The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-10-01
More About Cocoanuts
THE MAN ABOUT TOWN
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produced from the cocoanut.
Cocoanut oil, high priced prod
uct that is extensively used, is
brought from the outside. Grated
cocoanut, that is used by millions
of cooks, and in practically every
home in the land comes from the
outside. Cocoa butter, cream and
shampoo, used extensively in
beauty parlors and barber shops,
is brought from the outside. All
the above can be produced right
here in Key West. Aside from
the above named, we could bottle
or can our cocoanut water or
milk; we could can our cocoanut
jelly for making ice cream, and
we could manufacture and put
on the market our delightful
cocoanut candy as is prepared by
the good old ladies of Key West.
The shell of the cocoanut makes
expensive and beautiful buttons,
and may be further utilized in
making ornaments, ash trays, etc.
In fact there is no limit to the
possibilities of the cocoanut in
dustry. This is being proved by
actual experiments and demon
strations made day by day. The
writer in dealing with the cocoa
nut palm in recent article,
promised to go further into the
subject of the, cocoanut in a
future article, and "believe it or
not" he has come to the con-
clusion that the cocoanut tree
can be used to almost the same
extent as the Chicago pig, "all
except the squeal." With us we
can use all except the delightful
breezes that blow through its
branches.
In less than a year, it is prob
able that all government relief
activities will cease, and Key
West with no industries will be
right back where it was three
years ago. In fact we will be
worse off, for during that time
we have lost the railroad and
kindred enterprises which has
seriously cut our payroll. The
only advantage gained by the city
in this time is the foundations
that have been laid for tourist
city. But we must not lose sight
of the fact that it will take years
to develop Key West as tourist
resort, and what will the twelve
thousand people we have living on
the island do in the meantime.
Miami thought for a time that
she could get along without in
dustries, and while she developed
into one of the greatest tourist
resorts in the world, she soon
found that she had to have indus
tries, as her three months tourist
business was not sufficient to
keep her population the twelve
months. As a consequence she
went after industries. and is at
the present time grabbing every
thing in sight.
1t is estimated that we have
ten thousand bearing cocoanut
trees in Key West. and that we
have twenty thousand more that
will be bearing within the next
three years. We have sufficient
cocoanuts at the present time to
make a start, and there is no rea-
son why we should not begin a
planting campaign. here and on
the keys. and in a few years have
sufficient cocoanuts to supply the
whole country.
The writer contends that we
can provide work for our twelve
thousand people by developing
the cocoanut industry. We have
the raw material on the ground
we have a dozen or more empty
factory buildings that could be
used. The Thompson canning
plant could easily be converted in.
to a cocoanut plant, and a thou
sand or more people could fine
work there.
Yes by all means, let us have
the Chamber of Commerce again
and let their industrial committed
get busy and find some men will
capital and vision to look this
proposition over. 1t is a COLDER
opportunity that capital will no
overlook if brought to their atten
ton. Let's crack the cocoanut
let's get busy. We've been sleep
ing at the switch. The writer i
simply trying to awaken interes
in a proposition that he afte1
careful study and investigation
believes will put Key West bacl
on her feet.
The next and third article vii
deal with fish. We propose t.
tell you a fish story. but this on
will be the truth. Did you know
F! that we have a floating gold min'