The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-11-26

ture last fall, to the amount of $780,
900 TO meet the amount appropriated
by the state road department for the
Dixie Highway and roads Nos. 2 and
). This l am unalterably opposed to.
If the voters along the state roads
will not vote for 5 per cent. bonds for
all the roads of the county. / do not
think it right for the county commits
sioners to issue 5 per cent, four-year
bends for all the county to pay for
when the benefits go only to small
percentage of our citizens. / have no
reason to believe the county commits
sioners will do it. should the road
bond election refuse to vote for the
county to bond.
Much has been said about labor
conditions and the high cost of ma
terial, farm hands. etc. When will
conditions be better without an effort
on our part to bring the laborers
back? Twelve years ago this county
was practically covered with turpen-
tine plants, large saw milling plants
with log roads leading out from the
mills in the yellow pine forests; phos-
plate plants running on full time,
thousands of laborers were scattered
over the county; the old men. women
and boys would hire to work on the
farms. Then the farmers had plenty
o. cheap labor and made a surplus to
sell. Corn sold at 75c. per barrel,
syrup at 30c. per gallon, sweet pota-
toes at Csc. per bushel, dressed pork
at SC. to &c. per pound, dressed beef
at &c. to SC. per pound, and peanuts
at SOC. per bushel These were normal
times, Mr.. Editor, and all was lovely.
Now what change. These laborers,
by the hundreds, gone to get 80 cents
an hour to work for the government
in building ships. environments, NUM-
ton plants and operating railroad
trains and repairing railroads. their
families, the farm hands we had, gone
with them never to come back to work
on the farms of Marion county any
more unless the county can do some
thing to induce the heads of families
to come back and get big wages, so
their families can work on the farms
like they once did. Then the farmers
can sell their fat hogs, snout, hoof,
hair, tail and all at 10c. or 13c. per
pound, or dress them and get zoe. to
25c. per pound; sell their beef cattle
their corn at $3.50 per bushel; their
sweet potatoes at 81 per bushel; their
syrup at 81 per gallon, and peanuts
at S Ito So per bushel. That will bring
back those normal times we once had.
No able-bodied man will hire to work
on the farm at $1.50 and 50 per day
and pay 25 cents per pound for pork
and 35 cents per pound for bacon to
eat, especially when he can go to pub
lie works at $3.50 and SIS per day.
Talk about high taxes. My state
and county tax is about $140. my city
tax about as much. / would rather
pay 5000 per year state and county
tax and have a good smooth road to
run my car over than to pay what do
now and 500 per year to repair my
car from running over the bad roads
O. the county. We should vote for
bonds for sense of county pride;
keep abreast with the progress of the
times. Other counties are bonding
and building, why not we? Every
farmer should vote for bonds to bring
extra laborers here to buy dollar-a-
gallon syrup and sweet potatoes, beef
and pork at high prices so the farmer
can get rich. Every merchant should
vote for bonds to bring more people
here to buy shoes at $40 per pair and
calico at Csc. per yard so the merchant
can get rich. And every landlord
should vote for bonds to turn loose
over a million dollars to the road
builders and their families, right here
in our county, so the vacant houses
row occupied by the bats and owls
would be filled by paying renters and
demand created for the thousands of
dormant acres of land now lying idle.
Every lawyer should vote for bonds
fer the reason the bonds would have
to be validated and lawyers paid to do
it. Every man that owns an auto
mobile should vote for bonds or put
up and shut up and be content with
what we have and worse.
| r. +. Rogers