The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-12-03
THE STORY OF OUR WONDERFUL
DEVELOPMENT


States tells in so marvellous a manner
the story of progress and development
that the mind almost halts and the
imagination is staggered at the con
temptation. It reads almost like one
Of the Arabian Nights entertain
ments.
One hundred years ago the popula-
ton Of Ohio was smaller than that of
the city of Jacksonville today; the
city of Chicago was unborn and the
! immense scope of territory stretching
from that magic city to the Pacific
ocean was supposed to be a desert
waste. unfit for human habitation, and
was so declared by some of our earlier
statesmen in the halls of congress.
| Add half the number of years TO
those mentioned and we go back to
the period when Canada belonged to
France: when Washington was mod
est Virginia colonel and the United
States formed a loyal part of the Brit
ish possessions, and there was no
speck on the political horizon TO indi-
cate the struggle that in a few years
was to lay the foundation of the great
est republic in the world.
! One hundred years ago there were
no cylinder presses in the United
States, nor any other part of the in
habitable globe: there we're not as
many newspapers printed in the Unit
ed States as there are in Florida to-
day. and the few that were printed
bore no comparison to the newspapers
of our times.
1t was in 1909 that Fulton received
his first patent from the United States
for his model for steam navigation.
and more than a quarter of a century
later before its principles were ap-
piled to railway development.
Our palatial sea-going steamships, !
luxurious Pullman cars, our cylinder |
presses and daily newspapers, our
wire and wireless telegraphs, our pho |
nographs and type-setting machines, J
our postal service. postal cards. fric- !
ton matches, breeCh-lOading and ham |
merless guns, smOkeless powder, gas
and electric heating and lighting, pro-
tO-grayture engraving and printing /
kerosene and the safety lamp. burglar
proof safes and locks, stem-winding
watches. cotton factories, sewing ma
chimes, the wonderful array of farm
labor-saving machinery, bicycles. au-
tOmObiles, public libraries and public
schools. in anything like the present
meaning of these inventions, applianc-
es, devices and institutions. were ut
terly unknown one hundred years ago.
A century ago the loom and spin
ming wheel were a part of the family
equipment: clothing was carded. spun,
woven and made in the household
the printing press was a cumbrous
machine, worked by hand. and such
familiar things as nails, knives, scis-
sors, shears, raZOrs, steel pens, axes,
hoes, shOvels, locks, keys, bolts. rein
forced concrete. structural steel. and
an army of kindred things, so far as
being manufactured in this country.
were almost. if not totally. unknown
or at best, were in their very infancy. |;
There were not as many postofices
in the United States one hundred
years ago as there are now in Florida:
cheap postage was not one of the en-
jOyments, and had anyone suggested
the remOtest possibility of transmit
ting messages on wires or on the cur
rents Of the air, talking TO a man a
thousand miles away and recognizing
his voice. reproducing his speech. or
travelling at a speed of sixty or more .
miles an hour, he would have been
regarded as a fit subject for the luna
tic asylum.
Marvellous, indeed, have been the
inventions of the past century. and to
it have been allotted more serviceable
Improvements in their bearing upon :
the happiness and comfort of man
kind than to any other, and, perhaps,
all other centuries combined that have .
elapsed since the creation Of the
world.
This paper is issued from the Oldest
town in the United States. 1t was
founded before New York, Boston or
Philadelphia. 1t is located in a state
famed for its soft, Salubrious climate:
its fertile, generous soil, which makes
quick response to the slightest touch.
yet 1t has seen the star of empire" !;
sweep towards the setting sun until
all the region of country between the
two oceans have become populated.
and great cities have sprung into ex-
istence from Boston to San Francas-
co; until a new discoverer" cama