The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-05
Some Facts, Present And Prospective
About Florida 1.-The Italy of America

tFrom the Manufacturers RecordJ
The following is from the Manufac
turers Record. Written by Richard
H. Edmonds, editor, under Daytona
dateline of February End:
The recent announcement that q
contract has been signed for a hotel
TO cost S1.300,00O. to be built on the
West Coast of Florida. does not come
any too soon. Indeed, there is need
in Florida for a hotel building era
somewhat matching that of the time
when Flaigler built his string of no
tells on the East Coast and when
Plant put several million dollars in
to the Tampa Bay Hotel and the
Belleview at Belleair Since that day
there has been no hotel building pc
riod in Florida commensurate with
the development of the State or
matching that period. 1t is true
there have been many small hotels
and some large and substantial ones
put up during the last few years, but
the warning given to Florida last
winter by the Manufacturers Record
and to the railroads leading to the
State that the tourist business of this
| winter would far exceed hotel and
railroad facilities is already being full
| filed
The rush of travel to Florida last
winter was very heavy. 1t overtaxed
the capacity of the railroads and
the hotels. over and over, during
the winter and spring and summer.
the Manufacturers Record sought to
impress upon the railroad people and
upon all Florida hotel interests that
the travel of the present winter
would far exceed that of past win
tiers, and that neither the railroads
nor the hotels were adequate to the
requirements. These statements are
being fulfilled to an even greater ex-
tent than was anticipated. Florida
is over-crowded. Its hotels are al
ready booked up to their fullest ca
pacity, and every good hotel in the
State, believe, ia'ly declining to
make new engagements. From every
direction kilograms and letters are
coming seeking to secure rooms, but
without avail. 1t is true, of course,
that many people who have not yet
made engagements will come to Flor
ida and will manage to find accommo-
dations, but even now there are many
important places in the State where
people are sleeping on cots in hall.
ways or parlors, while some of the
larger tourist centers are more
crowded than ever before in their
history.
The rush of traveI to the State may
be indicated in the fact furnished to
the Manufacturers Record by the
Pullman Company, that at the Ires-
ent time there are between 100 and
lao Pullman cars reaching Jackson
vile every day on regular trains,
while last week there were 215 extra
Pullmans. and the week before 235
extra. reaching Jacksonville in the
effort of railroad needs to meet the
demand for accommodations. TAX
ing these extra Pullmans, added to
the regular daily number, it is seen
that there are now nearly 200 Pull
man cars day reaching Jacksonville
from the North and West The Pull
man people are put to the limit OF
their ability to meet the demand. and
every day the railroads are CARRYING
out of the State solid dead-head Pull.
man trains, in order to get cars back
to the North and West as quickly as
possible.
These are the conditions which
Florida and the railroads leading to
Florida now face.
When the war is over some OF this
tide of tourist travel will go to Eu-
rope, but it is altogether probable
that the number of tourists now in
Florida who after the war will go to
Europe will be more than made up
by the ever-expanding interest
throughout the country in Florida.
a..
what Florida is and what it is des-
tined to be. Throughout the State
can be found many people who in
former years spent their winters in
California, but who tell you that the