Evening star., 1925-10-21
FLORIDA WEST COAST
IS CONTEMPTUOUS OF
WILD BOOM OF EAST

WILL OOOWl UT CHS
Continued from First Page)
tion, who have not seen their land
values go so high nor their develop
mentS so fast.
There seems to be a safer. saner
attitude over here in Tampa and st.
Petersburg. Not that real estate is
in a slump. For Tampa and st.
Petersburg have had and are sharing
in the general Florida boom. Both
cities are crowded. The countryside
around is plastered with signs of
Il .ots for sale" and the offices of the
inevitable real estate men are thick
and close between. Their streets are
filled with tourist traffic. which they
say is increasing. Their hotels ana
boarding houses are taxed To accom-
modate the throngs which are pouring
through or sticking, like drlftWood
hangs to rock in a flooded river.
Many of the truck farms, so much
and so highly described as young
gold mines, are being bought by opera
tors who cut them into tifty-foot lots
and sell them at prices which make
the cabhages, the egg plants and the
beans roar with envy. Farmers who
struggled along for years, getting
what they could out of the
ground, find themselves enriched at
the expense of the Northerners in
search of fifty lots, and have been
able either to retire or to take a much
lonEed- for vacation in the North. Yes,
there is plenty of development in both
cities and in the surrounding terri
tory. but, put beside Miami, they seem
quiet and Sedate.
Proud of Slowness.
They rather boast OF this calmness,
the lack of heat and high speed which
Is seen OH the east coast, from Palm
Beach south TO Miami. They point
with nardonahle pride to their grow
ing suburbs, which show evidence OF
SLOW and steady development in con
trast with those OF Miami. which are
going forward 10y great leaps and dis
tant bounds.
Tampa has always regarded herself
as Florida 5 principal city. The census
reports still place her population
ahead OF MiamiS, but the census
reports are growing cold and stale in
this land Of tWenty-four-hour city
building. The question of population.
by the way, is no laughing matter
down here. The census reports, for
instance, gave Tampa larger popula-
ton than Jacksonville. Jacksonville,
indignant, demanded Il recount. Fail
ing to secure an official recount, she
recounted herself. claiming, as result,
slightly larger population than Tam
pa. to which claims Tampa answers
with a hollow horse laugh. Tampa'S
official population is around $4,000, Of
which some I6 900 are foreiSn-Span-
ish, Cubans, French and Portuguese.
This latter item. naturally, affords
great ~ in,
Miami. Tampa" they say with
withering scorn, is a foreign city"
Advantages of Tampa.
But Tampa's population is able to
take care of itself. For instance, they
quote proudly the fact that more than
one-half OF the population OF the en-
tire state lives within radius of $50
miles Of the city. They add. with i'm
the taxes paid to the State are collect
ell within this same radius. They de
clare that so apartment houses are
now under construction here, their
largest item being q s. 900, 900 hotel
going up on Davis Island, a new sub
division. Their building permits in
September exceeded $500 900. Their
bank deposits, according to latest esti-
mates, amounted TO SIS, 5,532 ,034. Those
who build houses claim to sell them
before they are half completed, while
the demand for lots, not approaching
that in Miami, is enough to keep the
land turnover booming ahead. Lots
here in a good location near town
will sell for s. 900 and more. Houses
costing $4,000 to build and put on
these 81 ,0O0 lots bring Sll,0Uo and
$4,000. The type OF construction is
frame and brick. the stucco 50 much
in vogue on the west coast apparently
not being so popular l was shown
an eight-room house of tinted stucco,
however, with "a two-car garage, on a
lot about 100 by $50 feet, which sold
for S45, 900. a similar house in Wash
ington in a good neighborhood would
bring around 100000 at most. The
highest prices paid for downtown
property in Tampa is $4,000 a front
foot. Its purchaser was Cornelius
Vanderbilt and associates, and this
fact is mentioned with great pride
and a slight swelling Of the chest on
the part OF the natives.
Proud of Industries.
Tampa is proud OF her industries
though an opposite view is taken
in st. Petersburg, which is proud Of
the fact that her greatest claim to
glory is that she is Il vacation spot,
pure and simple. Tampa'S cigars,
her rock and pebble phosphate exports
and her tive hundred other industrial
and manufacturing establishments
are cited by the towns boosting or
ganizations in a voice Uhic' trembles
with emotion.
A recent event in Tampa was the
opening for sale OF the Davis Island
property. Three little islands in the
bay were bought by a local man, who