The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-06-23
Cooperation.

L
union.
If Florida is ever to reach its high
est possibilities of material develop.
ment it will be from the concert OF
effort by all who have the best inter-
ests of the state at heart. ,
Probably no section Of the United
States has had more to contend
against in combating preconcelved
notions if its unhealthfulness than
the great peninsula which stretches
farther into the southern seas than
any other part of the country, and
the fight against these wrong impress
sions is not yet won.
Within the past year the CONNER
cial organizations of the state have
united in a great publicity campaign
to advertise Florida. 1t brought such
splendid results that it is likely that
double the cost will be put into SIM
liar campaign during the coming
twelve months. Its object was TO
spread truthful information about the
resources of the state all over the
land. 1t invited correspondence for
additional information regarding par
ticular localities and inquiries came
by the thousands.
One, and only one, important crit
icism may be made on the advertising
that appeared in many of the leading
periodicals in the North-it was that
the matter of Florida's healthfulness
was not emphasized, hardly mention
ed. Not shot was taken at the most
important of the charges that are
voiced against the attractlyene3s OF
the state. Yet the healthfulness of
any state or locality is the first con-
sideration in the mind Of the home
seeker who has intelligence enough to
make him a desirable citizen. 1t Is
because without health and the condl-
tions that conserve health, all other
resources lose most of their value.
A sick man with a dependent, sick
family is not an asset-merely
charge on the community.
And if Florida, like any other COM
munity, rich in natural resources, is
to come to its rightful greatness, it
must be because Florida is a section
where men and women and children
can live in comfort the year round IN
conditions that nature has provided
and that man has adapted to his own
best uses. And this material devel-
opmcnt will come when the rest of the
world is convinced Of the fact It's
up to the people of Florida to do the
convincing.
The State Board of Health has res
cucd Florida from periodical cpidem-
les of yellow fever, which used to men
ace the state from June to October Of
each year. Its warnings have aided
largely in shutting out the bubonic
plague that ravaged a neighboring
state. 1t has reduced typhoid fever
and the intestinal diseases which are
supposed to be particularly at home
in warm climates, to the normal of
the most healthful communities. 1t
has put the sick and death rates Of
its cities and of the state at large on
q par with those of the cooler parts
of the country, lower than most of
them. 1t has accomplished these
things largely through a consistent
and persistent campaign of educating
the people of the state, which has CIV
en- them an intelligence on sanitary
matters quite the equal of that of the
residents of any other state.
Now it is the right of every Flori-
dian to be proud of the climatic con-
ditions of his state, even though he
NAV not be responsible for them. 1t
is even more his right to be proud of
the advantages that have been taken
of such conditions to maintain and
improve the sanitary and health con-
ditions in which he lives. 1t is his
duty to cooperate with the State