The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-11-23
Club Work in Beautiful Florida

Club Work in Beautiful Florida
Now that the Florida Federation of
Women's Clubs is in annual session
in Tampa, extracts from a recent
issue of the Southern Woman's Mag
azine by Garnet Noel Wiley will be
very interesting to Ocala club women.
This article is illustrated with pho
tograph of Mrs. w. S. Jennings, pres
ident of the Florida Federation, and
among other things says:
| 1t is curious and interesting to turn
| from the club work of these southern
states that lie close to one another,
separated only by rivers and state
lines, to the federation problem in the
the more isolated peninsula of Flor
| ida. Stretching down into tropical
waters, dotted with romantic lakes,
mysterious with the eeric beauty OF
| its keys and everglades, it has, never
! theless, some very real and perplexing
difficulties to solve, rising partly from
those very conditions that make it so
strange and picturesque.
When Florida's 100000 acres
| were coded to her, over two-thirds of
| it was swamp, or undrained land. This
one fact alone, involving the stupen-
dous task of reclaiming vast areas of
fertile territory. comprised an under
taking worth the forming of feder-
alton to bring about. But this is only
one OF the states many problems.
Florida has semi-tropical diseases and
fevers to eradicate; conditions of IL
literacy to combat! Indian, Negro and
Latin immigrant factors in her popula-
ton to harmonize; undeveloped in
dustries and resources to be exploited.
and last but not least the thinly set
tied and scattered population of the
southwestern part of the state to be
bound closer to the more developed
east coast, and awakened to self de.
velopment through an aroused civic
consciousness. The federation has a
great work beneath it's hand. and the
hand, though white and small. is firm
and never idle.
In all these needs and undertakings
that | have been enumerating. the
women are active, and the men are
welcoming this activity and making
1t co-operant with their own endeay-
ors The state is wide awake. Every
where one feels the thrill of enthusi-
asm.
Some months ago tod you of the
rederation's triumph of conservation
the acquisition of Royal Palm Park
ana the work of the club women to
conserve and protect the bird and
plant life that it contains. The state
legislature has been generous and
sympathetic toward this work, and
the women have gained courage to go
on asking their congressman for more
help and better laws. During the COM
LIZ 4cSlSldtuIo tIcy Will pAOSOhs ~AAAs
asking for prohibition, suffrage and
an adequate child labor law, as well
as appropriations for other splendid
undertakings.
Mrs. George Wright, the chairman
of education, tells us that local option
compulsory education has been acted
upon in seven counties, and in each
instance has been the direct result of
efforts of club women. Women as at
tendance officers have been appoint
ed and are serving in creditable
manner. Among the women serving
as school trustees we find our own
past federation president, Mrs. Will
liam Hooker.
The past year brought about an in
teresting treaty between the United
States and Great Britain for the pro-
tecting of birds in America and Cant
ada. This win greatly simplify the |
work of w0men's clubs, the depart
ment Of agriculture and the Audubon
societies in protecting the birds. Per-