The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-08-25
THE BUILDING OF A CITY


able the building of city is not a
holiday pastime.
Along these lines we have had
some experience.
For more than forty years we have
tried to build city of Ocala.
With this end in view we have
worked in season and out of season.
1t seems to us that we have not left
a stone unturned, and yet today, in
this year of grace, 1911, we have
scarcely as many inhabitants as are
crowded into a single building in
some of our larger cities. Relying
upon the census for accuracy, We
have not, indeed, as many by one CT
two thousand.
What is the explanation of it?
AS rule, peninsulas. the GRID
over, have the densest populations.
Ocala is contrary located. 1t is
midway between Jacksonville and
Tampa. 1t is the richest and most
elevated section of the state 1t is
| the center of a fine agricultural re-
gion 1t has taken the premium at all
/ fairs wherever it has made the at
tempt to do so. 1t has now some
corn on exhibition at the Munroe &
Chambliss Bank, nine stalks to the
hill, the stalks measuring thirteen
feet high, and the giant, well-matured
ears more than a foot in length. 1t is
| in the phosphate region and turpen-
tine belt. Before the great freeze it
stood first in the production of CT
anges. 1t now stands first in the pro-
loupes, and in tomatoes and beans it
also holds first place. 1t is easily &C
cessible. 1t has good educational and
church facilities. 1t is surrounded by
picturesque springs, lakes and rivers.
It's hunting and fishing are unsur-
passed. The climate is mild, and ev-
erything is conducive to longevity
and happiness.
Why is Ocala not a city?
Miami is just fifteen years old. 1t
recently celebrated it's fifteenth ami
versary, and is already three times
the size of Ocala. Why is Pensacola,
ST. Petersburg, Tampa and Jackson
vile growing in leaps and bounds?
1t is because they are allowed to
enjoy privileges that are denied to
Ocala by our state and interstate
commerce commissioners.
That is the whole explanation.
There is a halter tied around
Ocala's neck, marked freight rate
determinations" and this halter
squeezes all attempts to establish
commercial enterprises, and along
with all other interior cities we are
forced to pamper and pay tribute to
our seaport cities, and, forsooth. we
are told that we must do so grace
fully and uncomplainingly; that "Un-
Gle Steve" is at the head of the rivers
and harbors committee, and we
should be hilarious, do nothing but
cavort the praises of the seaport
cities and be happy.
Well, what is Ocala's remedy?
If the mountain will not go to Mo-
hamet, why not make Mohamet come
to the mountain?
! Why can we not put our wits to-
gether and make Silver Spring,
winch is, or can be. made a port OF
entry, help us out of our trouble and
aid us to become a city?
Why cannot Ocala annex Silver
Spring?
There is such a thing in the law
books as a legal fiction"
Why not apply this legal fiction
in the annexation of Silver Spring as
part of Ocala?
We are building in that direction
We are connected by hard road and
motor truck, so why not go a step
further and annex it fictitiously, and
make the fiction binding enough IN
legal lore to be recognized by our as
tute railway commissioners who have
gone daft ON anything and everything
that has a semblance or mixture CT
water?
Out in California, a state that is
! growing in population with the speed
of an aeroplane, city corporations OK
tend out into the country for a dis
lance of four or five miles, way be-
yond the reach of a house or an in
habitant. The towns are given room
to grow, and with the legal fiction
of water transportation they do grow,
so why can Ocala not initiate their
example?
Let us ring in this time-honored ''le-
gal felton," annex Silver Spring and
obtain freight rates on a water basis,
sing poems of praise to the chairman
of the rivers and harbors committee,
| have the railway give lis connective