The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-03-18
FLORIDA CRACKERS.

Au Wy Cldlc New IoIhcI CdHc /
to Florida, spent winter here, re-
gained. his health by reason of our
incompatible climate and went back |
home and abused and belittled and |
ridiculed Florida and everything |
Floridian.
The editor of his home paper takes |
up the cudgels for Florida and |
warmly defends her. nut in doing so
himself passes insulting slurs upon |
some Of the best blood of the State !
b. saying that the slanderer must |
have spent most of his time prowl- |!
ing about the interior native Crack
er sections, which have not yet been
reached by the great wave of devel-
opment which is rolling on there"
Our volunteer defender shows that
while his will is good his valiant
defense is based upon plentiful
lack Of knowledge of what he is writ
ing about We are intimately ac-
quaiy ID with all sections of Florida,
incf ling the interior native Crack
g" sections" hut We have never yet
found a neighborhood that has not
been reached by the great wave of
development" for the rise and the
rolling" of which We are supposed
to be beholden to the benef1cent mis-
sionaries from the North.
One of those native cracker Sec
tons includes the editorial rooms of
The Times. another the executive
chair of the city of Tampa, and still
another that of the State of Florida
itself, and many of the most emf
nent and important posts of honor.
including those Of one senator and
two or three congressman, In the
State are embraced in similar Sec
tons. Whether the native crackers
that il has found there have been
developed. regenerated and civilized
sufficiently to enable them to hold
their heads above the surface OF the
transforming wave of development
! lct the positions they have achieved
!, substantiate.
The idea is too widely diffuscd and
5 too ronspicGouslv and sometimes Of
| fcnsively expressed to be suffered to
: be LONGER disseminated without pro-
: test that the native FlOridian, the
e Crackrr, is a DEGENERATE, an infer
+ icr. specimen of arrested physical
;. mental and moral development with
t whom the Yankee compares as Hy-
d pcriOn to a satyr.'
). The unauthorized truth is. that
Q the Cracker is the Iankcc's-wel
j. we'll say equal out of courtesy t
n guests. especially since education ha
z added its polish to the rough dia
ir mOnd. and he has abundantly proven
q il in the business mart, the fields o
N the professions, the domain o
10 craftsmanship and the ranks of war
ID The Cracker, while he claims no sll
le periOrity, acknowledges no inferior
l. ity and will not suffer even indis
Greet defenders to speak OF hin
le snecringly or in disparag ement-
If Tampa Times
n The State press generally speak
r. favorably of the candidacy of Sen
8. ator Drane of this city for presiden
OF the State Senate The St. Au
a ;,ustinc Meteor, for instance. says
b Senator II. J. Drane. Of Polk
Is raid the city pop call yesterday OF
D his way home Senator Drane ha
e. the welfare of the Florida lnstitut,
a for the Deaf and Blind greatly Il
lie heart. and he ran out to look tn
lie school over Friends OF the senator
1t feel that he is not only calculate,
l. to make Il most excellent presidin,
l. officer. but that his selection AZ sucl
If in the Senate is most probable"
q D
j. The extra session of Congress
n called by President Wilson and ou
o State Legislature will be w0rkins
y a. the same time. Under such cir
= rnmstances we will have to let thai
s, Democratic majority in Congress
l. struggle along as best II can will
II the complexities OF tariff reform
e without our Illuminating advice ant