The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1915-10-01
4 X NIX *** X X X X X X X X n
JACKSONVILLE JOTTINGS.
= By Claude L'Engle. y
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When the stork set me down in
little village next door to jackson
lville in the fall of 1868 there were
so many tales going around about en-
Itravagance, waste, wickedness and
high taxes in Jacksonville on account
of the combination of scalawags,
thieves, carpet-baggers, Republicans
and sinners who worked the newly
made niger voters (then as now out
numbering the whites) to hold pos
session of the city government that |
felt grateful to that stork for placing
me outside the city limits. Now, in
my middle age, circumstances have
placed me in a little village next door
to Jacksonville, and in spite of things
that have happened to me that never
happened to Job, l find myself still
able to sound the joyful pipe because
the boundary line of Jacksonville
doesn't quite reach me. For be it
known that the gang that ran things
in Jacksonville in the seventies were
amateurs in municipal mismanage-
ment and although they were ready,
anxious and willing to chunk away
the peoples money and did the best
they could to make a record for Ii
cense, looseness and legalized larceny
that would stand for all time, they
were not even able to dream of the
high class performance in profigate
prodigality that our trained business
men are giving us now that they have
taken the governmental affairs of
Florida's biggest city out of the
hands of the politicians and have
placed them in their own capable and
charitable hands.
1t is true that l am six miles from
the city hall, but on any clear sun
shiny day land we have lots and lots
of them) | can see the Heard build
ing, the power house smokestack, the
Mason hotel, the postoffice tower and
these few little things besides:
A Mayor elected on the Glib
eral Enforcement of the Laws"
platform, and doing it; wide
open gambling and closed store
rooms; full street corners and
empty houses; segregated prosti-
tuition (Which means protected)
and panderers, pimps and pro-
curers; a two million dollar city
and county budget equal to $22
per head, and the highest tax
ever known; a bond loading of
over seven millions on city and
county property and but two prin-
cipal streets with good paving
and county roads in bad shape;
thieves, wire tappers, race track
bookmakers, etc, busy and car
penters, painters, bricklayers,
etc, idle; city borrowing money
at bank rates to meet payrolls
and no money for county war
rants; easy going court machin-
cry and one bank and two irSIr-
ance companies looted.
Or yes, II srorts call JacksonI lie
one speedy lit e town, but the tai-
payers are not so doggone certain.
When | think of the money the
tax payers give up to run the govern
ment of Jacksonville recall the Ques-
ton of little key. He was sitting
.on his fathers knee listening to the
trials and fluctuations of Israel and
how the Jew, oppressed and persecut-
ed by all nations of the world for a
thousand years. had by their thrift
and segacity become the worlds bank
ers. key said: YES, farder, | UNI
derstand all that, but vat | wanta
know is where the Gentiles get ali
the money vot the Jews take away
from them"
As the percapita money distribu-
ton for the whole country is S32 ant
as Jacksonville is made up of aver
, age people, and as the people living
in jacksonville give up 500 per to run
, the government the question is what
do they do with the other ten.
One trouble with the whole country
is that people don't use the gifts they
are blessed with Take the case OF
A. X. Taylor, who lives next to me
on the river bank. Last Sunday he
went down on my dock with his fish,
ing pole and before you could say
scat he caught two red fish and one
black bass. got the smallest one
for dinner and had to have two boys
help me get away with it. The idea
Of man with talent like that vast
ing his time making cartoons and get
ting out paper.
| have it on tolerabe authority that
whenever Mayor Bowden begins to
feel like being a mite less liberal in
| enforcing the law than the boys might
naturally expect, he takes trip to
New York to study liberality first
hand, and leaves the morals of Jack
sonville to Acting Mayor P. H. Holt
We can always trust Pleasant.
This is what has just happened and
the mayor wired the acting mayor to
rigidly enforce the weed law. What.
ever he may be among the crooks
Mayor Bowden is bear among the
: wee dS.
A Novelty.
Mamma-How shall I have the ba-
! by's picture taken? Papa-I wonder
if you could have it taken while he's
asleep. I'd like to see how it looks
. that way.-Puck.