The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1905-10-31
THE OPENING or
A NEW FLORIDA.
Z as's't'
Jacksonville lmes-U-ion.

e 4 Is 3 = ~ 3 g : 3; s-s f.le
If the State of Florida could an
nounce tomorrow that she had drained
the Everglades and had six millions
Of virgin lands 70 offer there Woula
be a rush to convert them into OF
chards and gardens. But this IS be-
cause mankind knows the productive
capacity of land; we have been taugAt
through all the ages thar nations must
live on the products OF The soil and
we instinctively subscribe to the doe
trine It is no denial of this expert
ence that a Vanderbilt fails as farm
er; we do not waver IN our falln be
cause crops are CIT down by lad
weather. by insects or by blight.
But we need to be taught that an
acre Of semi-tropical sea water Is
worth as much as an acre Of fertile
land There is ample Representation
OF this fact from experience, ana we
need not argue or quote theories that
owe their value mainly 70 the
weight of some great name; We know
that millions are annually taken from
the waters of the Chesapeake and that
'water-farms' are productive all over
the world when skillfully managed.
Baltimore feels the depletion OF her
waters more than her great fire as
drawback on her future and her pa
pers TEEN with celebrations for sc-en-
tifc treatment OF them. Our statute
books are burdened with laws 10 pro
tect these Water-farms, tie census re-
ports furnish national Endorsement OF
the view that should be accepted by
all.
The only argument urged is that these
products cannot be shipped except
where easy access Is afforded TO
means of transportation. The ice
may be manufactured by imprOv-
ed machinery, but the food that
is cheapest and most healthful
to civilized man must reach his
table within a short ting after it is
harvested. Here has been the Obsta-
Gle to one phase OF Florida's develop
ment; an objection that the world
should now be informed has been en-
tirely removed.
On the gulf coast most Of the shore
line is now accessible to rail trans
portation, and the rest can be easily
anu NnEGUAA INuLuGu MA4NlAAf q AAAN
need is evident. The VIE of the east
coast to Miami is now accessible, and
work is being rapidly pushed upon the
small remainder. And yet it is with
the small gap that the sensation
comes; with the line across the keys
to Key West the farthest extremiues
of our continent will be bound to-
gether, and it is not too much to say
that new Florida will be placed upon
the map 1t is not only that the
scenic effects will be new; Europe has
planned for wears to bridge the chan
mel between England and France but
the dream is sill as far from realiza-
ton as when Napoleon lay at BOulOgne
and sighed for the island he might not
touch. With Aus it is different-a
bridge Of steel rails IS leaping from
island to island and closing the gaps,
some of them more than twenty miles
wide. We doehot nee1 the Govern
ment; private capital does the work
with us.
And new Florida is opened-felds
protected from the entertainments OF
the ocean as Holland has guarded her
gains from the same enemy-fields to
which crops Of oysters and fish and
the crawfish. nWhich is the Southern
lobster, are Indigenous. It needs only
that science control our management
to increase the consumption; that we
do not destroy the wealth of the sea
to cur hurt as we have Destroyer the
forests and game of the land. Each
of these islets should become the cen
fer of furnishing industries with the
raw materials growing in the neighbor-
hood waters-sOurces of food supply
fer the indefinite multiplication of our
population in all time 20 como. This
is the economic mission of the rail
road, to develop and to multiply; to
these fields it will give value as it
has turned the wilderness of the land
into a garden.