The Ocala banner., 1922-06-09
WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT
BY Moses Folsom

Ask hundred men what made the
United States rich-the foremost ma
ton on the earth. One may say it
was because of the vast area of forest
and farm lands the country has@had
for the last couple of hundred years.
But Africa has an equal if not greater
area. Another man may say it is the
American acreage of wheat lands.
But Canada has larger area and yet
1t has but seven per cent of our
population. Another may say it is
the school house, yet in the elements
of an education. Germany leads the
world; ninety-eight per cent of her
people could read and write, but Ger
many went to pieces.
Think the matter over seriously and
you will find that the material pro-
gress OF the world has been a story
of coast lines and rivers. History
in the main is a recital of wars be-
cause the glamour of battles makes
literature. The man who leads armies
is the hero and his statue is found in
the city and his pictures are seen in
books. Economic conditions however
of which We may know but little made
the battles. The history and the rule
of the world has been the use of high
ways by sea and land The United
States is the only country that start
ed right in an economical sense. It's
vast interior was opened up by the
rivers followed in turn by the rail
roads
Transportation brought the products
of the prairies and plains to the sea
coast and distributed them among our
own people and to the world in return
carried back the output of the mills
and mines. From 1921 to 1921 the
United States exported 341,211,26S
bales OF ctton alone. CT S5.2f2,S16 tons,
having a value of 2O,349. PSI, ,32O, or
only four billions less than our pres
ent national debt.
Every forward step in civilization
has been built up by trade expansion.
The patient camel carried the wares
of India TO distant cities and made
them great the ships made Tyre,
Venice, Rome. Spain. Holland Eng
land Our own loved country has
4 iiour'ished by exchanges within herself
and with other countries reached by
ihe sea. IL Is not the production Of
crops alone that made us great but
our facilities In the exchange of pro-
ducts by boat and rail. Without ex.
changes the crops would rot in the
fields and the wheels OF the factories
would not turn.
Speaking of transportation facili.
ties. what State is better favored than
Florida? II has more sea coast than
any other. Ii is nearest to the West
indies. TO South America. the Panama
Canal, and the vast Pacific region.
II has rail connection by easA grades
with the great consuming centers of
our country 1t has no snow. ice and
cold wintry winds to interfere with
the movement of trains and ships
Florida is not developed agricul-
turally as il should be- J. j. Hill,
who built the Great Northern Railway
in the Northwest, and died in control
of 10000 miles of track. said that the
location of a new settler along his
roads Immediately added a thousand
dollars to their value The writer of
this served twelve years under j. j.
Hill in charge of advertising and wit
messed the building of his road from
the Mississippi river to the Pacific
ocean, and saw farms and towns and
cities spring up along his racks like
beads on a string. Hill annexed the
farm lands, the cattle ranges, the
forest and distributed their products
to the ends of the earth. He invaded
the South and his trains carried cot
ton to the Pacific coast and his ships
conveyed it to the Orient His hobby
was agriculture and he helped to make
the Northwest great