The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-01-19
HOPEFUL AND HELPFUL

slDle anu cneefIQl aQQreSS delivered
by Postmaster r. F. Rogers on his
Inauguration as president for 1915 of
the Marion County Board of Trade:
Gentlemen of the Board of Trade:
thank you for the honor you have
conferred upon me by your unani-
nous vote in making me president of
the Marion County Board of Trade. /
appreciate this expression of your
confidence in me only the more for
the reason that it comes unsolicited
and unexpected by me. was so much
surprised when notified of my selec-
ton for the place that wondered
why. As / could not attend the meet
ings of the board for the past few
months and therefore was not post
ed in the work, the first thought that
came to my mind was, ats dead and
they want me to act as undertaken
and if so, / will dig as deep a hole as
can and give it a decent burial
The next thought was, "The body
may be sick and they have selected
me to administer a stfmulant and I
can do that as good as any one" so l
will accept the responsibility and
with the cooperation of the business
men of the town and county the
Board of Trade will live and will sue
coed.
We want cooperation. It is the
duty of every business man in Ocala
to assist us in this laudable effort.
The work to be accomplished is for
the good of all and not for few only.
We want the help of the lawyer so if
the body should become entangled
and commit some technical error the
lawyer can brush away the techni-
calities and reunite us and thus in
crease their clientage. We want the
cooperation of the doctors so if the
body gets sick they can give a
tonic and if with their help we can
induce others to come and cast their
lot with US then the doctors will have
more pills to roll and they will have
more patients. We want the coop
Grafton of the merchants so If we get
hungry they can feed US and if we be-
come naked they can clothe US and
the more people we can induce to come
to our resourceful county, the more
supplies the merchants will sell and
the more money they will make. We
want the cooperation of the bankers,
for if we have any extra money they
will keep it for us and if we have no
money, they will loan US some and
enable US to accomplish the ends for
the city and county which cannot be
done without money. We want and
ask for the cooperation of every pro-
fession and industry in our county, SO
when opportunities are offered we
can lay hold and use them for the
good OF the city and county.
To make it possible to secure this
cooperation we want the entrance fee
and annual dues of the Board OF
Trade graduated, so that member
will only have to pay according to his
ability to pay. A man that is worth
$4,000 is supposed to be benefited
ten times more than the man who is
worth only 1000, therefore the an
nual dues should be graduated so as
to make it possible for every bust
ness man in Ocala to come with Ii!
and help to accomplish the work fol
which we are organized.
/ We want no politics to be discussed
or considered at our meetings. tn,
aims and objects of the Board o.
Trade is for the upbuilding of Deal;
. and. Marion county and not to discus
fractional and party politics. When ;
man comes to US from another stat
and casts his lot with us, it makes n,
difference to US, if he is a good citi
: zen, what his politics may be, we wei
! come him among US. We want no re
! ligious subjects discussed or consid
cred in our meetings. While / pro
fess to be a religionist, the Board o
Trade is no place to discuss or put O
: exhibition our religious creeds. A
: opportunity is now offered Ocala> tina
we should lay hold of. / am inform
ed that ocala pays S25O,OOO per ar
: mum more freight than we woul
: have to pay if we had water trans
e portation to come in competition wit
5 the railroads One of our enterprisin
}. members and citizens of Ocala Ia
r built a 50-ton freight boat to run b.
e tween Silver Springs and Jackson