The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-07-22

with the state of Kansas. He points
out the fact that the latter state. OPP
pressed with border wars, with
drought, with limited agricultural re-
sources. but also blessed with an en-
ergetic, confident people, who. despite
difficulties, rose to greatness.
Florida's future and possibilities for
development are almost unfathomable.
Mr.. McRae sites many facts concern
ing the resources Of the Peninsular
state:
Kansas is in the heart Of the con-
tinent. It is a dry country. subject to
cold winds in winter and hot ones in
Summer. There is no timber and no
navigable rivers and no sea about 1t
and lakes within filled with fish.
Aside from the herds and flocks it
is said the pillow is the only weapon
with which the people extorted sus-
tenance and wealth from the soil. In
the old days there was drought, and
then came grasshoppers and ate Up
everything except the mortgages. and
collections were taken up in neigh
boring states for bleeding Kansas"
The saloon was there. too, to scoop
UP what was left of the scanty earn
ings of the people. Necessity forced
the issue and saved the day. 1t was a
case of do or die. BY intelligent man.
ipulation Of the dry soil, conservation
OF the limited rainfall, red blood,
brains and industry, it eliminated
the scourge Of drought and grasshop-
pers succumbed to intelligent argu
ment and in 1881 the saloons were
evicted and the jails went out of
business. Lusty lying was INDUCED in
by liquor lovers in other states about
the effects of prohibition in Kansas"
but that state kept forging ahead, de-
spite the ridicule and jokes leveled
at it and its jayhawker population.
In 1881 when the state penalized the
liquor traffic the assessed valuation
of all property was s17o,s13,373. In
1917 the assessors books recorded a
valuation of s3.075, 3s5,1s3 In 1881
the banks showed total resources
amounting to s5.s72,ooo. In 1917 the
bank resources reached the large to-
tai OF s300.174, 072. Prior to the ban
ishment Of liquor the state had an in
the state has a surplus of ten millions
est from loans.
Instead of building saloons the peo-
pie built school houses and made good
roads on which in 1917 there were be-
ing operated 155,e77 automobiles, elo-
quent testimony of the buying power
of the people liberated from the obli-
cation Of supporting saloons and jails.
In 1850 Kansas did not have a mile of
railroad track and Florida had 402
miles. In 1915 Kansas has a little less
than 10000 miles OF track compared
to little more than 5000 in Florida
while electric lines had a mileage in
Kansas of SGT compared with 1913
miles in Florida.
BY the United States census Of
1910 there were $50 natives of Kansas
who had become citizens of Florida,
and since then this number has no
doubt been largely increased. Besides
every winter finds thousands of Kan
sans here to escape the cold of their
native heath.
This in brief is the story of bleeding
Kansas, desolated as it was by Dor
der wars, with drought, with grass
hoppers, with resources limited to ag-
riculture. but blessed with a people
having energy, confidence and I'M
limited vision. They defied alcohol
oppression and the caprices of a var
liable clin1ate-with politics sometimes
quite as eccentric-and rose to great
ness. -
This should strengthen the courage
Of prohibitionists in their work of put
ting Florida in the bone dry column,
and restore confidence in those who
doubt the possibilities, advantages
and opportunities of a state blessed
with the best climate in America
state with more water coming every
year from the clouds and more Of it
in navigable rivers and lakes and
available underground than any other;
water is a prime necessity of life;
water makes the deserts bloom as the
rose, but the water in the west is
bought from owners of irrigation
plants.
No other state has such access to
the sea and the world by water all
about IL. No other state is nearer to
the West Indies, Central America. the
Panama canal and South America. AL
ready fourteen ferry boats carry
loaded freight cars from Key West to
Havana without breaking bulk be-
tween American and Cuban railroads.
Through the ports Of Jacksonville,
Miami. Key West, Tampa and Pensa-
cola, with their splendid harbors-
never ice bound-ships should be ply
ing to carry the traffic between these
great countries instead of having it
go to northern centers. Why Should
the coffee of Brazil and the varied pro-
ducts of our great southern neighbors
go to New York for distribution to
the west and south when the ports Of
Florida are nearer?
Florida has more kinds Of trees AMI
vegetation than any other state IN
the Union. The air here is pure. COM
ing as it does from the seas on either
side. The very air is vital with life
as seen in orchids ana moss pendant
from trees-without contact with the
soil they draw sustenance from the
air and rain. In the white sand along
the East Coast so pure that a hand