The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1907-03-22

Nothtn6 Tee Gooa
5ur Thsm.
The members Of the Florida Press
Association, at their annual convention,
occurring this year IN Key West, were
welcomed TO that city, IN behalf of the
local press. BY Hon. Jefferson B.
Browne. who delivered the following
able address. which contains much that
will be OF interest to the citizens of
Tallahassee and Florida generally:
Mr. President and Members Of the
Florida Press Association, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
On behalf Of the press Of Key West /
welcome you, my brothers of the press,
to our island home. II Is not only as
brothers of the press that we greet you,
but you as Of that broader brother
hood, children Of our parent State
Florida.
We have no great works of art or
marvels of architecture 70 show YOU
but we can show You the beautiful
waters which surround as, sparkling
like liquid turquois, and emerald and
diamond, as they scintilate under the
ripping skies OF our balmy Southern
breezes: we can show you Yerdure
perenniallv green, untouched by the
whitening lips OF Jack Frost; we can
show YOU one of our bright, sunshiny
DAYS, of which we have 365 in every
wear; we can show you an azure sky
into which, when the hunter OF the East
casts his shaft OF light and puts the
morning star TO flight, covers US like
an inverted bowl Of sapphire; we can
show YOU a people living in harmony,
except for the occasional little jars
which come to the best regulated fami-
lies, but united rs one man when the
interest Of Key West Is concerned, and
when one of her sons seeks prefermei1t,
throw past differences overheard into
the waters Of the Gulf, over which we
take passage TO the mainland; we can
show YOU q harb0r which has no supe-
rior on the Gulf or Atlantic coast, into
which ships drawing thirty feet Of
water can come, and into which no ship
that has sought refuge from hurricane
has ever been damaged.
You have cometo Us at most oppor-
tune time. We are standing today &C
the beginning Of the end of an era. We
occupy the position of being the largest
city in the United States without q rail-
road, but that distinction will soon be
gone, and with it will go much that has
made our island veritable home and
our people one family. Sharp competi-
ton will come with all its bitter cruelty
and the easy-going methods OF the past
will be but memory. In exchange Tor
which, however, we will gain IN inn
proved conditions and opportunities for
higher development financial. mental,
social and moral. A careless moral at
titude will no more be tolerated than
n 10
velopment of our new civilization will
require moral fibre, and be destructive
to moral fiabbiness.
What will cause this chanRe7 The
careless will say, 1.-The coming Of the
railroad. 4" AS well attribute the puri-
fication of the atmosphere, which the
lightning flash produces, TO the clap of
thunder that follows it, as TO refer TO
the railroad without thinking Of the
great genius and humanitarian behind
It. Time was when the goldsmith
craft was one of the most honored. He
took precious stones and 'linked them
together in bands OF gold, the price of
king's ransom, pander ng 20 the
pleasure and working for the adOrn-
ment of princes and potenates. Now,
the greatest Of craftsmen Is the worker
in iron, and his handicraft unites men
and localities that else had been strang-
ers and increases the sum of the pros
perity and happiness of the human fam
jly.
One of these craftsmen saw the beau
tiful emerald isle on which we welcome
you today, and as mis- comprehensive
gaze included the other emeralds that
Law at intervals between IL and the
mainland, he said, Il will link these
stones together in chain Of iron, with
Key West as the pendant and suspend
It from the neck of my foster mother
Florida as a heirloom and
heritage TO prosperity that they
who live in this territory and the thou
sands that will come after, shall have
enlarged possibilities for prosperity and
happiness.
Men may endow colleges or found
libraries as monuments 70 themselves,
but the builder OF a railroad, from
which he knows he can never derive
any interest on his investment, can
have but one motive, the highest i'm
planted Ia the breast Of man by Cod
the betterment VI his felIowman.
Great achievements Tor the improve
ment Of mans condition on earth have
always been impeeably linked with the
master mind that conceived them. The
telescope suggests Calico q crop OF
cotton, increased from 10. 6O0, 900 bales
20 II, OOO. 900 bales, Is a perpetual re-
nniTider Of Eli Whitney and the cotton