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Show IsilETTY GIRLS IN OGDEN I THAN IN THE WHOLE STATE 1 1 ! OF FLORIDA, SAYS UNITE II - o o'ConnolIy and wife of Ogden, : i T, SL Petersburg, Pla.. for a win-I win-I i' pleasure. Writing to Judge Gun- 'V, r o'Connolly says be has seen I to be found in all the west, c i .cn declares Florida is a poor I ? He fnr a farmer who expects to live j IffilSrinclsotthcBoll. His letter i i'fqfpeterSburg,Fla.,Jan.25 1918. it Dear Judge: Jours of recent 5 i . fciJt to hand and have read the I ifcVitb a good deal of Interest M I ' ?k me for my impressions of 1 so I will try and give you a 8 I ' n Seraphs relative thereto, i : ftJ?2SrSSt been in SU Petersburg 1 5 ! V.han two weeks, but in that time j?fb?n miles in every direction by le Tho city has a normal popula-I popula-I ! , f about 15,000, but, at the pres-! pres-! te I think about 30,000 would 1 t3Lrtho number. It doubles its pop-i pop-i ; Sn every nter, which lasts about I i T months. This season has been ' i cooler than usual, so they say. I I ffuL I haven't changed my winter ) co 1 and havo ra ! j overcoat every day. I I 4he people here charge the unusual I '! ther conditions to the severe win-: win-: j K the northern states. However, I :3 cool winter hasn't done much 'i JL.e to the fruit crops, which con-! con-! ! Si principally of oranges and grape ra ts and. as far as I can see these I t .P are the only sources of industry I 'i h his part of Florida, and, to a great I Stent, in the eastern portion of the ! 5ij(o as well. I: Farmers Not Prosperous. 1 have driven many miles into the lj anntrv- districts and paid' particular 1 i sTienUon to every feature of the coun-I coun-I i ur but failed to see any sheep or I rJr and the cattle I have seen are I Sir and miserable looking specimens. I Oae farmer, I noticed, was feeding his ! ' itock a large quantity of oranges and ! ; nape fruits which they appeared to j wli'h. Another farmer I interviewed, Hd'who appeared more prosperous j dun his neighbor, gave me a very in-'( in-'( ; eretlng account of his experience, , i totjftbe east and west coasts of Flor-i Flor-i da, trying to make a living for him-3rc him-3rc , j f and family raising fruits and ' : vegetables for the market astera , ""You know,1 he said, 'no matter ' what kind of soil you possess here, id rt; t Aether muck or sand, it has got to be irlari, fertilized, two or three times a year, isan'ij jd fertilizer at the present time is '0Kl1 irortb $70 A ton, and consequently I i hive nothing left at the end of the EbJ?.;' TMr' r Ju" j "He seemed to be very bitter against b , ihe fruit packers and shippers, wlio J .' absolutely control the market. The ; average fruit grower is compelled to ';j 11 to the organized shipper or not at loiir j and he just takes what they give , y j hin without a protest- If he demurs 1.27. , , at tho price offered, he is told to take 1-2-4:4 1 his fruit and himself off the premises. Tourists Big Crop. pS Ihe same condition confronts the 7SH ; tncjc farmer, but not to the same ex-" ex-" 1 tent, as he generally hns a local 7.10. tnde for his stuff. But as everything 5.85s raked here has to have a fertilizer, which is manufactured in the north I. 80'- ? and costs $70 a ton, there is nothing v' ; left but a bare existence for the C raUer. However, there is one crop )GS- tht i3 of more importance and brings Bulk, , a pealer revenue than any other, and 16.35; (hat is the tourist. Without him, this 16.25; ,i IsadVould be a wilderness. Ho it is 13.50, 'i that keeps this land in existence. From arM all appearances very little revenue is . 13.75; j derived from any other source, con- . 12.50; , Hjuently everything is done to make cow, tin comfortable. But, mind you, he ' 12.00; jays the price. II. 75; , "Last year, I am told, 25,000 tourists ! 14.00. : came to this city and remained, prac-arket prac-arket , , tically all of them, from two to four year- : months. At the height of the season, IMQ j i tot a vacant room was to be had and Ui cany camped out in the parks. This to Tear, there isn't quite the rush , ; something like 20.000 now. Every other elptE-; 1 5W5e in town is either a robming gat-, , tome or boarding house, with hotels 6.65; 51 a" clashes scattered over tho city. ,05g ' How Paving is Done. 1 m ' Petersburg claims to have fortv ! Wla of paved streets and I think it '' . us. if not more. Some of these paved reels run for miles Into the coun--Re- S runs comPletely around the j 5c :'( end of tho bay to Tampa, forty ixei , i avra'- And here is as good a 6.15; ' V ,M,.an' 10 11 you how they do it. ale. -1 J? ue Ilrat Place, the streets of this ' ( J: are. much wider than those of irkcl ; bLut the paved part only oc-eew- 1 Xaboul, one-third of the street 508 1 S SetumaJority onIy about twenty I MS t center' ThG Paving con- 1 and 'Trof a, ,h"d brick, of a dark, brown i 505 i ? SuR,d on top of the rine Ite 1 506 -; trJ'Z 't ,ow curbing of granite fft ea 8idc Tbe rest is Siven 1 f rfff to parking and sidewalk. el i lie 15. Particularly noticeable is '05; ! trLc n,n.Ceola'11BJ thttt is lawns and ' I iLveH v 33 we toow in the north. 3 ' tbe mbUt Lh,s and WIIS 'old that ' mS V? of erass-rcgular lawn t ; stiriiMc lranoss,blo. The best sub- U IfflnoH afp,ec,es oC wIre emsB. which ' : hPJ2fd to the shaPe of plants 1 ipartand labout twelve inchGs ( vw? aence ?d w,th tho 8PrIS rains, com- 1 SninrfMauUd eaCh Plant SGnds 1 i flnalh- Z Wl?Icb- asaln lake root and W ltSreads. over o ground. 1 oUj r 11 ,a cut, it looks to me like a j newly cut hayfield with the hay removed. re-moved. A German Band. "In the center of the city is a large park with many shade trees, but none of them familiar to me. Here the city fathers have contrived to make things comfortable for the tourists. A Scqtch band in kilties has been engaged en-gaged for the season and every morning morn-ing and afternoon draws thousands to listen to tho music rand good music, too. The other morning while attending attend-ing a concert, I commented on the music to a man standing next to me and, without turning his head, he replied, re-plied, 'Sure, fine music, but every one of them Is a German. Can't you see?' Ho turned away in disgust; he was an Irishman, "Hundreds of others, not interested in music, were engaged in playing chess, checkers, pitching horseshoes and various other games. All are furnished fur-nished Irce to the tourists, while the ladies thousands of them knitted away on the park benches. Speaking of tho fair sex in this portion of the continent, I have to confess that there are more homely women In St, Petersburg Peters-burg than in any city of twice its population out west. Prom my judgment judg-ment and I consider myself a pretty fair judge of beauty there are more pretty girls in Ogden than m all Florida. Flor-ida. "Last night being Saturday night, I stood for an hour on the corner of the principal street" of the city. During that interval, thousands of" people sauntered by and, would you believe it, I failed to see a dozen good lookers in all those thousands. After a while, I got a violent headache and had to go homo." nn |
