The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-12-09
Rv w. chlPLEY Jones.

Holmes county, Florida, contains
more farms operated by their own
c!s and cultivated to the staple crops
Of agriculture, such as cotton, corn,
potatoes, peanuts, rice, sugar cane,
etc, than perhaps any other county
in Florida; certainly in West Florida.
And all classes of the county's citi-
zouship. from its rural dwellers-its
farming populatiOn-to the citizenship
Of its towns, including it's merchants
and bankers; it's professional men and
artisans, Individually impress the
visitor to the county with it's marked
and substantial prosperity.
Indeed, in passing from farm 10
farm throughout the length and
breadth of Holmes county, one is ir-
rcsistably impressed with the convic
ton that it's people are of that class
Of the nations yeomanry who, to
quote a very old but trite aphroism,
live at home and board at the same
place"
Bombay is the county seat Of
Holmes county, is the center of its
wonderfully fertile and productive
farming area and is it's most impor-
tant center of commercial activity.
spent the day there last Wednesday
and in no community which 1 have
visited in my tour of West Florida,
for the purpose of gathering data
upon which to predicate The Journals
presentation of West Florida's mar
Vicious and unmatched resources TO
West FloridianS, have ! visited a
town which more forCibly impressed
me with it's prosperity or its coop
crativc effort and CohesiVencss Of
community promotion effort.
Indeed, to me, who, in the years
gone by, have witnessed so much of
jealous pickering, so much of in
community Knocking"
so much of the non progress charac-
teriatic of the dark ages, the COM
spirit. the civic pride, which
| recognized upon every hand at Bon
ifay, was not alone a revelation to
me, but a most impressive and re-
freshing example of the potency of
the age old adaSe that lin unity there
is strength"
A Big Little Town.
Bombay is a town Of less than .
900 inhabitants, but it is one of the
biggest little towns" that I've ever
seen.
And separately, not collectively, 1 |
asked several of Bonifays citizens
now it has come to be such a town. i
And the answers which l received !
we're as if in chorus:
why, Mr.. Jones, Of course Boni- |
lay has its little family 'spats,' its |
title community misunderstanding |
ust as every other community does. |
But we don't let our private affairs |
get outside the family CirCle-we give |
md take, and settle them. In other |
words, we scrap for business, take |
sides in politics, read our favorite |
newspaper, worship in the church Of |
1ur conscientious choice, etc, but |
when a question comes Np which has |
o do with the moral or material in
.erests of Bombay, all other differ
,nces are forgotten and every man
Jack of us puts his shoulder to the
wheel till the jobs put over"
And you may take it from me,
Bombay, a little West Florida town
f perhaps not more than 1900 in
shows, in every feature of
IS community life, the effect of the
spirit of its citizenship.
The folks there are intelligent, and
lappy, and prosperous; and as the
lection which surrounds the town.
which is as rich in agricultural and
horticultural possibilities of develop
nent as any section of country ON the.
Sorth American continent, is placed
II cultivation. Bombay is going to
row into a city.
The spirit of its people, which is
he spirit Of Atlanta, is going to make
a city.
No Haphazard Constructor.
There isn't anything about Boni-
ay which impresses the visitor as
aving been established haphazard.
is business buildings are practically
ii constructed OF brick and the
tocks of goods carried in a ma
GRITTY Of the stores of the town would
O credit, both in quantity and
uality to stores operated in a city.
indeed, there are several mercantile
Establishments in the town which
rould do credit to Pensacola. Among
hese are the towns two drug
torres. The two banks of the town,
ach with $15.OOO.OO capital, and with
ombined deposits of more than