The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1900-08-16

breadwinners, the farmers, demand
ing that the Capital be movedP
No, none of these have been
heard.
The clamor, the cry, the demand
comes from little handful Of Jack
aonville politicians, for purely per-
sonal reasons.
A few years ago Florida was one
of the most prosperous States in the
Union. Hundreds of thousands of
dollars poured into the pockets of
her people every year from her
phosphate. mines, cotton was worth
from 25 to 80 cents a pound, the
farmers were prosperous and happy
and the thousands of orange groves,
with their golden fruit, showered
wealth and luxury upon their fortu-
nate possessors.
In those days of happy prosperity,
Ocala, with her cigar industEies her
rich mines of phosphate, and her
matchless orange groves, sat en-
throned as a queen and became a
candidate for the State Capital. A
newspaper, The New CapitOI, edited
by Tom Harris, was established fol
the purpose of aiding Ocala TO secure
the Capital of the State.
But one night in 1861 night
never to be forgotten by Floridians
the cold blasts of the Northwest
swept down on our sunny land and
with fingers of ice held it in cold
embrace. When the ice king de.
parted he carried with him the life
of every orange tree in Florida, left
the owners penniless, and the Capita
hopes of Ocala blasted.
With an energy and courage, un,
excelled in the annals of history the
hope. smitten, impoverished orange
growers set to work to retrieve the ]
lost fortunes and former greatness.
Of their battle with poverty none
can tell, and its rigOrs and Eardships
are known only to themselves and
their God.
Before they had laid more thar
one stepping stone towards Fegainine
prosperity the commercial panic oi
1891 swept our land, ''spsring moi
the high nor the humble, Fithering
the vigor of youth and sparing nOt
gray hairs of age"
Cotton went away down below the
cost of production and the farmer.
were nearly ruined. The bottom
dropped out of phosphate, the mines
We're closed and many of the opera.
tors were almost reduced to. beggary
The turpentine and lumber. interests
shared in the general disaster and
thousands of dollars WORTH of valu,
able machinery was abandon ed to rust
and decay.
Last year a little rift appeared ir
the cloud of gloom that hd IS so lone
overshadowed our land ana little
tstreak of the sunshine of prosperity
filed our hearts with hope and glad
ness. Cotton, lumber, turp9ntine and
phosphate commanded better prices
than for years, but this year ow
hopes again are Withered. The In,
cessant rains have ruined our cotton
and our products have decli ned in the
market.
Now then: Is it right for little
coterie of Jacksonville politicians tC
take advantage of the pr bvidentia
misfortunes which have bSfallen the
cotton-growing, orange-grpwing anC
phosphate producing regio4s to press
the question of Capital rem ioval and
by reason of Jacksonville'b CONNER
cial advantages, to bear off the prize
There can be but one Truthful an
swer: 1t is not right.
1t is unfair, ungenerou IS and un
Just.
Again, during the years of our ad
versity the taxpayers of this Stats
have had to wrestle wit b a Stat'
bonded indebtedness, whibh In 1877
lanoOuntn6 IN Ono million khroo hmm