The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-08-25
FOR
SECTION ARE GREAT
o. n. /. Wernicke Sees Great Posi-
bIities for Future of County
and the City.

A INSTALLATION of Pensacola's OPP
portunities are concretely expressed in
a recent communication received by
the Chamber Of Commerce from o. II.
L. Wernicke of the Pensacola Tar &
Turpentine CO.
The following extracts are given
publicity with the sanction of Mr..
Wernicke.
MY confidence in the future great
ness Of the section of which Pensa-
cola is the metropolis amounts to a
conviction based on knowledge dating
back over twenty-five years during
which time / have learned something
of the south, its people and their prob
lens.
pensacola is but one place on the
map. It is a fine little place, but the
big world can wag along without US.
Relatively it's Importance Is a mat
ter of vital concern to ourselves, but
we can make 1t vital to others as well
and only by so doing will our hopes
and ambitions be fully realized.
There have been good people in
Pensacola for century or more and
there viii be other good people here
century hence. 1t Is very charm
ing place to live in but there are also
many other likable places and some
that are forging ahead while Pensa-
cola lags behind.
Our progress or lack of progress
is not the result Of accident or luck.
Such things are ordered by other and
more definite laws. We have a fine
harbor, yes, one of the finest in the
world, but It harbors nothing of vital
to the rest of the world
and there are other fine harbors that
attract more commerce than our own.
Why is this so? There is a reason,
What is 1t? If surmountable why
waste our resources in that direction?
But II such backwardness is due only
to an attitude of our own minds or
viii show what can be done about it
and how relatively important the do
Ing of it is compared with other things
that makes cities greater and better.
THE old south with it's forests. its
cheap labor to sustain commerce and
social progress is of the past or near
ing it's end. These great resources no
longer suffice to sustain our ambi-
lions. We must have better and
broader foundations for our future and
greater progress and prosperity. For
unately these are not lacking. They
lie at our door in great abundance. but
demand a different and more slxillful
treatment than was required to har-
vest the forest crop which We did not
plant. In the future a new and keen
u zest will be experienced in the real
cation that we may SOW while we reap
ma yet reap while we SOW.
Our great forest crop Is gone or
so.ng. It was a magnificent thing in
hereiore of minor Importance. The !
and that produced this forest wealth
The ocean and the harbors |
'einain. The demands for food and
'ther shelter and for other things are
growing with ever increasing insis-
ency and illuminate the pathway we
must travel il we mean to keep up
With the procession.
The task vii not be light but its |
oing will be worth while and inter- |
sting. 1t calls for men. men with en-
Tres in the purpose and new areas
n their brains, and fortunately we
ave such men among us in album
ance. They are the selfsame sturdy |
ioneers who invaded our forests and /.
enuded the land Of its trees. They !
re not by choice or necessity tied to !
he denuded land. Theirs is the prob !
ration of sorts which Pensacola may
clip to initiate for its material adj
antage and with the glorious salts
action that ever crowns a worthy
urpose. Our next step will be taken
rom the spot where we now stand.
! can be sideways or backwards but
am betting my markers on the other
orse.
Amy successful effort on the part
( Pensacola to lift itself above the
bstacles which hold it back will
rove an Inspiration to the whole
which in turn will do more
} make it great city than the means
t command of its own citizens. What
most needed are those achieve
rents which inspire hope not alone for
ur community, but for every COM
unity from the shores of the Great
axes to the Gulf of Mexico"