The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-24
WHAT WE ESCAPED

political situation and apparently
cane to the conclusion that Florida
had Jared badly in regard to govern
ment patronage. That the administra-
tion had evidently overlooked Florida
in making appointments was evident.
and in concluding an editorial recent
ly published in the Banner he said:
$50 far as our memory serves us Flo
rida has had no recognition in any
way. If she were a bigger state Or
even a doubtful state she would per
maps fare BETTER" and while this is
probably true, there are other things
in this connection for which perhaps,
we should be extremely thankful.
Let us consider for a moment tbs
idea that President Wilson might
have forgotten the attitude of the
Florida delegation at Baltimore, and
turned to this wonderful state to
select a secretary of state. What
then? Why, it would have been pos
sible, though not likely, that the Flo
rida man, in order to exc out an ex-
istence and keep the wolves from the
porte cochere, might have taken up
stenography and done odd jobs about
the shops in Washington-and been
severely criticised for thus spending
his off time in such a tanner.
Then again, supposing a Florida
man had been made secretary of the
navy-of course such a possibility is
only presented for the sake of argu-
ment. Ever since Sir Joseph Porter,
X. C. B., went below to escape the
heavy breeze IN board the Pinafore,
it has been the rule to avoid anything
that smelled of salt water in naval
appointments. But to return to the sur
mise, if a man from this state, which
practically lies between the Atlantic
and the Gulf of Mexico, had been
carelessly assigned to the navy port
folio just as likely as not he would
have allowed terms, that have been
as fixed as a South Sea barnacle to a
ship, to stand, and possibly he would
never have thought it necessary to
specify a diet for the men in COM
mand of ten-million dollar b~attleships.
OF course such carelessness and mat
tention to the vital parts of running
the navy of q great nation would have
laid the Florida man open to con-
ment, and reflected upon his native
state.
To go further into details and show
what we have escaped, by the kindly
forethought of the professor, just
imagine the predicament a Florida
secretary of the treasury would have
been in, %presuming that he was of
age before appointment, and had seen
the young women of Florida? Royalty
has it's way, and the invitation to the
White House amounts to a command
Just as it does in England or Ger
maryland who knows but that after
having secured a blushing bride from
the inner circle a Florida secretary
might have been so careless as to.
prefer a bridal tour by rail, and paid
his own expenses?
There . are other appointments
which some other president might
have offered to Florida men, and en-
barassed them greatly; for instance
that now occupied by Minister Page;
where a conservative man from Flori-
da would likely have kept his private
opinion to himself and lost several
pleasing items for the Associated
Press; and what a calamity it would
have been to have had a Florida man
as envoy to Greece! This latter, to be
! sure, because he might have shown
himself a real diplomat and never
have given the president a second
shot in this appointment; maybe a
Florida nan assigned to work in Ber-
lin would have been SO commonplace
as to find a comfortable house at a
reasonable rental, and disgraced the
United States by endeavoring to live
within the paltry salary of $17,500 a
year allowed by the government. A
Florida man sent to Mexico would
perhaps have conciliated the warning
factions and just think for an instant
of missing all that patriotic stuff
about saluting the flag!
There are a few other places which
have been carefully assigned by the
president which would have appeared
possible for Florida men to have filled.
But as Editor Harris has suggested,
there are larger states than Florida,
and some doubtful states, and all of
them offer men for the supreme bench
and the commerce commission, and so
on. Florida, solidly democratic, has
merely been told to sit still. And look