The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-14


Ocala, Fla, Sept. 10, 1913.
Editor Times, st. Petersburg, Fla.
Dear Sir: Yours of the 9Th received
and contents noted.
The "Bloxham county" campaign is
public matter, and you have per-
feet right to mix in it if you see fit.
The affairs of your county are also
public, and you have never expressed
any objection to the Star discussing
them as long as its views conceded
with your own.
In Pinellas, the county which, as
you say, you helped create, you have
always had the approval of this pa
per. The Star did not bring Pinellas
into the Bloxham campaign. The Star
has one advantage of you. 1t is fair
ly we'll acquainted with both Pinellas
and Bloxham. You are acquainted
only with the former.
You say: "There may be perfectly
good and sufficient local reasons why
the creation of Bloxham county would
liOC OC " bAAC G10N VI IAC POOPAC
within its proposed limits; do not
know, and would not so state to the
Star if / did know"
In the foregoing utterance, Mr..
Straub, you have given your friends
the strongest reason the Star has
ever seen to fear that you are some
times prejudiced. Since you have
come into this controversy, and plain
ly show you favor Bloxham, why
should you, as a journalist and public
man, suppress anything you might
know in favor of Marion?
The Star would not treat you and
your county so. If the people in
southwest Pasco tried to form a new
county by cutting off the north end of
Pinellas, and you fought the move
ment, as you doubtless would, the Star
would say that the Times probably
knew what it was talking about; and
it certainly wouldn't expect you to be
a traitor to your county. You seem
SO much surprised that the Star
stands by the interests of its home
county, it's neighbors and best friends
that the Star in turn can't help won
dering from what standpoint do you
view loyalty and friendship.
You may be sufficiently well off, or
so much of philosopher, that you
can consider taxes a bugaboo. The
Star and everyday people cannot.
Taxes are a very real thing to them.
But as the Star has repeatedly tried
to impress on you, Pinellas taxes is
not an issue of the Stars creation.
Bloxham politicians went to your
large and strong county and tried to
make of it an argument for the crea-
ton of a small and weak one. Certain
citizens of Levy county went on their
| tracks and obtained letters from
prominent citizens of Pinellas who
claim that as compared with condi-
tions in Hillsborough the benefits of
Pinellas are not equal to it's burdens.
Surely they have right to express
their opinions in print. If you don't
want people in your county to use
their inalienable right to complain of
conditions, you had better go around
and muzzle them. You say that 80
per cent of your population is salts
| fed with Pinellas. From the large
number of letters received from dis
satisfied people, from the comparative
little trouble there was in obtaining
them and the prominence of the
authors, its the Stars opinion that
you put your per centage too high.
Now, the Star has no doubt that
Pinellas is good county. The Star is
fairly well acquainted with Pinellas
and when the fight was on for the
creation of Pinellas it used what in
fiuence it had in the favor of Pinellas
and if it lived in Pinellas it would re-
sist any attempt to annex Pinellas tc
another county, or to annex part o1
Pinellas to another county. So il
doesn't see why the Times should ar
raign it for standing up for its owr
county, or why the Times, or anybody
else who knows little about Marion
should dispute it when it says there
is very little similarity between
Northwest Hillsborough in 1911 anC
Northwest Marion in 1915.