The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-09-12
CARMICHAEL REPLIES To
LIGHTS INQUIRY FOR
MORE INFORMATION"

In your weekly and daily issues OIL
/the past week there appeared an arti
Gle headed, eff He is Wrong, Light
Want sto Know Why" This article
purported to be written by Mr.. Light
the statesman from Reddick, who at
tempted to give Eight" on the subject
Of whether prohibition was a good
thing or not by some comparisons he
has made relative to different coun
ties in this state as to population
millage and assessed valuations.
There is an old saying that figures
will not lie," but is nevertheless
true that a person can so arrange his
figures that they will convey but half
the truth to the people.
The writer of this article was new
er very favorably impressed with the
habit of knocking ones own county,
as Mr.. Light does, for he has always
believed that Marion county was the
. best county in the best state in the
best nation of the world, and if occa-
sion should ever arise when he
thought that taxation was unnecessar-
lily high in this county, or the popula-
retion at a standstill, and the county
going to the "bow-wows," as Mr.. Light
suggests, for any reason, he would,
like the Arab, fold his tent and silent
ly steal away to another and better
county, rather than stay in his own
and pelt it with brick-bats Of distort-
ed figures.
Mr. Light attempts to show, by less
than dozen cities in the state, which
he picks out from the census reports
to suit his own purposes, that Ocala
has not increased in population as
fast as some other towns, comparing
Ocala with Lake City, Gainesville.
Tallahassee, and other places. The
few illustrations that Mr.. Light gives
totally failed to prove his contention,
because he has not given all of the
facts connected Herewith. For in
stance, Columbia county, in which
Lake City is located, and which is
dry, had a population in 1900 of II,
094 and ten years later had a popu-
lation of 1863. Leon county, in
which Tallahassee is located, had a
population in 1900 of 1887, and in
1910, of only 19,427 These two coun-
ties, which Mr.. Light says prohibition
has helped So, when compared with
St. Johns or Dade counties, which
mr.. Light claims license has hurt so,
show that St. Johns county had pop
ulation in 1900 of 9165, and in 1910
of 13,20S; and Dade county had a
population in 1900 of 1855. and in
1910 of 1898.
For the information of Mr.. Light
and the public, we refer to severai
counties in the state where prohlbl-
ton has been in force for a number
of years, and to other counties where
prohibition has been unable to gain
a foothold:
Baker county dry, population in.
1900. 4516; 1910, 1905. Brevard coun-
ty, dry, population in 1900, 515S; 1910,
4717. Calhoun county, dry, popula-
ton in 1900, 1892; 1910, 7465. Citrus
county, dry, population in 1900, 1891;
1910, 6731 Clay county, dry, popula-
ton in 1900, $3.50: 1910, 6116. Wa
kulla county, dry, population in 1900,
5149; 1910, 1902 Hamilton county,
dry, population in 1900, 1881; 1910,
1925. Sumter county, dry, popula=
ton in 1900, 61S7; 1910, 1896. 11
On the other hand, a glance at the
wet counties of the state show. that
the great growth of this state has
. been almost entirely in the wet coun-
tiles. GaS&
Escambia county had in 1900 pop
ulation of 2S,313; in 1910, 3S,O29. Hills
borough county, in 1900, 36,o13; in
1910, 7s,34S. Monroe county had in
1900, 1906 population; in 1910, 21,-
563. nm
And so the list goes of most of the
counties in the state, showing that the
greatest increases have been in the
wet counties, and the counties that
are at a standstill and the counties
that have decreased have been the
dry counties, and Mr.. Lights effort
to pick out three or four of the cities
of this state and compare them with
Ocala, to .Ocala's detriment, is unfair,
and does not state the facts correctly.
Mr.. Light has attempted to. con1pare
Ocala and Marion county with Gaines
Vile and Alachua county, to Ocala's
and Marion county's detriment. The
facts of the case are that in 1900
Alachua county had 32,245 population,
and in 1910 had 34,305, an increase of
barely over 1000 people, notwithstand-
ing the fact that in that period the
University of Florida was moved to
Gainesville, causing to move there
hundreds of people who would not
horn o+baruv;ca settled there We yen-