Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-01-18
The Truth About Florida.
By N. L. Willet.

BY N. l.. Wlllet.
Two young men friends of mine,
preparing themselves for the truck
ing business, went the other day one
to Beaufort and one to Florida and
the pertinent inquiry as to which
one of the two had the greater
chances. Florida today is one of the
most heavily advertised states in the
Union and this is attracting a goodly
amount of immigration. Its citrus in
dustry, of course, is the supreme
thing in Florida. No one tan compete
but it takes a long time to grow an
orange grove and it takes a great
deal of capital to carry on n or to
buy a ready made one. The vegetable
interest, too, is large but this also
has it's handicaps. 1 questioned a
friend of mine the other day who
lives in central Florida and I have
secured some plain truths about that
state and it is well worth while to
make note of them.
Florida's immigration.
He tells me that immigrants into
Florida are now mostly of the poor
er class who have been unfortunate
at home and who are simply fortune
seekers. These men are not desirable,
Florida doesn't wish them, and in
fact Florida is getting now very
tired even of the tincan tourists that
she welcomed several years ago. Ths
truth is, said my friend, that only
rich men are indicated for Florida
and this is true also of California. 1t
takes big money to do this Florida
business, whether it is citrus growing
or whether it is vegetable growing
and the man of small means, accord
ing to my friend had better stay out
of the state.
Great Distance.
Florida is a large state and ex-
very long. The haul from Florida
to selling points is a big one. Freight
rates are extremely high. Icing costs
are heavy. This is especially true of
Southern Florida. Trucking in south
ern Florida carries not only the ham
dicap of great distance but though
these muck lands are rich yet they
the full of stumps and %underbrush
and clearing up is expensive and
they have all got to be drained. 1t
fills an ordinary man with despair
when he thinks of labor and cost of
transforming southern Florida rich
muck lands into arabic lands.
Central Florida.
Before the citrus industry got it's
foothold in Florida this, state was
considered a kind Of poor mans
waste land given ove principally to
razor backs and three or four hum
dred pound scrub ticky cattle and
containing a native population that
was exceedingly di~scouraging and al
most hopeless. Except southern Flor
ida, according to my friend, is a poor
land state. Its palms and its live oaks
look picturesque and pretty and so do
it's lakes but these matters can't be
thought of in terms of economic
crops. A trip fifteen years ago
through Central Florida was about
the most d~iscouraging trip that a
man could possibly undertake. The
state carried climate and seemingly
nothing else. We must remember that
the pleasure seeker who finds climate,
palm trees, and winter bathing and
good fishing in Florida-this man is
wholly a different proposition from a
would-be economic settler and any
settler is apt to see encouragement
and failure ahead of him where this
settling must be on poor land.
Health.
My friend was from Central Flor
ida and his yellow countenance show
ed that he was full of malaria. Flor
ida is badly infested with malaria
and in the old days was subject, too,