Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-06
By WESTBROOK PEGLER

w - n A<AsOOAh = oA<A<AS
COME of my native or nat
~ uralized Florida public in
variably resent as a foul and
almost personal aspersion any
reference in these dispatches to
the reptiles which abound in the
swamps and plains of their fair
state.
They insist that one sees
what one wants TO see in any
cline and that l am not one
who just goes looking for
snakes.
There is something TO that,
because the luxuries and ele-
gance of Florida are no novelty
10 one who has spent quarter
of century in New York,
whereas the back country stirs
the imagination-the more so
because it lies so close TO the
pleasure cost.
Still. this sort of overempha-
sis. If such il be. is no special
popularity of mine, as may be
noted in the fact that beyond
the city limits of New York
there is thoughtless impression
that this city is composed Of
lust two elements-those who
spend the livelong night. every
night. chasing around the Stork
and FL Morocco. and those who
live in horrid slums.
This picture of our city elimi-
mates the majority of the people
and their way of life, which is
neither glamorous nor squalid,
but New York does not pro-
test.
OUR Chamber of Commerce,
" if we have one. coldly ig-
nores movies, novels and gossip
which do our civilization less
than right
The fact that such picture
does persist in the public mind
elsewhere. however. suggests
that out-of-towners. when they
come here, instinctively seek
out sights they wish 10 see and
divide their time between So
ciety saloons and regions where
il. is we'll TO walk cupboard Of
the sidewalks TO avoid the fall
ing bodies of innocent tots flung
from tenement windows by
drlnk-crazed parents.
Such horrors as the latter I
have never seen. but ! have seen
reptiles in Florida. and perhaps
Floridians who came here TO do
the town have come upon sights
that elude me.
But Florida people are unduly
sensitive about snake publicity.
People do not shun snake coun-
try and if they did. few Sec
tons of the United States ever
would have been settled by the
white man.
IT Is well known that New Eng
Il land is infested with a type
of smaller. il is true.
than the balloon-tire m o d Q |
found in Florida. bu. quite poi
sonous and only a few years
ago a collector was struck and
died on mountain on the Jer-
sey side almost within sight OF
the Empire State Building.
A commuter living on a rocky
ledge in Scarsdale slapped down
two dwarf rattlerS with nib
lick. and il is accepted that the
Orange Mountains. the Poconos.
! Catskills and BerkShires are not
to be explored on foot in Sum-
mer without some degree Of care.
There are regions in Connec-
ticut where the copperhead
abounds. and of course the mid
die western states are familiar
with the RATHER.
Snake stories, when they &C.
cur in these regions. are duly
printed in the local press and.
I il adorned with circumstances OF
unusual news value are showed
along on the wires TO the outside
world without feeling one way
l-ef another
We accept such facts of life
and never attempt to suppress
| them.
RY CONTRAST, in an anus
II ing case. a young Hoosier.
sitting on the city desk of
paper in West Palm Beach. once
was sharply cautioned for giving
/ position on page TO the cap
ture of 12-foot alligator by
/ the town police in a garden on
a street of the city at night.
In our suburban and country
regions here we pay very little
mind to reptiles but do. OF
course. conduct ourselves ac-
cording to the sound wishes Of
Josh Billings. who wrote:
"When 1 see a rattle snakes
head sticking out Of a hole
says to myself, That hole be-
longs to that snake"
We don't mess with them. and
the relationship is mostly $3.50,
oI,Lo,,uI, mo lid baNa a hfcforio