The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1921-03-02
OPEN THE FRONT DOOR

Discussing Florida's present and future, with all
the gertrude of first impression, a bunch of tour
lists from the ends of the earth edited the listeners
in Munn's park the other day with some pronounc-
ed views After all the stock objechons-sum-
marizabIe as they don't do it that way at home
had been disposed CT one of them opened up
with ideas which seem worth repeating.
He noticed the fact that from the west coast to
the gulf ports there is not single regular boat line,
and declared that the establishment Of a complete
gulf transportation system for passengers and
freight would mark the greatest forward step for
Florida that could be taken.
There Is not single large city cast of the
Rockies, he said, which does not owe most Of
its growth to the development of the county west
of it. Why should FIorida's west coast cities
prove exceptions?
II axe squirt at the map. From Tampa to
New Orleans is a nRe over four hundred miles.
An ocean greyhound would negotiate the distance
in twenty -four hours-Welve hours quicker than
you can get there by rail. Four hundred miles
further lies Houston ex, rig ht in the heart of
the richest farming state in the union, and within
two days fast sailing from Tampa, as against two
days and half by rail. There is not another
place on the continent where ocean traffic can be
: preferred to land traffic on tlte'basis of speed.
such a service would open up the best mar
ket Florida ever had. Texas people eat about
the east. And when you get up to the border of
Oklahoma, you strike a class that would use gold
nuggets for beefsteak if they could chew the
metal They could use millions of boxes of grape
fruit and oranges, and never blink at the cost
Florida vegetables and Strawberries come on the
market several weeks earlier than they do in Texas
and early shipments, at low freight rates, would
be sure to pay. Florida could at least double the
outlet for its products by opening up this line of
trade
AS for the things ii buys, though it ought to
produce them itself there is no comparison. A car
load of beef from Fort Worth, via Houston
would not cost more than half as much for freight
and icing as one from Chicago The finest meats
in the world are grown and packed in Texas. All
the grain, hay, feed, flour and potatoes, as we'll
as many other things, could be procured over this
route much cheaper than from the east.
Heretofore Florida has done business through
its back door. No matter where you come from.
you've got to come by Jacksonville The best
part of the state IS down here on what, viewed
from the west, is spur line system. What is
needed now is to open the front door. That will
not take away any eastern northern trade which
can compete with the western. but it would give
the state the benefit of genuine competition and put
such ports as Tampa upon an equality with
Omaha, Kansas City, Fort Worth, Houston, and
Galveston, which have prospcred by the enterprise
of their western fairgrounds.
Lakeland would come TO the front with the
development of the coast. Ii would bear about
the same relation to Tampa that Oakland and
Berkley do 10 San Francisco. -.