The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-10-17
THE PENSACOLA JOURNAL SUNDAY MORNING OCTOBER II


me If, in my zeal, ask too much.
By public" l mean those citizens
in whom is vested the balance of !
power. For this particular reason it
doesn't make any difference to me
where the balance of power rests for
| have an axe to grind! But see
how moderate l am in my require |
ments.
First, l wish Pensacola could have
a coat of fresh paint. l am tired of /
gazing, from end to end of street
after street, on a lot Of dilapidated
ramshackles which need painting, ETC.,
and if l were in the real estate bust
ness | would be ashamed to have my
name stuck up on the fronts of sew
eral hundred empty houses, to say
nothing of warning trespassers. For
goodness sake, wouldn't trespassers
be wasting their time?
Secondly, After painting and re
pairing these several hundred empty
houses and making them fit to live
in, would like to see them occupied
by several more hundreds of clean,
healthy, honest, Industrious people
who would take an interest in the
city's welfare-each man provided
with job whereby he could earn
enough to keep his wife and children
supplied with the plain comforts Of
life-and a little to spare, perchance
to buy little 'booze" now and then.
In the third place, I wish there
might be tenants for somewhere in
the neighborhood of 100 empty stores
in the business section of the city.
Hove to look at artistic window dis
plays. They are much more interest
ing and pleasing than dust, cobwebs
and cheap advertising literature, old
bottles, broken glass and conglom-
~erate mess of goodness knows what
and more warnings against tres
passing.
Some years ago there was, through
out the country, a crusade against
bill-boards. Had the crusaders wait
ed until they had seen a mile or two
Of Pensacola's beautiful bill-boards
they never would have started their
crusade. They would have said, mo
use!" They would never have tried
to shame the citizens of thousands of
cities into planting flowers and trees
and vines and shrubs on vacant lots
after tearing down the unsightly bill
boards. l wish we might have few
more miles of them. They are very
attractive to tourists.
! I presume there viii be little need
of asking to have the weeds about the
city cut down. Weeds have become
such an established factor of Pen
sacola's civilization that people would
not be able to find their way home
without them, especially in so many
places where the weeds meet across
the sidewalks. And, after an cpl
denaic of dengue and another of mos
quitoes, we would be kind of lonesome
without the weeds-( Respectfully re
ferred to the Rotary Club.)
I had almost forgotten my pet hob,
by, factories. On June so, 1918,
! wrote an article for The Journal, OF
the subject of factories. This was
moro than two years and three
months ago, and Pensacola has failec
to take even the first step towards
, bringing factories in. I hesitate Il
ask for factories, even though I re
' alize that the products of. the fores
which are now the only source o.
business for Pensacola are con thc
blink" and in a very few years thes;
products will be exhausted. AnC
5 what is to take their place? Set
e the handwriting on the wall!-(Re
2 specially referred to the Create
Pensacola Club ,>--,--.->---,.....
Now, frankly, whittier are we drift
ing? Is Pensacola to lapse into ;
condition of innocuous desuetude or i
G it to become wide-awake, up-to
Il date, clean, attractive city commen
$ surate with 'E83 feet of water over tn
i bar at mean low water?"
You fellows who are constantl
harping about "33 feet" now is tn
time to get together and show tn
e world what "33 feet" means.-(Re
It specially referred to the Pensacol
5, Chamber of Commerce.)
n You fellows who arc CONSTANT
. complaining because you cannot fin
: the proper material with which t
bait tourists, now is the time to wad
in and make Pensacola attractive
Tourists can get cheap vaudeville e
% home and they don't need to trav,
is hundreds of miles to see jumping
If jack and hear tin horn. Tourist
ie in the main, are intelligent peopl
, and you cannot make them believ
that spade is a hoe. A little opium
/ now and then is relshed by tourist
but that is not all they require. Toy
rists are prepared to pay, and pa
. big, for the legitimate.
9 And now, to whomsoever has til
3 power to grant my petition, go to
. and give me an opportunity to he'll
= and we viii dig old Pensacola up an
mt her Oh the man.