The National tribune., 1909-09-30
Writes ..ainn nahout St. Cloud.

Editor National Tribune: 1 came
down here with my wife on the excur-
SION In June. We were so wen pieased
mat we returned home TO onkers, N.
y, packed up our househoid goods-tne
best things-and n month later found
us citizens of ST. Cloud. The two
months we have been here has not
changed our minds about the climate
and the agricultural possibilities. L nave
been out in sun and rain, every day
during the Midsummer, and never sur
fered with heat, and we have had no
sultry nights, nor have we been both-
cred with mosketos and flies. Our lake
| is beautiful body of clear water, ana
| is not a mosketo breeder, nor are there
any stagnant ponds, pools and swamps
| to breed these pests in this section OF
the country.
Following my first visit l wrote you
a letter giving my impressions OF TINS
section. That letter has brought me
many inquiries from other comrades.
| L have no objections to replying TO
! doubters who seem to question the tes-
| timony of those who have gone over
nearly every phase of Florida condl-
tions in your paper after personal IN
Ivestigation but it takes time and post
age. Let me say to readers of The Ma
tional Tribune that St. Cloud suits me
and it does my wife. This region is as
| healthful as it is free from mosketos
| 1t never gets as hot or so extreme in
the Summer as it does up in my old
home State of New York. We have
good water; my well gives me a supply
of as fine water as any in America.
With a good climate, good water and a
soil capable of raising nearly everything
in the way of fruits, vegetables and
| flowers, and something can be raised
every month, what more does man
want?
the best markets, and no other State
has a longer sea coast, with opportuni-
ties to reach all the world by ships.
Our State is nearest the West Indies,
Panama and South America. Florida
has n wonderful future. Study the
map and see how favorably Florida is
located geographically.
| The conditions here are not under
stood in the North. There are people
who deliberately or thoughtlessly mis-
represent. Maybe they think it funny
to tell big stories. A recent newcomer
said he talked with q man on the train
when coming down who said nobody
could raise chickens here because the
Isnakes caught the young chicks and
robbed the nests Of eggs; that allisators
were menace to raising hogs and
sheep and were dangerous to man
People have lived here for years and
never saw either. l have seen none,
and l have been out every day for
months. This form of falsehood has a
thousand shapes.
Now, comrades, IL you think of chang
ing localities and want to escape the
cold and attendant discomforts of the
long Northern Winter, come to Florida
and see for yourseles. as we have. You
may not like it. If it suited everybody
there would not be standing room. ]
believe ST. Cloud will soon become a
beautiful town, and that veterans who
come and take hold in earnest cannot
help but do well and add years of ease
to their last years on earth. My broth
er, who came with me, is an invalid
He is better now than he has been for
a long time. -rr-' r-.'
Will not the comrades who, have
written me and 5have not received a
4 lpersoral reply consider this an answer
to their letters? = / am here to stay
and want al. the comrades to hunt me
up when they come to St. Cloud. 80 O, 50.
Our new town has been pretty well
crowded with excursionists, 200 or more
have arrived this week by special trains
from the North. Some are pleased and
some are not. The pleased people will
stay and help to make this a good
town. The disappointed ones did not
stay long enough to form an opinion
There are people who are not pleased
under any circumstances. We wan,
none of that class at st. Cloud. All we
asked of those who came and went in q
hurry was not to ALLOW their imagina.
ttonS to run riot in accordance with
their dispositions when they tell theil
friends why they did not stay-Henry
W. Dale, Sept. 25, 1909.