The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-07-30
OF MORE THAN
LOCAL IMPORTANCE

The Gainesville Sun tries TO create
sentiment in its town against the
new train schedule that the boards
Of trade of Gainesville, Ocala, Pa
Iatka and Hawthorne, and people
all along the line, are working for,
by saying it will cost Gainesville the
trade Of people from Marion county.
The Star might say that trying to
make a man travel twenty-five miles
or more and go out Of his own coun-
ty to do what he should be able to
do in his own county by travelling
seventeen miles or less is the es.
sence of that monopoly so hateful to
Americans in general and democrats
in particular; or it might say that
the Sun is trying to please the rail
road corporation, which doesn't do
anything for either Ocala or Gaines
Vile, unless it is we'll paid for it.
Instead, it will say the esteemed Sun
doesn't know what it is talking
about
The Star has discussed this matter
with the leading business men of
this section, also with railroad men
and travelling men The concensus
of opinion is that the retail trade
along the line will not either make
or break Gainesville or Ocala.
People living in AIachua county
will go to Gainesville as much as
Tha Of hn 0ro
Lake section have big and we'll
equipped stores in their own towns
Railroad fare would eat up any saw
ing they would make by purchasing
goods in either Oca1a or Gainesville.
People living south of Orange Lake,
at Reddick, Lowell, Martin and Ken
drick, not only have their own
stores, but they will come to Oca1a
anyhow to do all business they can
not do at those stores. Every body
i'm that section that has any business
worth while has an auto or a good
team
So the esteemed Sun may quiet
its fears about the loss of the retail
trade. There will not be enough for
either town to notice.
If the train is put on, it will add
to everybody's convenience and help
build up the country, and that will
help us ALL
Most of the mercantile business
along this line is done thru travel
ing men, and at present Ocala has
the advantage; as they can leave
Oca1a in the morning and return in
the evening Travelling men from
Gainesville receive little benefit
from the present schedule. If they
use the trains, they have to go out
one day and return the next.
The travelling men may make their
homes in Ocala or Gainesville, but
nearly all of them travel for Jack
sonvilIe houses, and so it is that
town that does the business, and moi
either of the interior cities-a con
dition that will not be mended a:
long as the railroads are allowed tt
do as they please and discriminate
against both Ocala and Gainesville,
in the matter of freight rates.
The Star hasn't noticed the SUI
voicing very loudly the sentiments o
the people of the interior in regar
to this injustice; which, if don
away with, would allow both Gaines
Vile and Ocala to establish man
more wholesale houses and greatl
increase their volume of business.
Several years ago, Oca1a made a
effort to have the Coast Line put o
two new trains-the morning an
evening trains between Ocala an
Jacksonville and Lakeland. It We
then argued by few people thu
these trains would cause Ocala 1
lose business; that our people woul
go to Jacksonville and Tampa to q
their trading instead of buying
their home stores.
The trains have been in successf1
operation for a number of years ar
have added vastly to the conve,
fence of the people of Ocala and a
the country they run thru. Mea
time Ocala has grown steadily ar
hasn't lost any business. The
trains have caused people to con
here who else would have stage
away, and it is an entirely sa
proposition that for every doll
they have taken out of OcaIa tn,
have brought in two
The Gainesville board of trat
has summed up the whole matter
the following paragraph, which b
as much genuine craftsmanship in