Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-06-14
GREAT Melon
TOWN BOOSTER
Mayor Coffman Speaker at
Banquet in Pueblo
SUBJECT WAS "KANSAS
VERSUS CANTAL0UPE'
Large Gathering Heard rlany Lauda-
tory Boosts for the "Fruit That
Makes Rocky Ford Famous.

Representative boosters to the
number of 50 from different points
in Southern Colorado, gathered in
Pueblo on Tuesday evening to at
tend the annual Commerce Club
banquet, which is reported to have
been the most successful event of
the kind ever pulled off by that
body.
Some 200 of the leading bnsi-
ness men and club members of
Pueblo greeted the visitors and
attended the banquet, Which WAS
held at the Congress hotel. The
speechmaking was started by At
torney G. A. Ballreich, who had
for his topic "Our Neighbors."
Some of the the most prominent
speakers of the Arkansas Valley
followed, amongst them being
Mayor Coffman of this city, who
spoke as follows in response to the
toast" kansas Versus Cantaloupe";
'It is very embarra ssing for young
man like me and one not gifted with elo-
quence or a flow of language to follow
such noted orators. Men OF state wide
reputation who have used up all the
available supply of hot air, and have
boldly claimed and used all the adjectives
in the English language. and have coined
many new ones for this especial occasion.
and not content with this, have used them
In weaving choice and elegant phrases
without number to sustain their logic and
prove their assertions, leaving me noth-
ing to say. feel that ! am in about one
of these positions:
Some time since saw a cartoon which
showed two birds on a tree, one Of
them every feather plucked except one
tail feather, the other full coated and his
nest well feathered; one labeled Bryan
the other Roosevelt. am in this case
like Bryan, just one feather left-oanta-
loupe. Or another illustration: the nation
al Republican committee in Chicago
seems to be giving all the delegates to
Taft and all Roosevelt seems to have left
is the noise. So it seems to me all that is
left for me is to give you lots of noise or
give you cantaloupe. and believe you
would prefer the oantaloupe.
am always "dee-lighted" to meet with
representative men of the Arkansas VAL
ley. and especially in the city of Pueblo
and with the men of Pueblo. who have
made and are making Pueblo not only
the Queen City of the Arkansas Valley"
but the leading city of Colorado.
Pueblo, the gateway through which we
who live in the paradise must pass to
reach the Garden Of Eden, which UNDER
stand is situated in Fren ont county, or
the Garden of the Gods in FL Paso
county. Pueblo, city on thousand
hills, through which runs the Arkansas
river, whose waters make the lower part
of the Arkansas Valley a paradise. A
city inhabited by a hundred thousand of
the most intelligent. energetic and hos
pitable people 90 earth
With your great lawyers and eloquent
preachers,
Your eminent doctors and noted teachers,
Your many handsome churches and ele-
giant schools.
our GEeIRellC IltH, anu HdnuSOUlG W.
men work by rules,
Your great smelters, mills and factories
do not out rank
Your elegant hotels, mammoth stores and
immense banks,
Your newspapers most fearless, fairest,
and absolutely the best
OF any that are published. either in the
east or west.
Rocky Ford that has become famous
the world over. because of her watermel-
ons and oantaloupes. and has by reason
of this luscious fruit made the whole Of
the Arkansas Valley famous. Yes, every
nook that has the right kind of soil and
climate from the Pacific to the Atlantic,
from the Gulf on the south to the Lakes
on the north. Everywhere they grow
the luscious fruit that was first grown at
Rocky Ford, and when they are on the
market, no matter where they're grown,
they are labeled Rocky Ford cantaloupes.
They are already on the market from
California, but the genuine fruit will not
appear till about August 10. We have
many men at Rocky Ford that are con-
tinually breeding new varieties, and no
doubt are improving the breed all the
time. for they get better every year.
From the Early Waters that rpen first
to tho Rurrel Gems which is one of the
latest to ripen, they seem to me to get
better all the time. Because am mayor
of Rocky Ford suppose IS the reason
was given this subject. | was told that
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