The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-13
FINE TALKS MAUE
BY SEC. HOLWORTHY
AND Sen. DRANE
AT TAMPA BANQUET

the TAMPA MeTCHanlS aSSCcldJlOH,
held at the DeSoto hotel last night
Congressman-elect III. ]. Drane of
Lakeland, was the principal speaker
OF the evening. while A. ]. Holwor-
thy of Lakeland, Rube Allyn of Sara
sofa. Judge NJ. Henry Cohen and
fothers completed the list. Judge
Cohen read several bills he had pre-
pared to be introduced at the next
session of the legislature for the ben
eft of merchants. They were bad
check bill, an itinerant merchant
bill and a coupon law.
Advocates Taxing Mail Order Houses
A. ]. Holworthy. secretary of the
Lakeland Chamber of Commerce.
spoke on Trading at Home" He ex
pressed the warm feeling which pre-
walls between this city and Lake
Hand. What he had to say about
mail order houses would almost be
llibelous if it were printed "Rears,
Sobuek & Co.." as he termed them,
were made rich. he said, through the
ignorance of the public by selling
them third class goods at first class
price. Mr.. Holworthy expressed
himself as believing the next legis-
lature would pass a bill placinF
such houses on n basis of home mer-
chants by taxing them to do bust
ness.
Rnbe Allyn took the cake" as u.s.
ual. when he spoke on his recent trip
to New York. Rube declared there
were two reasons he came back to
Florida. The second one was. he
said. because he was broke. From
his discourse RUDE had great time
in the metropolis. whether he had
any money or not Mere than like
" il was the first reason, which he
did not state, that brought him back
instead of the latter, for in a prev
icus breath he declared he had got
ten rich in the newspaper game
down about Sarasota.
Drane Missed His Guess.
Congressman -elect II. J. Drane
spoke on FLORIDA Folks" Those
present listened to the speaker with
interest throughout. He related an
experience of early manhood to draw
comparison of development of
things. over thirty years ago the
congressmanelect secured railroad
contract, with the proviso that he
walk forty miles to the job, which
was located rn what is known as
Wire lake. The railroad was a part
of the Plant system.
Some few days later distin-
guished gentleman happened to drop
into the camp to inquire the direc-
ton to Tampa. lie was directed by
Mr.. Drane and the two fell into con-
versatior with reference to the work
Mr.. Drane was doing. The stranger
asked Mr.. Drane's opinion with ref
erenoe to the railroad project. which
the latter pronounced wild cat
scheme. Reasons given were that
there was nothing but a wilderness
through which the railroad was run
ming and it could not possibly sur
vive. for the reason it had nothing
to draw from.
thn OF yn
Mr.. Drane that such things followed
railroads and he would probably live
to see the day when beautiful city
would grace the spot upon which
they stood over thirty years ago. The
man to whom Mr.. Drane was talking
was none other than II. b. Plant.
whose prophecy has more than come
true. In part. Mr.. Drane said:
Births Now EQUAL Population Then.
"At the time of which / have spok
en-, thirty-three years ago, only a
short time as time is counted, Flor
ida had a population Of 100000 peo-
ple-.now a million. You are entitled
to part OF the credit fOr TINS, re-
cause statistics show that there were
1889 marriages in your county dur
ing the year 1916. There were 1,249
births in the same time. and surely
some of you are responsible for a
part of this record. You will note
that these figures equal in both in
stances the population of Tampa
thirty-three years ago. Tampa,
struggling village, unknown and Sc
gregated from the rest Of the world.
had a population of 1900, with no
suburbs-now, with your environ
ments, a population Of $4,000.
Then, one small bank, so small as
- t.o a ioka-uow a banking capital