Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1922-06-27
WHY is THERE A MIAMI
OR A ST. PETERSBURG?


Petersburg. Lakeland, Plant City, Or
lando> and other flourishing Florida
towns were not even on the map"
said longtime resident of Palatka
yesterday. at was Palatka, Kissim-
NEE, Leesburg, Barlow and Ocala in
those old days. They represented
the larger towns of peninsular Flor
ida. l remember when Major Marks,
who founded Orlando, used to come
back to Palatka and the residents
here laughed at him. They said he
carried the frost line in his pocket,
Just because he said Orlando, the
young town he was nursing, was be-
low the frost line. How these towns
ever got ahead of Palatka and Kis-
simmee l don't know"
If this citizen who has struggled to
make living in Palatka for forty
years had been at the Chamber of
Commerce meeting last night and
would attend similar meeting on as
important a project in either of the
enumerated flourishing towns, he
would readily see why they have gone
ahead and other towns have dropped
behind.
Down in Sanford they have started
a campaign to keep everybody at
home this summer to keep up with
the busy things that are being done.
At their waterway meeting there
they had several hundred citizens in
attendance. There were bankers,
doctors, lawyers, merchants, contrac-
tors, manufacturers and farmers.
They are pulling together.
Last night the monthly meeting of
the Chamber of Commerce was held
in connection with a general mass
meeting of all citizens to endorse and
cooperate with Senator Fletcher in
his plans to secure survey of the St.
Johns river for twenty feet of water.
Less than forty persons were present.
These forty, or less, represented the
same circle of town hacks who bear
the burdens of most of the public en-
deavor. They have faith in the town;
they see great opportunities; they
know there are natural advantages,
and live in hope that some day it will
be possible to secure concerted eff
fort to put over everything that is
proposed for the good of the commu-
nifty. During the last year there have
been many recruits to this small cir
Gle, as older ones lose heart and drop
out, believing that there is no use in
trying to arouse enthusiasm for the
community.
If Miami, st. Petersburg, Orlando
or any of the other fast-growing
towns, were every mans business has
unlimited possibilities, had followed
the course generally followed by a
great majority of the business men of
Palatka they would not now be pre-
pairing for tremendous progress dur
ing the next twelve months.
Mont Verde, little town in Lake
county, is beginning to make noise.
1t has a population of 300. Of this
number 260 are members of the
Chamber of Commerce, and every
time a meeting is held they are pres
ent. Watch Mont Verde.
The famed town of Neosha lay dor
mant for half century until finally
it woke up. Twenty miles from one
of the largest cities in Indiana it
started growing. Nothing caused the
growth except human energy. 1t
doubled and trebled its population in
a few months; property increased in
slue hundred-fold overnight, almost
1t made such noise that it was
heard from Seattle to Key West,
from Maine to Southern California
They didn't strike oil, or gold, or find
a diamond mine. But they found
something far more valuable-unity
of effort, coupled with enthusiasm.
We all know the history of Miami,
of st. Petersburg, of Tampa and of
Orlando. They were first inspired,
the handful of men who started them,
by the great prosperity of Palatka,
Kissimmee and 0cala, and began ad-
vertising and working to get some of
the tourist travel and business en-
joyed by these towns. They outdid
us and pulled prosperity on down
through these towns growing indif-
ferent to their advantages with the
very success that made them.
Let's work; let's boost, pull, push,
hope, pray and all of the other things
that contribute to success.
-Rut LET'S do IL together