The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-03-27
NEWSPAPERS, RAILROADS AND
FREE PASSES

try. That they both belonged to go
hand Is. hand geLher, the primal OBJ
ject of each being to make known the
character of country through which
the railroads traverssd, thereby in
ducing immigration, and building up
the waste places; substituting flowers
for thistles; converting miasmatic
morasses into lettuce and celery beds,
and almost impenetrable swamps and
forests into fruitful orchards.
That was the theory of our early
promoters and pioneers, and we have
only to look at the map of Florida
the map Of any state in the Union
the map Of the United States as a
whole before and after the building
Of our railroads and the establishment
Of our newspapers, to show how mag
nificently their efforts were crowned
with success.
The marvellous growth of the whole
country tells it's own story. It's his
tory, its developments, its revelations,
put our little politicians to very
shamei
The railroads cheerfully gave the
newspapers transportation over their
lines in return for advertising space
and write-ups, the primal object of
both being the introduction of immi-
gration-the peopling of the country
with an industrious population through
which instrumentalities everybody
was to be benefited and either direct
ly or indirectly everybody was ben
Gifted.
Waste lands were to be brought I'M
der cultivation; towns and cities were
to be built up; by the introduction of
a progressive population, schools and
churches and printing presses were
to be established, markets were to be
opened, and a general benefit was to
accrue.
The newspapers felt that they were
not the recipient of graft nor special
! privileges in receiving the transporta
| ton, and in issuing it to them the
railroad companies had no intention
to bride nor corrupt them-it was a
mutual exchange of courtesies for one
common and patriotic purpose-the
building up Of communities and the
betterment of conditions.
The editor of this paper never in
his life accepted transportation over
any railroad that he did not feel that
he had given in return value received
| full and running over, not only to the
railroad company. but all along the
section of country through which the
road traversed. He did not feel that
he was getting something for moth
| ing
He remembers on one occasion go
ing to Manatee county. 1t was just
after the great freeze, when that sec
ton had escaped the almost general
catastrophe. He was greatly impress
! ed with the possibilities Of that sec
ton and gave his impressions through
the columns of the Ocala Banner.
From the letters he received from
the leading citizens of that section he
was made to feel that he had perform
ed a meritOriOus service and that the
whole territory had been benefited by
his visit He paid his hotel bills and
other frills and accessories. and all
he got in return was a little free
transportation.
He also visited the Fort Myers Sec
ton, with the same object in view
and with the same result, He visited
the Miami section while the Dade
county fair was in full blast and was
such a revelation.
He was f1attered with the voluntary
statements of many of its citizens
saying that the benefits they expected
to derive from the splendid things he
had said of the possibilities of that
section was worth more than the
price of an annual pass over its rail
road till doomsday
And so from time to time the edi-
tor Of this paper has visited various
sections of Florida, from the pineap-
pie farms of Dade county to the to-
bacco fields of Gadsden Indeed. he
has traversed the state from Pensaco-
la to Key West, giving each section
as fine a write-up as he was able, and
he feels that to some extent he has
been a benefactor to the state. Ger
tainly the good accomplished over
balances the compensation Of free
transportation.
No longer than yesterday a letter
reached this Office, in which the writ
er says: 81 notice a piece copied
from your paper into one of our North
Carolina papers written by Mr.. Henry
Watterson, which interests me very
much. I would like to know what
place in Florida it is which he speaks
| SO hiUh1v nf ON coming RI vour