The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-18
FLORIDA NOT FLAT ON HER BACK.
New Sources of wealth VIII he De-
VeIOped While Groves are BEING
Restored.

Jacksonville, FEB 17.-Editor Morning
News: Nobody in Florida desires to con-
ceal the fact that the late cold weather
has struck the state hard blow-one be-
low the belt for it is of a nature for which
past experience had not prepared us
one from which recovery IS difficult be-
cause it strikes us at time when the de-
preston of business throughout the coun-
try leaves our recuperation ana recovery
dependent upon our unaided exertions
Perhaps it is not stating the position
too strongly to say that the business of
Florida is as much dependent upon her
crop of fruit and early vegetables as
that of Georgia or Alabama or Missis-
sippi upon the cotton crop. To acknowl-
edge that only % per cent. of the bearing
citrus trees will survive the winter and
that one vegetable crop is wiped out of
existence is then to stand face to face
with the fun measure of the disaster.
Now remember that the groves destroyed
are the product OF twenty years labor,
skill and expenditure, and we shall see
that no such loss ever befell such a com
munity except that entailed by the de-
struction of the labor system of the south,
and we grow anxious for the future.
The recuperation of the south after the
war was the marvel of the world. What
may Florida do2 Such a recovery is or
dinarily the work of long series of years
Must Florida wait a generation or two?
If not, her recovery must not be left
to the operation of nature and industry
only. For years a faction of weight in
the government of the state have sought
to make her people look upon the great
corporations as their natural enemies.
The result viii discredtt these teachings,
we hope, forever and a day. Only time
can replace the groves. But the prosper
itv Of the state will not wait for such
slow growth,
The transportation companies, which
have been denounced as robbers, have in
vested 500 000, 600 in the state and their
profits come only in 4 very small degree
from the winters tourists. These must
see the figures grow on the wrong side Of
the ledger If they allow the prosperity Of
Florida to lie dormant. Therefore they
will directly or indirectly, find the capital
to open other fields of business. and the
development of the state will follow these
intelligent efforts of enlightened self-in-
terest.
one great line is already looking TO ship>
ments of kaolin to replace those Of fruit
Factories will be established to encourage
the production and utilization of the fibers
of the state. There is a deposit Of ce-
ment which will now be introduced into
state
have long been known, ana will now be
thrown upon the market The sugar
lands of the state will at last receive
that attention their value has long mer-
tied The cabinet woods, of endless va
riety and exceeding beauty, will bring
more wealth into the state than the ship
ments of rough pine lumber could pos
sibly do. The canning of many articles
will utilize what was thrown away when
only the earliest vegetables were sold. And
while the groves are growing again. the
Flondian will learn to grow more hog
and homlny.
Therefore the Floridian, while realizing
the disaster and approaching the difficult
ties of the present, has not lost confidence
in the future.
And the next generation viii learn 10
know its friends and to value at their
proper worth the demagogues whose only
capital is idle talk, and whose only occu-
patton is found in strife. Berg Harrison.
Bad Boy-Pa. do you know where IL