The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-11-27
FRIEND HAYCRAFT
FEARS THE FUTURE

Editor Star: | notice in the Star Of
Nov. y your comments on my article
or the bond question. You say that we
don't want good roads for the tourist,
but before you end that paragraph
you express a fear that tourists Will
not pass thru Marion county if they
''hnd a better road by going up and
down the east and west coasts"
Hold on, Mr.. Haycraft; finish a
sentence before you begin another.
What we said was I'VE don't want the
roads for tourists but for our own
people. All the same, the tourists COM
ing thru here spend a good deal of
money and a large amount of that
noney goes to the farmers. If they
can find better road by going up and
down the east coast or west coast, they
Will not pass thru Marion, and we will
lose that much" That reads very diff
ferent from your garbled version of
what we wrote; doesn't it?-Editor)
The writer was not making fun of
the Kendrick road. Why is it that
cars can run from 35 to 40 miles an
hour on the Kendrick road? 1t has
been said that Kendrick road is the
best road that has been built in Mar
ion county up to date.
(The Kendrick road is, to the best
of our knowledge, the best road in
Marion county, but you said it would
"be credit to any county in any state
thought you were making fun of it,
| fer it is as rough as a cow-trail COM
pared with a really improved road
| F,ditor).
You wrote about the canning fac
tory. Brother Benjamin. that canning
factory man pulled the wool over your
eyes by telling you a pitiable tale
about how badly the country rubes
treated him. The truth of the mat
ter is the cannery went into a con-
tract with the farmers to take their
whole crop of beans at So cents a bas.
ket The cannery took the earlier
beans at 50 cents, shipped them and
got 1925 a basket. When the bear
market went fiat, he left the beans IL
tic farmers hands. A prominent cit
izen of Ocala told me in the postoffict
the 21st that he was out $500 by the
cannery and the matter was not set
tied yet. 1t is in litigation. From
what the writer can learn there wa:
not a bean canned.
/ You say that "Haycraft doesn'
know his own county" That is moth
ing. You do not know your own town
let alone a whole county. 1t is YOU
business to know all these things anC
lpUt it in the Star for us country rube!
to read.
How do you expect us to know al
these things unless you tell us thru
1.-THE Star?
! (Mr. Haycraft, you mean well, bu
you don't know what you are talking
about. The two gentlemen who man
aged the canning factory. so far from
lpulling wool over our eyes, have neve
lsPoken to US except to say, "Howdy
do" and never laid blame on ''countr,
rubes" to anybody. If you will come t.
Ocala and talk, not to some gentle
man in the postoffice-the lobby, w
, presume-who is not willing to Civ
, his name, but to the men who wer
: familiar with the factory's affairs, yoI
will find that the managers of sai
factory went broke trying to fulfil
their obligations. They opened tn
factory during the worst part of tn
war, and canned a large quantity o
beans and other vegetables. The.
turned loose during this time a goo
deal of money, some of which went t
the farmers, and some to their work
men and workWomen, all of whic
was very welcome at that time The
; were canning vegetables for the arm
: and navy, and some of Ocala's well-to
do people went and helped, not be
cause they needed the money but be
cause their work added to the suppl
of needed food in the great crisis. w
know this work was done because W