The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-04-02
THE STORY OF OUR WONDERFUL
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

q LAauueI
the story Of progress and develop
ment that the mind almost halts and
the imagination is staggered at the
contemplation. 1t reads almost like
one Of the Arabian Nights entertain
Iments.
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 opposed to be a desert
waste, unfit for human habitation.
and was so declared by some of our
earlier statesmen in the halls of con-
gress.
Add half the number of years to
those mentioned and we go back to
the period when Canada belonged to
France; when Washington was a
modest Virginia colonel, and the
United States formed loyal part of
the British possessions, and there was
no sDeck on the political horizon to
Indicate the struggle that in a few
years was to lay the foundation of |
the greatest 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 were 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 newspa-
pers Of our times.
It 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
lographs and type-setting machines.
'ur postal service, postal cards. fric-
ion matches, breech-loading and
guns, smokeIess powder.
as and electric heating and lighting.
engraving and print
lg, kerosene and the safety IamD -
urglar-prOOf safes and locks. stem
'mding watches, cotton factories
ewing machines, the wonderful Ar Q
7y Of farm labor-saving machinery.
cycles, automobiles, public libraries
nd public schools, in anything like >.
le present meaning of these inven- is
ons, appliances, devices and instftu- an
Ons, were utterly unknown one hun M
ed years ago. CIV
A century ago the loom and spiD- NJ
ng wheel were a part of the family an
.ulpment; clothing was carded IS
un, woven and made in the house i ,t''
Id; the printing press was a cum
rous machine, worked by hand. and OC
Gu familiar things as nails, knives.
lssOrs, shears, razors, steel pens.
es, hoes, shOvels, locks, keys. bolts.
concrete, structural steel. the
d an army of kindred things. so far ~
being manufactured in this coun-
?, were almost, if not totally IN ilie
own, or at best, were in their very IT.
ancy. ing
mere were not as many postofices '"
the United States one hundred she
IRIS ago as there are now in Flor ian
; cheap postage was not one of the
oyments. and had anyone suggest ios'
the remOtest possibility of trans 'eI
ting messages on wires or ON the Mt
rents Of the air, talking to a man 'i'
thousand miles away and recogniz- '
his voice, reproducing his speech. .'
travelling at a speed of sfxtv or .'.
re miles an hour, he would have
n regarded as a fit subject for the ..
attic asylum. .'.
.arrelous. indeed. have been the ..
.nrtons Of The past century. and
have been allotted more service
improvements ia their bearing
d the happiness and comforr of w.t..
kind, than TO any other. and. Der. .i'
s. all other centuries combined
have elapsed since the creation
he world nh.
his paper is issued from the Old
town in the United States. II was ....
.ded before New York. Boston or
adelDhia. II is located in a state can
ed for its soft, saIubrious climate
ertHe, generous soil, which makes
K response to the slightest touch. Nj
II has seen the star Of empire" drug
7p towards the setting sun until ~ Cn5
ne region of country between the ON ri I,
oceans have become populated thes,