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of the handful of people who
wasted their time and money
journeying to Richmond to see —
an "exposition" that was not
there. The outcome was no sur-
prise to those who had given the
matter a careful study from the
time Congress voted the propria-
tion of $55,000 in aid of what was
put forward as a concrete display
of the progress the Negro has
made in the fifty years since his
emancipation. As has been point-
ed out in these columns no one
ever heard until the last moment
that any such thing as a field agent
was out gathering up exhibits of
a character worth looking at. The
press exploitation was negligible
quantity at the time the public
was making up its mind as to
whether they should take stock in
the affair. The advertising was
not placed systematically nor
where it would do the most good,
even when the placards and scat-
tering display of "ads" made
their appearance at the eleventh
hour. In the great centers of
Negro life there was not a scin-
tilla of interest in the proposed
show. Even in Richmond, where
the enthusiasm of the masses should
have been aroused to fever heat,
no one seemed to know anything
about the "exposition." Every-
thing was done behind closed doors
and the bulk of the endorsements,
such as they were, came from
white people, who tried to be
sympathetic, without knowing a
line of the inside facts.

While giving the gentlemen am-
ple appreciation for good inten-
tions, it is but telling the truth
to say that the proclamations of
the President of the United States
and Governor of Virginia were
received with a quiet, sad smile.
Not that it is over, there is
a feeling of relief on the part of
the people of the country
was such that the President and
the Negro race were spared the
humiliation and chagrin that
would have come out of his attend-
ing such an inadequate display of
our progress in the fifty years of free-
dom. The surface of the Negro's
achievements in the arts, sciences,
the industries, invention, agricul-
ture, manufactures, literature, and
one thousand and one of the ac-
tivities of civilization, was scare-
ly scratched.

The rest of the inglorious story
will be told by a million tongues
when the news of the fiasco reaches
the ears of the masses. the com-
plaints of the concessionaires who
got bitten by the "frost" will
probably want to know where its
appropriation went. The people
will ask an accounting for the
proceedings carried on in their
name, but in which they had no
hand. Before the episode is clos-
ed it looks as if somebody is going
to "get jammed."

The few colored papers which
had the courage and foresight to
sound a warning note may felici-
tate themselves that they did their
"plain duty." The failure, all
things considered is the failure of
one man. It is unjust to charge
it up against the Negro race.

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