Evening star., 1925-03-19
WEALTHY VISITORS
LIFT LAND VALUES
Property in Florida Once rs
Cents Per Acre-SaIes Now
Made at $3.50 and Up.
BY j. G. ROYLE.


Special Dispatch to The star
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, March 10
The cities of Florida have practi-
cally decided on their future poll
cles. Some, like Jacksonville and
Iampa, are stressing their commercial
and industrial and transportation ia
Cillties. Others. like St. Petersburg,
have determined their brightest flu
lure lies in developing Winter play
grounds and attracting year-round
Inhabitants with money.
st. Petersburg. business men here
assert, is content to permit Tampa
10 have the shipping business center
ing in Tampa Bay and the factories,
Warehouses and stores for both cities
row closely linked by the Candy
Bridge and only II miles apart.
Moderately Rich Desired.
similar situation exists, to some
extent, between Palm Beach and
West Palm Beach. Palm Beach will
never be anything but a playground
but West Palm Beach sees it's future
as A business city supplying that
playground. Both here and in Palm
Beach the shops are mostly specially
shops
But while Palm Beach is attracting
the very wealthy, St. Petersburg has
devoted its efforts to bringing her
the older business men who have re-
tired from activity with comfortable
fortunes, but who do not care for the
more feverish social life and sports
or the older resort. Mia NIL on the
other hand, is combining the two
policies and is developing as re-
sort and as a business center with
equal success.
Makes $4,000 on Eighth of Acre
Of no nf he
millions of Winter visitors is absorb
Ing tremendous volume of the prod
uctS OF the State. The citrus fruit
produced in the vicinity of ST. Pc
tersburg is nearly all consumed here
or shipped in one-box lots to friends
IN the North by Winter visitors. One
truck farmer near here cleared near
ly $4,000 from an eighth of an acre
of black berries which he marketed at
50 cents a quart
After the hotels in Florida have
been supplied with Strawberries
there remain only few favored pa
irons who can secure them in the
North. Farmers here declare the
markets of the North and West can
and VIII absorb vastly greater guam
titles of Florida foodstuffs than are
now being grown here.
Imports Reach Millions.
1t was necessary in the last year
for Florida to import over s2,50O. .0OO
worth of eggs and poultry which
might well be produced in the State.
The State has quantities of range and
pasture land, yet s5,000,0O0 worth OF
buttermilk and cheese and $12, 900, 900
worth of meats were imported in the
last year
In view of all these facts, the ad-
vance in real estate values is not sur
prising. 1t is contended by land
owners that values in general still
are well below the level warranted
by productive ability. But they ad-
init that in certain districts prices
are inflated. The advance has been
phenomenal, but the business men
state such increases have been from
phenomenally low levels instead of
to extraordinarily high ones.
Land $3.50 Per Acre.
Land which was bought as low as
rs cents to S12 an acre is being sold
from $3.50 an acre up, but the men
who are eagerly paying the higher
prices maintain that it formerly was
sold cheap, not because it would not
produce, but because nobody made 1t
produce. The largest advances, nat
urally. have been in residence prop
erty and new subdivisions. This is
because the majority of people who
have come to this part of Florida to
make their homes are city dwellers
and have no intention of doing much
of anything but rest and play.