatural or artificial conditions prevent or delay such reciprocity of trade, it tends to assert itself in spite of those obstacles. A tendency in this direction is clearly traceable in the growth of imports into Latin America.
The exports of breadstuffs from the United States to Latin America grew from $10,501,066 in 1870 to $17,407,693 in 1891. The total exports from the United States to Latin America in 1885 were only $61,787,949. In 1891 they were $87,879,124, and in 1892, $90,804,640. These figures cover the trade of 27 countries. Each of these, excepting four, shows an increase of imports from the United States. These are the Argentine Republic and Uruguay, which bought fewer goods because of the financial depression; Columbia, whose purchasing power was decreased by the stoppage of work on the Panama Canal, and Ecuador, which suffered from a failure of the cacao crop. 
These figures are especially encouraging when the extent of the field and the magnitude of the opportunity are considered. With an area of more than eight million square miles and a population of sixty millions, Latin America, with trade relations inviting her people here, should furnish the most liberal patron of American manufacturers. In spite of the great opportunity shown by the above statistics, there has been comparatively slow progress in the increase of trade between South American countries and the United States. What progress has been made was in spite of obstacles almost insuperable. These obstacles may be considered somewhat in detail, in order to give the reader a clear conception of the trade relations between North and South America, and the prospect for increasing those relations in the future. 

The first obstacle is one of transportation. Nearly all the steamship lines which enter the ports of South America are owned and operated in Europe. It is often necessary for an American, setting out from New York, to go by way of England in order to reach Brazil. Comparatively few lines ply between the ports of the United States and South America. This obstacle retards both passenger and freight business, and as there are ample facilities for travel and traffic between the principal South American ports and the leading cities of the old world, the natural result is that England, France, Germany, Belgium and Spain have almost monopolized the trade with South America. In the West Indies, where we have better connections, this country has its share of trade. 

Another obstacle exists in the difference of language. South America is filled with Spanish speaking people, and their natural relations, following the genius of their civilization, would lead them to deal in commerce with the mother country. Many of the higher classes are educated in the Latin countries of Europe, particularly in France and Spain. Comparatively few of them ever come to the United States for that purpose. The culture of South American cities is more directly in touch with the culture of Europe than with that of the United States, and to a large extent, takes its inspiration from those sources. This is not an insuperable obstacle, as shown by the fact that England does a larger export business with South America than any other country in the world. 

Over against these obstacles there are advantages which go to encourage the ambitious and. enterprising Americans. Some are semi-political in their nature. Politically speaking, South American countries have left their old moorings and cut themselves adrift from the monarchies of the old world whence they sprung. Brazil was the last of the monarchies, and after a few years the experiment of republican government seems to be pretty well advanced toward stability in that country. The Brazilian republic has already stood the test of civil war, and her sympathies are naturally drawn toward the Southern states, which for thirty years have been working out slowly and painfully the industrial and social problem precipitated upon our southern neighbor by the emancipation of four million of slaves. This sympathy is to some extent shared by all the countries of South and Central America, and also by Mexico. In all of them mixed populations are to be governed and the statesmen of the Southern republics must naturally look to the cotton states of America for precedents and suggestions for the solution of this difficult problem, rather than to the old world, which is tenanted largely by homogeneous populations. 

Another bond of sympathy of a political nature is founded upon the Monroe Doctrine, "America for Americans." The extent to which this feeling is shared by South American countries was shown at Rio Janeiro by the erection of a statue to James Monroe. It was a significant coincidence that the corner stone of this statue was laid while the Commissioner -- for the Cotton States and International Exposition was in Rio Janeiro for the purpose of presenting the claims of the Exposition to the Brazilian government. Very appropriately the Commissioner was invited to take part in the ceremonies of the occasion, and his remarks pointed out the bond of union suggested so eloquently by such a statue. 

Closely connected with this idea is the project for building the Nicaragua canal by the United States and the government of Nicaragua. It is believed that the completion of that canal will work a revolution in commerce not second to the one wrought by the completion of the Suez canal. All persons who have had to do with international commerce appreciate the importance of the last named achievement, which changed the route of oriental commerce, sending through the Mediterranean the vast stream of traffic which had hitherto crossed the equator, plodding tediously around the Cape of Good Hope. The shortening of the distance and the decrease of the expense for oriental travel and traffic, coming at a time when steam navigation effected still further economies, has trebled commerce between Europe and Asia. The new waterway, opening up the same field in Asia, and also those of South America and Australia to American manufacturers, by cutting off the tedious and perilous journey around Cape Horn, will add practically two new continents to our market. The Nicaragua canal will shorten the distance between New Orleans and San Francisco by water nine thousand miles, and will have an immense effect upon the cost of travel and traffic between the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific states of America. When it is remembered that ocean freights cost the carrier about one-tenth of a cent per ton mile, while the same freights cost the railroads about six-tenths of a cent, it will be seen that the effect upon transportation systems in the United States alone will amount to a revolution. It has been demonstrated that a sailing vessel can carry a load from Oregon to Maine around Cape Horn without losing money. This being true, an ocean steamer, passing through the canal, would be formidable competition for transcontinental railroads. But this is a small part of the effect. Chicago is the grain market of the country, and within a short time completion of the Hennepin Canal will place that city practically on the banks of the Mississippi River. Thus a waterway will be established from the granary of the continent by way of New Orleans to Europe, Asia and Australia. The Mississippi and its tributaries furnish forty-five thousand miles of navigation, equal to one fourth of the railway mileage of the United States, and touching the seat of the iron and steel industries and many others of vast importance, as well as practically the whole of the region which furnishes our exports of cotton and grain. When the Nicaragua Canal is opened, this vast region will be placed in touch with the whole world by water, with the result that transportation will be so far cheapened as to make the manufacturers of the United States formidable competitors with those of every foreign country. It is not surprising, then, that with this prospect the people of this country should be organizing for new conquest in the world's market; neither is it surprising that this Exposition, intended primarily to promote such extension of trade, has had rapid and surprising growth. 

Admitting that such a movement is the logical outcome of existing conditions, why should it originate in the Southern states, which are supposed to be behind the rest of the country in commercial and industrial enterprise? This question might well open a volume of history, for it reaches back to the train of circumstances which began years before the Civil War and cast the line of Southern industry upon agriculture rather than upon manufactures. Those circumstances ceased to exist with the emancipation of the slaves. That event precipitated an industrial revolution which has been in progress thirty years. It has so far progressed that the South may now enter the field of competition with confidence that it is well equipped to contend with the most favored people in the world. The very fact that the Southern states have been behind in the race of progress puts energy into their nerves. The people of these states are by nature leaders. They have ever been conspicuous in politics and statesmanship, as they are now forging to the front in literature and the arts. They realized the opportunity of the present. The fact that the South was not adequately represented at Chicago because of peculiar difficulties in the organic law of the Southern states led to the movement which has crystallized in this Exposition and which promises to mark an epoch in the history of America. 

Atlanta, the most enterprising city in the South, was the first to see the opportunity above outlined, and while the idea had not yet dawned upon others, her wide awake people were up and doing. While some of the more conservative cities of the South were still unable to take Atlanta seriously, she had gone before Congress with an application for an appropriation which would put the Exposition upon an international plane. This is the reason why Atlanta and the Southern states are responsible for an Exposition which promises to mark the beginning of a new era, not only in the business of this section and this country, but in the commercial history of the entire world. Further than that, its consequences cannot be without far reaching political effect, for its tendency must be to unite all the republics of North and South America in the bond of close and profitable commercial relations, and with the closer intercourse between their people, will make the American doctrine the prominent idea in the politics of all American nations.