The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-01-12
OUR BOOM DEAD.

that many young trees much fur
Their south than Palatka will be kill
ed to the ground. Wherever the
bearing trees have been rapidly
growing much damage is done even
to them. One thermometer in Pa
latka registered IA dogs. above zero
Just before day on Sunday morning
last. and it is certain that a fair
count will mark 1t least Is dogs.
For many years it has been urged
that 90 dogs. would ruin us, and
that opinion has gone abroad made
authoritative by the silence of our
people. Our growth has been so
wonderful, our prosperity so Phe-
nomenal and our increase in popu
lation and wealth 80 startling, that
many have become convinced tina,
the whole is simply boom SO skill
fully created that good appearance,
is kept up, bat one which experience
would prove simply an air-bag
whose collapse would bring to the
earth a thousand soaring hopes and
bright expectations.
The orange belt may be consid-
cred as embraced in a parallelo-
gram whose boundary lines are best
marked by Jacksonville on the
north, the Atlantic on the east, San
ford on the south and Ocala on the
west. All south is the land of pine
apples-west of this oranges can be
grown but the country is still un
developed. Within this territory
then we may calculate that two mil
lions of dollars, practically cash, has
been destroyed during the past week
by the cold. This is . loss, sudden,
severe, and one for which no calcu
lation had been made. What will
be the effect on our people? Will it
paralyze the orange interest! Will
it dishearten us? Will our groves
and consequently our lands hence
forth be heavy on the markell Not
Jacksonville has suffered heavy
lusscs 10y fire in the near past-Ocala
and Palatka have been swept away
and Sanford has been called upon to
endure her full share of this infection.
These four towns are to-day more
substantially built, their people filled
with brighter hopes and more con-
fident faith in the future than ever
animated us before. Is the farmer
possessed of fainter heart than his
brother Of the town? 1t has never
been proved on him, and all expert.
ence comes to us freighted with
facts to prove that in misfortune he
is bravest; that under the influence
Of prosperity alone is he grumbler.
None of our leaders in mercantile
o. financial circles deserted us when
our towns were heaps of ashes; stou,
hearts and strong hands will as
quickly replace the damage done
our agricultural interests by a few
cold days. The night of misfor-
tune must be darker and colder yet
before we get left.
When the old Roman offended
the Emperor he was not imprisoned
while awaiting sentence. Escape
was impossible and death prefera-
bic to Punishment because the SEN
tence of his Judge could be executed
anywhere within the limits of the
civilized world. In the spirit of the
} Roman we may ask, where shall the
American go who would Zee from
the cold of Florida? AT Atlanta,
Ga, and at Nashville, Tenn, the
mercury goes bolvw zero several de-
glees and freezes as we go farther
north. Shall We seek refuge among
the mougrel populations of the far
south Jack Frost is a sharp enc
my. but if We escape him utterly We
find anarchy. in Central America,
malaria and the curse from which
the south has been delivered in Bra.
xii.
Our boom is dead we now know