Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-21

however, there shoot up vivid green
shafts-a promise for the future, for the
roots of the orange trees were not killed,
and they are fighting for lGsty life again
with every indication Of success. We pass
Altamonte Springs, Winter Park. and roll
into Orlando, the progressive. hustling,
wide-awake capital OF Orange county.
There are broad streets here with packed
clay roadways, hard and enduring as as
phalt, and down every one, almost, the eye
sees the crystal water of lake. Orlando
Is well worth a description, which needs
further investigation to make adequate,
for certainly the largest ''pinery' in the
world-that is, the greatest plumber of acres
in one body devoted to the cultivation OF
pineapples-is worth knowing about.
Chief Justice Bingham Better.
At the San Juan Hotel met Chief Jus
tice Bingham, who came to Florida TO re-
gain his health; his brother, Judge hurry
Bingham of New Hampshire. and his
brother-in-law, ]. H. Ballou of Boston.
Justice Bingham said he was feeling bet
ter and that his stay here would depend
upon his recuperation. which was constantly
increasing Miss May Clemmons, the
Washington girl who has won deserved
tribute as an elocutionist. was also here
and gave some excellent Rotations in the
hotel parlor last night. Gov. and Mrs.
Shepherd are at st. Augustine, and num-
Der of other well-known Washingtonians.
including Leroy Taylor. Harry Moses.
Frank Wilson Brown. Mr.. and Mrs. Otis
Bigelow and Miss Greer, are scattered over
the state. But these are generalities Of
the trip down. One purpose of my visit
was to discover what the few hundred
thousand inhabitants were doing to keep
the wolf from the door.
Last Years Fearful Freezes.
A year ago in the last week Of December
I reached Florida on the breast of a north
erly breeze that sent the thermometer
down to a few degrees above zero and
spread havoc and devastation over the
state, from the Georgia line to the keys,
and from the gulf to the Atlantic. In a
night the land was changed from a redo
lent, bright-hued garden to a blackened
and blasted desert; its people panic
stricken: its golden globes mock oranges,
and its destiny query that no one had the
hardihood to even attempt to answer.
Jamestown after the flood was scarcely
more pitiable than Florida after the freeze.
The great staple crop of oranges, whence
millions Of dollars were expected, dollars
that meant the payment of countless debts
long deferred that hung threateningly over
nardwon homes, was annihilated; fruits
and vegetables were ruined, and the whole
population held its breath and paused help
less. In this very town 1 saw two score of
men who had been changed from afIluence
10 poverty in a night, and all over the state
I found the same conditions. A month later
another and harder freeze came, as If ma
ture determined to complete the wreck she
had so terribly commenced. Conservative
students of the conditions here estimated
last May that the winter had caused $50
OO0.OOO loss i'm the state.
Those figures would be appalling in an
old and settled community, where wealth
was founded on actual possessions. In a
new and almost undeveloped country there
is no adjective to describe the effect.
Leaving Florida. and for long time
thereafter, I wondered how its people
would meet the awful problems before
them, dependent, as they had made them
selves, upon their orange groves and the in
dustries dependent upon them What would
the ruined men do who had been struggling
to meet their mortgages and who were
now plunged deeper into liabilities than
ever? What would labor do, now that pick
ing had stopped and employers could not
What would the government do for the
funds to carry on its machinery that must
be gathered from taxes, and what the bust
neSS men who were dependent upon the
sale of supplies to meet the demands of
manufacturers who furnished their goods?
Those were grave and perplexing problems
iIdeed.
Out Chfcagoed Chicago.
The people in Chicago faced such when
they looked out one morning over a. city in
ashes. AS the Chicagoans set themselves
to do the work of resurrection and rejuve-
nation, so did the people of Florida take
up the labor before them. There was mo-
mentary stagnation, but 1t vas only mo-
mentary. AS IL novel by common impulse
they determined to stanI together and
solve the question Of community salvation.
There was little or no money I'm the state
but there was the more solid wealth of de-
termination, energy AMI willingness to
work.
The payment of last years taxes was
deferred for several months; the taxes of
this year were reduced by the state an
thoritfes under power vested in them by
the constitution. Northern capitalists who
had invested Millions in the shape of mort
cages hurried their agents down to the
state to look the conditions over. Every
Where these investigators went they found
the people steadfast in their faith in Flor
ida and earnest in their efforts to rehabil.-'
tate the state. Those agents reported that
1t would be wise to extend the time of the
debts, because they would all be paid in
the end, and the men who held them will
mgly acquiesced. Orange growers found
that the roots of their blasted trees re-
tanned life, and determined to bud them
with living stocks, and everywhere in Or
ange county and all through the vast
orange growing belt the groves are sending
up green shoots, while around their sides
are piled the dead remains of the original
trees that were once so green and glorious.
New Interests and Industries.
While their new trees are growing they
ale devoting themselves to other crops
Potatoes are being raised in vast quanti-
ties; hay is being grown on thousands of
acres; stock is grazing and fattening for
the market beneath countless pines and
everywhere the people are diversifying