The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-13

ieov. 1stt@ttou- Hb cl8ar mehers hFc
 nearly all cnbans. They get good
 wages. they have many privileges which are not accorded any other class of factory laborers, and they have
 many excellent cooperative benefits
 which were imported from Cuba. They got along with their employers very well until group of American agi- tators made their appearance. Demand after demand made upon the employers was granted, but each time a conces- sion was made the agitators would
 ask for more. Without judging the
 merits of the case, and without con-
 doning the tIlegality of the measures taken, one must admit that the man ufacturers settled the trouble effective ly.
 The agitators and labor leaders were
 kidnapped, bound, gagged and taken aboard a convenient schooner. which was lying at anchor in the Bay. This schooner, a low rakish craft, made on at once to the South. In due course or time the labor agitstors were maroon ed in the most approved fashion, of the spanish Main upon small island on the South American coast. That ended the labor troubles.
 Tampa is one of the chief sufferers
 sentimentally. from the Spanish Amer ican War Ten years ago the com mercia1 Tampa was in its infancy CIVIC improvements UaO thOt pCCh oaA . dertaken. The streets were mere trails covered with loose sand foot deep. There were no conveniences for the multitude. The war correspond- ents came here to report the embark ation of the expeditions to Cuba. Tney told the truth about Tampa and 1t hurt If they were to return today they would look in vain for the deep sand On the miles and miles of we'll
 paved streets; they would find an ab- solute change, Where they knew struggling village, they would find
 modern city. ,#
 What the East Coast of Florida owes to Henry M. Flagler, the West Coast once owed to Henry B. Plant, whose name will be forever connected with
 this section. Plant attempted to build
 e great commercial city at Port Tampa, eight miles further down the bay, but that venture ended in disaster. Tampa is the real city, the real port, and Will soon have as deep water as its whilom rival. At this time. Port Tampa Is nothing more than transportation
 outpost for the older city.
 Sportmen who have cast lines into all waters say that the fishing on the West Coast of Florida is the best in the
 world. The West Coast climate Is equabie and dependable. St. Peters burg, Naples n-the-Gluf and a dozen other small resorts are the winter hunt ing grounds of thousands of northern
 disciples of Isaak Walton. of thousands of refugees from Jack Frost.
 Tampa does not pay so much atten- tion to the tourist traffic as 1t once did.
 perhaps, but 1t has tourist hotel
 which is interesting for more reasons
 than one. The Tampa Bay Hotel was
 built when the southern tourist busi-
 ness was in it's infancy. Henry B.
 Plant head of the Southern Express
 Company and builder of the railroad 10
 the west coast of Florida. laFished
 money and skill upon 1t. It Is mag
 nificent structure. built of brick on a
 steel framework. The. architect toQk
 his theme from the Moors who built the
 Alsambra, and the landscape gardner
 robbed the tropics for its setting. MT.
 and Mrs Plant toured the world to buy
 it's furnishings.
 The hotel cost s3,0O0,0Oo to build, fur nish and equip. When Mir. Plant died 1t remained closed for few seasons.
 Then 1t was sold to the city of Tampa for the beggarly sum of $135,000. Its grounds were thrown open as public park. its casino became a public, meet ing hall and the hotel was leased by the city to a hotel company. In the city ark there is a great memorial fountain which represents the acknowledgement of Tampa's debt to MT. Plant. Ihis hotel is perhaps the only one of the kind in the country which is owned by a municipality.
 Tampa is well-built city, and re- fleets its prosperity in its looks. Its corporate limits include the famoYs | Ybor City, which was the cigar-made | and cigar -making town of the country. west Tampa is another cogar manufac- turing suburb which soon will be an- nexed to the city. The Tampa of 1898,
 which got into the papers because of the War with Spain, made only S5,OO0s
 900 cigars. The output last year was
 worth $S30, 900. .0O0 The difference is in
 the same proportion in every aspect of
 the city.
 But the glory of Tampa is Tampa | Bay. There Is no more beautiful sheet
 of water in the hemisphere. Shut in and protected on all sides, entered from | the Gulf of Mexico through narrow channels between islands. 1t has all the
 placidity of inland sea, all the coloring of the ocean, all the charm of tropiC
 river. It Is a meeting place for the
 delight of land and sea and sky. De
 Soto called it the Lake of the Holy | Spirit, and declared that of all waters | 1t was the most beautiful Time has noI | changed it's charm.
 Copyright, 1908, by Frederic J. Has,