The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1910-10-14
BEST CLIMATE
FOUND IN FLA.
Public Opinion Has Been frro.
neOus To Great Extent
AN EVEN TEMPERATURE
Thermometer Registers Lower In Summer
Than IN Many Northern and Western
States.--Has Always Cool Breeze

Probably the South In general, anC
Florida in particular, have been misun.
derstood in nothing more than regard.
ing the climatic conditions. Popular
conception makes the great peninsula a
sort of seething caldron through large
part of the year, endurable to the
Northern visitor only when the cold and
frost Of his own home invite journey
to some milder climate. 1t was, once
believed. honestly believed, that the
Northern man was actually taking his
life in his hand and tempting Providence
when he seriously planned trip to
Florida in any but the winter months,
and that to spend an entire summer
here was to invite almost certain physi-
cal disaster. if not an unpleasant and
lingering death.
1t is fortunate that this idea is van
ishing and that it is disappearing large
ly through the testimony of visitors
who have become settlers. Thousands
of them have declared that the summer
temperatures in Florida, tempered by
the breezes from Ocean and Gulf, are
much more endurable, even inviting
than the sweltering heat of Minnesota
or the Dakotas or of score of northern
and western farm states. e.
Is it hot in Florida?
Yes. of course, but the summer sea-
son brings high temperatures to every
other locality, even to Alaska, but Flor
ida has less variations of temperature
the year through than any other state
in the Union. One has only to watch
regularly the daily reports from the
United States weather bureau, to be
convinced. These reports for large
number of days during the summer just
passed, showed the official temperature
of Jacksonville and Tampa to be below
the average of the fifty. nine cities in
cluded in the list, and frequently it was
below that reported from Chicago, New
York, st. Louis and dozen other cities
in the north and west.
There is a reason for this and good
reason, too.
In no part of the peninsula does the
width of the state exceed about 200
miles; much of it is far less. It's bOr-
dered by 1900 miles of salt water. the
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
In no part of the state does the eleva-
ton exceed 500 feet, and this only in
the western end of Florida. There is
no interruption of and no DETECTION for
the salt breezes that constantly sweep
the entire State.
The mighty Gulf Stream f ollows
closely the border of the state, from
the Gulf on the west and south, to the
Georgia state line, on the east. This
tempers the winter temperatures. 1t
modifies the summer heat. The salt
breezes and they almost constantly
moving, reach far into the interior OF
the state, like a great fan with its COM
fort. bringing relief. Along the coast
and for miles into the interior, they
make life not only endurable but COM
Portable and delightful. The never
failing ocean breezes at night frequent
" make necessary an extra blanket on
the bed, even in August and September.
Closely connected with the tempera-
lures of Florida is her healthfulness.
Well, Florida is healthful and health
giving state--none is more 80. Albert
W. Gilchrst, the governor OF Florida, a
careful, exact and lifelong student of
conditions in the State. stated in a
magazine article published in August,
lust passed: 1T is one of the most
healthful states in the union. The death
rate, according to the last census by the
State of Florida, is sc per thousand.
The registration area of the United
States, including the New England
States, New York, New Jersey. Della
ware and the District of Columbia have
a death rate of 17.8 per thousand. In
Scotland and Wales it is Is;
in Italy it is 21.1. To my mind one OF
the most important pieces of informa-
ton for an intending settler is the
health. "-Florida's Financial and In
1uct rial Record