Evening star., 1926-04-24
FLORIDA IS SOUND,
OSCAR WELLS SAYS
Bankers Head Sees Read
juStment Not Injury to
Future Growth.
Special Dispa,ch TO The star.

OA1hioO4N ' 1lIl1IN, April "a - Al
though the Florida land boom has
.gone beyond all conservatism" with
damage to individual spectators, re
adjustment will not injure the States
future progress, Oscar Wells, presi-
dent of the American Bankers Associa-
ton, said in an address here today on
The Sanguine South" before the
Florida Bankers Association conven
ton.
Florida is the modern lodestone to.
ward which the whole country has
been drawn" Mr.. Wells said. 1T has
lam undeveloped so long, or in pro-
portion to its opportunities has come
forward so slowly, that there IS little
wonder that it has represented the
greatest boom in land values that the
present generation has ever known.
or course it has gone beyond all con-
servatism, and while Some damage
mas been done to the individual spec
ulator who made a marginal invest
ment and then browsed about for
another speculator, there is no rea-
son to believe that whatever adjust
ment the conditions of the future may
require will do any great injury TO the
structure OF F'lorida's future progress.
Cities Growth to Continue.
All of the subdivisions now under
contemplation may not TEEN with
bungalows as they are now covered
with second mortgages, but the lead
ing cities of your State are going to
continue to grow with the influx OF
new population bent upon living in
leisure in the midst of great play
ground or to produce for those who
come to play. The crops of Florida,
even the crop of tourists. are going to
become more valuable and Will contrib
ute their part to the drama of the
South'S development. There may be
some romance in the making but 1t
will represent a part Of the total.
What may happen to the South
during the next half century intrigues
the imagination. Ones curiosity Is
excited by such terms as the new
Land of Opportunity and as the one
place left for pioneering on vast
scale Cold facts are used TO support
these contentious. The growth OF the
per capita wealth is recorded as an
evidence of what may be expected and
comparisons are made with other Sec
t1onS based upon statistics taken from
sources of reliability. When you real
ize that up until 1890 no Southern
state, except your own, had regained
its pre-war position in the matter of
material wealth in the hands of the
people, you can appreciate the prog
SreSS OF the last 35 years and can ac-
cept that growth as u convincing
basis Of our future prosperity.
I'VE understand, of course, that we
must bear our part of whatever eco
nomic ills to which the world may be
heir, or OF whatever problems may
characterize our domestic affairs, but
we are relatively in as good a con-
dition as any other part of this coun-
try when it comes TO meeting our
obligations of whatever kind. During
the last few years we have acquired a
sort of financial independence of which
we had never dreamed before, for
sometimes we form and carry through
some large transactions in which the
capital has been furnished largely or
altogether from Southern sources. In
the old days all such financing was
done away from home, and of course
much of it is yet, but we are grad
ually expanding the volume of North
ern securities among Southern hold
ers, which in way helps to square
the account and aids in supporting our
claim of being less dependent.
For a long time after the close
of the Civil War we not infrequently
received and perhaps deserved the
soubriquet, the poor old South!' That
IS true no longer, and if our present
prospect for an uninterrupted develop
ment of our natural resources con-
tinues to materialiZe, we will take our
place along with the Middle West
with it's greater fertility, the Far West
with it's boundless enthusiasm, as an
important part of a great Nation.
Conspiracy of Nature"
The South's advantages have been
summed up as amounting to con-
spiracy of nature This means that
it is not altogether a mater of nat
lral resources. These, together with
the true character of the population
uf any territory. constitute its real
wealth. We have here the essential
qualities for the adequate compound.
We are proud of the unmiXed quail
tiles of true citizenship handed down
from the pioneer stock OF early Amer
lean history. and with such a back
ground of purity Of breeding and the
culture from our improved schools
growing In power and influence as we
spend more for the education of our
youth, we will learn how TO contribute
toward the graces OF life for The bene
fiji of all of America.
The bankers must look to the sound
ness of the economics of this new
Eldorado, and. If successful, it means
a due regard for the rights Of others,
a proper respect for the use of money.
but a true appreciation as wei for the
fundamental qualities which make up
the worlds store of human happiness
and especially the sum OF human con-
Jentment."