The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1920-02-20

dergone little change in the nearly
quarter of century since ] left here
The people are changed. OF course
Time is no respecter OF persons ever
here where Ponce de Leon discovered
the fountain of everlasting youth. Bu
have found many of my old friends
and associates of boyhood and with
that politeness which is characteristic
Of Floridlans towards visitors the!
have been kind enough to tell me thai
/ had changed but little in the lone
absence, 1iEl
This is delightful little city, Just
1 about the size of Columbia, 1t is wei
] off the beaten paths OF the tourists
and therefore prices here are much
! more reasonable for everything than
| In the resort cities. To the tourist
Ocala's chief attraction is beautiful
Silver Springs, the most wonderful
springs in the world where a great
river, nayigable all the year, has its
source. This is probably the one river
in all the country that can be used by
boats right up to the source. The
scenery observed from glass bottom
boats, is beyond description, and there
is an added attraction in the halo OF
Indian romance that hangs over the
country Whereabouts.
Ocala is known as the birthplace OF
a political party that cut quite a
swarth ia the affairs of the country a
few years ago, 1t was here in Deem
Der 1889 that the populist party was
born. Those who remember the fierce
campaigns of 1890 and 1892 will recall
the famous 'Ocala Demands" The
Populist nominee, running on plat.
form embracing these demands, poll
ed over million popular votes and
some twenty-four electoral votes in
1892. Some of these demands" then
regarded as the wild imaginings of
visionary politicians have since been
crystalized into law.
Like Columbia this city has a daily
paper and weekly. Two dailies have
been tried but without success. The
weekly, the Ocala Banner, is one of
the oldest and most widely known of
all Florida papers. Its editor, a
friend of my youth, who gave first en-
couragement TO my journalistic ambi-
tions quarter Of century ago, is
still on the Job. He is now as ever a
valiant democrat and a defender of
the faith. He is for whatever the
democratic administration does. A
gallant Confederate soldier is one man
Of my acquaintance here, whe has abb
solutely refused to grow old He is.
as spry as ever and as rtnafraid as
when he faced shot and shell in de-
tense Of the South. On yesterday he
took ride in a Wrigley aeroplane
and requested that none of the stunts
be eliminated because he was a pas
senger If newspaper men were re-
warded in this republic in proportion
to their merit and the measure Of
their public service Frank T.. Harris
would long ago have been a represen,
tative in congress.
This city and codnty have never
recovered fully from the terrible
freeze Of 1895 when all of the citrus
groves were killed, but its present
prosperity has a more substantial
foundation. Finding the growing of
citrus fruit hazardous and generally
improbable the people have turned
more and more to general farming
with liberal acreage Of truck gar
dening as side line. The live stock !
has improved wonderfully in quar-
ter of century. The razor back hog, |
the only porker of which the state |
boosted decade or two ago. is a rari- !
ty now and hog growing is one of the
county's great industries. They are
largely fattened on peanuts and they
do their own harvesting. Thousands
of acres are planted to corn and pota-
toes and winter cover crops, on which
Craze hogs and cattle, are common
In nothing has the county, and for
that matter. the whole state, improv-
ed more than in good roads. Some Of
the most wonderful roads in the ceun.
try, and over what Maury couAtian
would call vast stretches of barren
territory, connect the towns and cities
of the state The people have not hes
itated at the cost of road construc-
ton. If fine paved roads can be con-
structed in Florida, where the wealth
and population per mile is not one
tenth of what it Is in Maury county,
assuredly there is no excuse for tray
cling throgh the mud in the Dim
ple."
We leave today for Orlando and