Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1907-05-11
TWO MEMS OPINION.

!
on Florida Of Geo. P. Rowell, editor
OF Printers Ink, New York, which APP
l peared In his journal of recent date
and for which he has been given a
severe ripping up by the press of the
State, we take pleasure in reproduc
ing the opinion of Hon. Champ Clark
of Missouri, which has just appeared
Col. Clark, who is one of Americas
most intellectual sons, speaks not
from what he has dreamed, as evident
ly did the editor of Printers Ink, but
from actual personal observation on
his recent trip through the State.
Under the caption Of Delightful
Florida" Col. Clark, who is a Con.
grossman from Missouri, says;
"From Dover N. J.. to st. Peters.
burg. in southern Florida, is long
distance jump even in the lecture bust
ness, but made it lately and shall
never regret it-snow, ice and heavy
overcoats in Dover; peach blossoms,
orange blossoms. roses, fresh vege-
tables, linen suits, straw hats and fans
in Southern Florida Florida is not
only land of flowers, but it is a
land OF wonders and of a wonderful
possibilities. Ponce de Leon never
realized his gorgeous and fascinating
dream of discovering the tabled foun-
tain of perpetual youth, but Americans
are finding there health, happiness,
comfort and wealth. Florida now has
population Of something over 70O,.
600 souls. The great puzzle to one
who has seen it and heard the un-
improbable story of it's marvellous
fertility is why it hasn't a population
of 100000.
when l lectured at ST. Petersburg
we were the guests of Hon. Joseph
G. Sibley, ex-Congressman from Penn
sylvania, and his most estimable wife,
and when lectured at Gainesville we
were the guests of Representative
Frank Clark and his estimable wife.
The recollection of the generous hos
pitality of these two families will rest
upon us like benediction all our
lives
"Sibley has purchased large tracts
of land near st. Petersburg and is an
enthusiast as to Florida's future. He
has orange and grape fruit groves,
some just planted He is establish
ing a sort of agricultural experiment
station on his own hook to test the
productiveness of the soil, especially
in forage plants. 1t is his theory that
eten those parts of Florida which are
called pine barrens can be made to
produce immense crops. He says that
about st. Petersburg as much as a
thousand dollars per acre has. been
realized on strawberries.
cat Gainesville an intellectual
schoolma'a am told me that one man
had made $10,5OO net from three
acres of lettuce and that 1t was ru.
mored that another man had done bet
ter even than that.
1T is not generally known that Flor
ida is the largest State east Of the
Mississippi, but so it is. OF course
everybody knows of her health-giv-
ing climate, her phosphate beds and
her immense forests Of pine and cy.
press. Her orange groves and grape
fruit groves and big hotels have been
extensively exploited, but the fact that
il is the best poor mans country in
America has not been exploited much,
and that is the most important feature
of Florida. II the fact were general.
ly known that family Of FIVE or more
persons can live comfortably on
two-acre truck patch and even lay
by something for a rainy day, Flori-
days population would soon double.
Just now thousands OF our people
from the Northern and Central States
are moving to Manitoba to better
their condition, but II costs only about
half as much to live well in Florida
as in Manitoba. Houses, clothes. food