The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1912-06-14

|
The state chemist, however, was very
much alive, and entertaining the
views that he expressed then-and so
far as | know, continues to hold
the Florida Citrus Exchange believed,
and believes, now, that he was re-
| sponsible for the non-enfoTcement of
that law, and that if he was re-elect-
ed or appointed by the governor to
be elected, that he should be put on
record as to the course he would
pursue in the state in this matter.
| assume that having stated that
these matters were all referred to
him, and coupling this statement with
Mr.. McLin's statement that he was
overworked, and the further state
ment in the paper read by State
Chemist Rose before the Growers
Convention, that the Florida Citrus
Exchange has criticised Mr. McLin,
and finding nothing in this bulletin
of March % that could be construed
as an attack upon Mr.. McLin, we are
left to the conclusion that Mr. Rose,
while eulOgizing the deceased com
missioner of agriculture, was really
eulogizing Rose and taking to himself
a fancied attack which he thought
had been made.
Being at the head of the pure food
department, which was under the SUI
pervision of the commissioner of ag-
~; -,
ural than that the commissioner
should have followed the advice and
abided by the decision of the state
chemist in all matters pertaining to
his department 1t was also natural
that the head OF the pure food de-
partment should avoid performing
this disagreeable function if he could
do SO.
In this interview with Mr.. Rose, he
emphasized the fact that the Florida
Citrus Exchange handled but tweney
per cent. of the citrus fruit shipped
out of the state, and that there was
eighty per cent on the outside |
have been informed that the state
chemist is very astute politician.
Every politician keeps his ear to the
ground; Mr.. Rose could hear the
tread of the twenty per cent, of the
citrus growers of this state in this
appeal from the Exchange and he as
sumed that the other eighty per cent.
We're marching on the other side,
This reminds me of cartoon that |
once saw in Puck. There were two |
fishermen on the banks Of little |
lake on the orange belt line. They
were waiting for the train. One of
them had his ear to the rail listening |
for the coming of the dinky little
train that ran on that little narrow
gauge track His friend was looking
in the opposite direction when the
little engine came up and struck the
bald head of the listener. The shock
threw the little engine in the air; the
listener brushed his head and said
Brush that fly away, Sam, and let
me listen for that train"
In this effort of the Florida Citrus
of agriculture, through the pure food
department, to abide by the decision |
of the attorney general and lend his
aid to the enforcement of the imma-
ture fruit law, the Florida Citrus Elk
change put the commissioner on no.
tice that if he failed to do his duty,
the Exchange would be forced to re.
sort to drastic measures, foreshadow
ing the letteTgram sent to the pure
food departments of various states,
warning them against the flood of
poisonous oranges that the
was about to be flooded with.
The commissioner disregarded this
making it necessary to re
sort to this drastic measure. After
weeks of deliberatiOn and exhaustive
effort to stop the shipment of green
fruit that lettergram was sent. 1t
meant success or failure to the citrus
Of this state; the sending Of
this lettergram, which was published
in the press throughout this country,
and favorably commented on editorial
by the leading newspapers of the
The opponents who thought
hat they had successfully defeated
the law and were at that time violat
ng it had green fruit scattered
through the country, which was re
fused and some of it condemned The
next tread of footsteps that Mr. Rose
, ri h., i'm |
1t Orlando to condemn the Florida
Citrus Exchange for sending out tina:
ettergram - that iniquitous letter
grant, That convention was adver-
Used and heralded over the state.
systematic campaign work was done.
Maj. Alexander st. Clair Abrams was
to manage the campaign. He
wrote a series of caustic letters, pub
ished in the Times-UniOn, and at a
given time, the convention assembled
n Orlando. That convention is his,
DRY. There We're thirty three faith.
ul their names have been published,
md no doubt when the State Chemist
eads that list and recognized the
shdl dNlSI VI inc lICu WIZ HiiNle up
he thirty-three, he felt that there
must have been some miscalculation
n his estimate of the eighty per cent,
The next tread that his listening
ears caught was the assemblage of
more than five hundred growers at
Tampa on the 18th of April.
The strongest objection ever urged
~ the opponents to the immature
ruit law is that there is no standard
liked by the law for determining the
maturity of an orange Mr.. Rose EN-
that very strongly in the pa
yer read before the citrus growers
convention at Tampa on the 18th OF