The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-08-04

/ invest in a business at the time he
did; he commented on the men OF
ability at Burbank-our chairman
Mr.. Kirck; our famous architect, Mr.
MacMannus; our Henry Ward Beech
er, Mr.. Half; and our noted gardener
Mr.. Ogelsby.
Everything requires preparation,
he said, ''it takes time and hard labor
The people who have left here have
written back that they wished they
were again here at Burbank. The
trouble was, they left too soon Do
not let us get discouraged. This board
of trade was organized, believe, to
boost Burbank, and we should all
make up our minds that Burbank is
the first and best and let us talk Bur
bank. The only way to build I'D q
town and community is for each one
to be a booster"
Mr.. I. A. Verdenius, was next call
ed upon by the chairman and re-
sponded in part as follows:
Il am happy this evening to be
| talking to farmers. l was a farmers
| boy myself, and always feel at home
among tillers of the soil. I like to
look into the faces of you men-sun-
burned facesthey are; and l am par
ticularly happy tonight because I am
with the farmers of our Burbank
colony, for | know that | am among
my friends, tried and true, and we
all here have the same ambition-the
ambition to make this Burbank col
ony a great country.
aside from my personal friendship
for the farmers. | realize that prac-
tically all the world in a direct or in
direct way, is dependent upon your
toll and labor I could imagine a
community for instance, without
barber shops, without jewelry stores,
etc, but there are two occupations
| in life when | consider the most i'm
portant-the farmer and the real
estate man. We need the farmers.
and the farmers need the real estate
men to supply them with good land.
Il think a great deal of my pro-
fession. l feel it is a great work the
New South Farm e Home Company
is doing, that of leading folks away
from the congested cities to the
broad open country where they may
enjoy life and breathe the pure sweet
air Of heaven.
"A little While ago old acquaint-
ances of mine, who had known me
when I was younger and more active
in church work than / am at the pres
ent time, asked me why I didn't go
to church as often as then, and ip-
timated that the real estate business
and church work possibly did not go
we'll together. | was endeavoring to
bring people to the better land when
they died. Now | consider my bust
ness of selling land even greater than
that, for | am taking them to a bet
ter land while they yet live.
Il am not a prophet, or the son of
prophet, but l wish to go on record
as stating that five years from now
no one will be able to buy an acre of
land in this colony for less than $780,
90 an acre. We are making a record
for ourselves here, and l assure you
about land investments, that am put
ting every spare penny into the soil.
Il agree fully with President Hill
of the Great Northern Railroad who
recently said that a man would
double, if not treble, his money in a
very short time by land investments.
America is the greatest country in
the world we have at the present
time S5,000,000 inhabitants. Immi-
grants are arriving on our shores an
nually at the rate of a million and a
half, and with the natural growth of
people, we will have in % years a
population of at least 40 million.
Naturally land is bound to go up, and
if man uses a little judgment and
buys land at the market price, he can
not go wrong.
I'VE have in this colony $4,000
acres of land About half of this will
contribute to the town of Burbank,
and l predict a great future for our
little city. l can prove this by fig
ures. If the average of our land only
produces $4,000 an acre annually
(Which is figuring very conservative
ly, for we know that sometimes in
Florida one of the three annual crops
will produce 100000 an acre. then
allowing $4,000 acres to contribute
to Burbank, this would give this place
an annual output of $3,250,000.00.
Il sometimes doubt if you settlers,
or myself, and with all due respect
to the gentleman at my side-Mr.