The Green Forest tribune., 1909-09-24
GOOD RESULTS IN PUBLICITY
CommonWeaIth's Welfare at This Particular Stage.

Judge B. R. Kone, state comm1s- sioner of agriculture, believes in pub licity as one of the best means of pro- noting the states welfare at this par ticular stage of its growth, when the | eyes of investors from all over the country are directed toward it, says | Houston Post. He believes that with the true facts made known about the state there will be largely increased influx of capital to take advantage of the opportunities for profitable invest ment to be found within it's borders, and that the result will be speedily | apparent in the rapid development of | the states agricultural and horti- cultural interests, to subserye which his department was created and giv- en enlarged powers. He realizes that the state has all to gain and nothing to fear from such publicity-that it is in the lack of a full knowledge of true conditions as they exist that the knockers find their opportunity to do the state temporary harm.
 In this connection it may be stated that in all departments of human &C., tivity there is in the present age more or less "wildcatting." Men are willing to risk their money in expert ments in which the element of risk enters very largely The result iE many instances is disappointment, and in others disaster. Still the experi- ence of "wild-catters' is not wholly lacking in benefits for the public.
 Recently an employe of the United States department of agriculture wis ited the coast country of Texas and in his cursory investigation of the possibilities of the orange industry in the section indicated, made report to his department which was in measure unfavorable to this compara- lively new industry. This report has aroused a demand on the part of pioneers in the industry who have achieved phenomenal success in the growing and marketing of such fruit, as well as on the part of others com petent to judge of actual conditions, for more thorough investigation by one of acknowledged competency for the work, that all the facts may be i made known. In such thorough in vestigation citrus growers of South Texas and all others interested in the development of the coast country are fearless of results.
 In response to this demand and to his own conception of duty in the premises Commissioner Kone has de- termined to set at rest any issue of doubt that may have been aroused in the minds of the public by the report of the government employe, and to this end announces that he has per fected all arrangements with Prof. H. Harold Hume of Florida, the best known authority on citrus culture in the United States, to make such in, vestigation. Prof. Hume will begin his work of investigation in September and will make and exhaustive study of every phase of the question.
 In taking the course above indicat- ed, Commissioner Kone is pursuing policy of practical publicity which we believe will prove of inestimable ben. eft to the young and expanding in. dustry in this state, for whatever the character of the report it will carry with it such weight that future invest ments in the industry will be made in the light of ascertained facts given | the widest possible publicity.