The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-09-30
Crop Short and Northern Markets
Will Not Be Flooded as Last
Season

| VIII MOT be FIooueu dS last
Season
/ Hastings, Fla, Sept. 2S.-Thurs-
Gay afternoon being half-holiday
and the meeting of the Hastings Po-
tato Growers Association having
been called for 3 o'clock that after.
noon, practically every grower at
tended The farmers gathered at the
auditorium, where Chairman Gladney
on the stroke of three opened the
meeting with the largest attendance
ever packed into the spacious hail.
With a few preliminary remarks,
after the reading of the minutes,
President Gladney then introduced
DR.. Ross, president of the Florida
Citrus Exchange, who gave very In.
teresting talk about his recent visit
to the Northern markets. He stated
that the conditions throughout the
North were never better, that finances
were at the extreme top limit, that
money was plentiful, and that this
year more than ever would be spent
for Florida produce, which heretofore
had always been more or less lux.
ury. DR.. Ross stated that the So
called rich man is economizing, real.
izing that the Government will need
all his help whereas the poor man
who in years gone past had seldom
received more than nine or ten dol
lars in his pay envelope is now re-
ceiving from forty to as high as one
hundred dollars a week. Where the
poor man in former years had been
envious of the rich man, he now is in
position to buy the things denied
him before the war and with money
being so plentiful the poor man is
treating his family to the best the
market affords.
He said fruits and vegetables are
selling at ridiculous prices in the
Northern markets, pointing to the
fact that price is no object and that
everybody would be able to buy Flor
ida potatoes next spring, where form
erly only those in better circum.
stances had been able to pay the
price asked
On account of these conditions DR..
Ross urged every grower to plant
more potatoes than ever this winter,
for the conditions as found by the
various agents of the Citrus Elk
change all indicate that the Northern
markets will take all the potatoes
the South can raise this spring. Fig.
ures compiled by the Government are
to the effect that this years (1918)
crop is about IS per cent below nor
NAL and that there will be practically
no old stock held over, as was the case
last year. With the known shortage
and the prediction that this years
crop would be used up entirely before
local goods go into the market, it
stands to reason that Florida pota-
toes should bring very fine price
next spring, price perhaps as good
as in the spring of 1917.
DR.. Ross urged the growers to
plant all they could against less than
normal supply and not a bushel
of surplus" Touching on the trans.
portation condition, DR.. Ross stated
that shipping conditions were better
than ever the railroad officials hav-
ing informed him that schedules are
being worked out so that 1t will not
take more than five days for car to
reach New York or Chicago from the
Florida markets. This he pointed out
would tend to do away with cars
arriving in poor condition, some
times caused by delayed railroad
transferring. There is not one con-
gested spot along the entire Atlantic
seaboard, according to the informa-
ton that DR., Ross was able to gather.
DR.. Ross in his closing paragraph
paid the most beautiful tribute to the
growers of Hastings. saying that the
highest type of American citizens are
those that produce food products 10
feed the army. We cannot ship po-
tatoes across, but we can raise them
for home consumption and in that
way release grains that can be
shipped overseas to feed those who
are fighting our battles for us at
home, The governments appeal to
all growers is for more potatoes than