*
HECTIC BOOM IN FLORIDA
(Continued from first page)
quaint these new farmers with
methods used to advantage, and with
the time to plant various crops for the
best resulta, the amount of fertiliser
necessary and various other details of
Florids farming and trucking. Had
similar met In sis been adopted ten year»
ago there might have been a different
story, although statistics show that a
carload of produce leaves the state
every four and a half minutes In every
hour of every day for some northern
market.
There 1» no reaeon for acreage panto
any mo re ihirn thr-re la for entwine*"
gated to subdivisions, but no subdivi
sion In Florida would be complete
witliout an ornamental entrance. It is
a condition which exists all over the
state, just like the sunshine. Bom* of
these gates cost «25,000 and even as
much as «85,000. They are* usually of
stucco or brick, or tile, but many of
the more ornate struct ayes are of stone
and fashioned after some Spanish cas
tle's gate. Probably two of the mos;
handsome of these entrance gates are
tbone at Coral Gables and at Daytona
Highlands. -I recall one sulxHvislon,
out from Sebring, in the hill section,
where the developer of the project con
ceived the idea of a rainbow. The.
arch of the gateway la painted in the
colors of the rainl>ow, and this arch is
au|>ported by two huge pula of gold
mounted on large brick pillars.
There are few sul-divisions which are
without their white ways. The streets
and able walks are laid out and then
there will be a whiteway with park
ways down the center. Many of them
have gna and water, electririty and
sewers. Nearly all have building re
strictions also. One section of the sub-
divlidbn will be available lot reel
delicts of one certain type of architoe-
tare, while another section may be
available to owners who desire t* erect
a more modest home or a bungalow,
and still another section win be avail
able foe only Bpaulah type hoiiHm, or
Bngllsii type bungalows, etc. These
restrictions, however, apply mainly to
the more pn ceutio-is auMIvikioks.
In the main, practically all the new
er residences in Florida are of the
stucco type and are of Rpsnlsh design.
Even Ute hotels and club houses, aud
even some of the newer business blocks
embody the Fisinish Id-« fci architec
ture. The residence« have vari-colored
awnings at all windows, aud many are
of colored stucco, usually of some
bright tint.
It is almost beyond i*elief the num
ber of residences which have ls*rn
erected within the past year In the
yarioua subdivisions.
One wonders
where all the people come from, but
the fact remains that they are there,
and that thousands of others from all
section« of the country are still com-
ling—and the winter season is just
Olx-nlng.
Just what might have happened tn
Florida's building program is merely
■teculation, beesuse the railroads have
damped down an embargo on materi
qla so hard and fast that work on many
gthe residential aaction« of the largir
Ä bdivtstons has been almost stopped,
low w-rlous the housing problem In
L«
¡Florid« will grow tills winter remains
<ko be seen. When one considers that
'bonae« and apartments are hardly to
'be had in any part of th* state at any
price, and that some of the towns and
¡Cities are seeking to meet the problem
through the «-onatruction of tented cit-
ter, unless accommodations have al-
ready been secured, would be to pro
vide some sort of camping outfit and
carry it along as a trailer. I am offer
ing this advice to the-Florida visitor
of moderate means who cannot afford
th« resort hotel, or who has no relative
Who might put him up for a week or
two.
One might think that with ail the
thousands of homes which have ls-en
constructed in Florida within the |>ast
year, and With all the new hotels al
most ready for the opening of the tour
ist season along the first of the coining
year that ample proviaton would be
made for all who might visit that
or the middle of April. But the Flor
ida of today is somethingrise. North
ern, «astern, and southern anti western
capital la ¡touring into the state, prop
erty is changing hands five and six
times within three months, and every
time at an increasMl price. Business
property is soaring, as is ateo water
front property; subdtvInloM are spring
ing up all over the state, and the
English langnage has almost been de
pleted for names for such develop
ments and foreign tongues have been
tapped here and there for an added
appeal; milllon-dollar hotels, million-
dollar residences, ten and twenty
mil lion-dollar snlMltvisieas and develop-
ditions which have obtained in that
state within the past tew yearn Credit
Should 1«. given/ however, to th.-w-
agencie* and men who have waged per
sistent and unrelenting wav upon all
those men and those schemes which
appear to savor of an attempt to mulct
the public. Efforts have been made to
take certain subdlvlMons off the mar
ket because th* elaborate promises
made In the adveVtisenawte v^remot
forthcoming, and little prospect of
their , bolng carried out Many have
been read out of the realtors’ associa
tion heranse of sharp practices in an
effort to rid the state of those opera
tors who were wholly on the taking
the housing problem In Florida be-
<-wnes more acute each passing day.
“How did this thing »tart?’’ I asked
the editor of one of the leading papers
of Florida.
Well,’’ he sald,w“during the World
war many of the iteople who had been
accustomed to go abroad and who were
shut off from Europe on account of the
«•nr, <anu- to Florida. They liked It
and they came again, and they Itegan
to Invest. Other» followed and the
visitors to Florid« increased. •« did
also the investments. And then the
first thing anybody knew it bad broken
out like the lm-aslM.”
8<>me of the highbrows might call it
the "Inhibitory complex" In human na
ture which compw persona to want
to do—«nd to do—tboae things which
they arf admonished not to do. For
laMaave, there appears to have ls-en •
desire on th« part of hundreds and
tbtoiaaads to get Into Florida and s»«e
whether or not all the things which
have been said about the state were
true, and while many Floridians want
to tar and feather Harold Keats and a
few others who have been knocking
the .date and advising everylsxly to
IM«« it up, there are others who smile
and say thnt every knock is a boost
and that Keats' article« were inspired
by a group of Ollfornlana who desired
to give Florida a black eye.
The real secret of the development
of Florida and the apparent desire of
people from every state In the Union
to go taste Iles in the power of adver
tising lntoUlgvUtly dirwted and per
sistently followed. Florida and the
Isv konlng of her waving palms, and
the lure of her sapphire lakes and the
■H>ca1 of a climate which la nnex-
c< lied—and really, after all, Florida's
cllinnte is the whole thing—the desire
to get out of a long, hard winter and
iMsk in the sunshine, to golf, to fish,
to cruise aldng the coast, to bathe and
enjoy the hundred and one othet
amusement st tractions offered the win
ter visitor in that state, have all ls-en
presented In such attractive manntr
iu so many different mediums of ad
vertising that the golden harvest ha*
ls-en inevitaole.
It has been a wonderful experience
to travel over the state, to see the <M*
veiopment going on, to listen to the
Morlen of sudden wealth, and fortunea
made Within a few weeks, to meet the
people from every nook and corner of
the globe. And one must see it to be
lieve it. for nothing ilk« it has ever
happened to any other state in the
Union, and it is safe to say nothing
like it will ever happen to any other
state.
IVople in other sectioB» have bean
Judging vain«« by the atandarda to
tAilCh they have ls-en accustomed for
a quarter or a half century; they
knew Florida perhap« in the old days
when she whs grateful for the winter
tourist who came in Deceinl>er aad
CM latter part of
month in the Mate attunes-one's ears
for almost anything.
All former standards of values to
which one has been accustomed are
swept aside In Florida and held for
naught. If yon ask one of these mil-
llonnires what it is that makes a cor
ner lot—nothing bnt a patch of white
sand with here and there a raw pal
metto showing—worth «39.000 a front
foot, he’ll prohably aml> and tell you
"it’s the climate,” or "supply and de
mand.” Anyhow, the prices are there
whether yon can see or appreciate the
valnes, and people are buying at those
prices.
"Well, they may he getting those
prices, bnt It’s all on paper,” some
skeptic may say.
The answer Is that it may not be all
cash, but it most a san redly is not all
paper.’ The time was a few vehrw
ba«*,- however, when there may have
l*een considerable "paper trading," but
that day has pnsmsl. Most of the trans
actions— and Mg ones too —are today
Iteing handled on at least one-fourth
cash and the balance one, two and
tlirec years.
The day of the man with small
means — the shoestring operator — is
rapidly passing in Florida. A • few
years hack comfortable fortnnee were
made with comparatively small capital,
and the "binder boys’* were In their
heydey. The binder, which is a full-
blooded cousin to onr option—is still
l>eing employed la Florida, but It Is not
the potent factor it was by any means.
Among the bu sleet people in Florida
today are the abstract and title offices.
Annexe» are being built tn most of the
court houses in the state to accommo
date th« Increasing forces neceanary to
handle the registration of deeds and to
handle thia tromendone abstract busi
ness. In Miami a new court house has
ls-en launched to be 27 stories high.
Lawyer» from other states have come
In and opened abstract and title officra
and are doing a thriving business, and
even all thia has not been sufficient to
handle the business. It takes even
now from two weeks to 14 to secure
the registration of a deed, and from
10 to 30 days to secure an abstract of
title.
The recital of many Mage transae-
tlons made without the stvtatch of a
pen -merely upon a man’s Word—with
hundreds of thouaamb* hwolv.-d has
a tendency to increase one’s faith In
mankind. Lawyers have fold me of
such deals where men h*vr l>eeti of
fered materia! advances over the sale
price and have fieri toed with the state
ment that "1 have passed my word to
"What als>ut this Florida th tag—
la it a bubble?" I asked. The question
whs addressed to'a man of means who
lived in the state for many yean and
whose ImalneHS—he wan a newspaper
editor—had kept Mm in touch with the
state's activities,
"Moat assuredly not,” came the
promt* reply. “DW yon think railroads
Wbuld back a bubble? Do you think
the interstate commerce commission
would permit the railroads in Florida
to pnt on a building program which
represents mon- new railroad construc
tion In a year than han been builded in
the whole United States in the past
ten years, if they thought it wav a bub
ble? Railroads, my dear sir, do not in
vest in tmbbtas, and thto one thing of
itself should convteca any fair-minded
man that the development in Florida
is on a substantial beats and that all
Uiis propaganda about a bubble la a
myth.”
He then proceeded* to quote some
figures, saying that the Seaboard Air
Line was expending approximately
«32,000,000 in extewfona and doubt»
tracks In Florida?'that th* Atlantic
Ooast Line was expending fully half
that amount in double tracking; that
the Florida East Coast was’ double
tracking some 400 mile» Of Its line;
and that approxiMtely half the double
track line between Miami and Jackson
ville would Is- n-adf for use by the be
ginning of 19*26. HahM cited the en
largement of steamahfp facilities, of
the recent placing of fast passenger
ships Into Miami from New York, doa-
Ing his recital with ths question:
"Does all this appear ’to be th» action
nf men who thing- this- Florida thing
Is a bubbler*
Husses ■re
are popular in
In Florida.
Florida Reg
ular schedules are maintained between
all important points, and the hard sur
face roads enable these big can to go
most any place in the state. Using a
bus enables the visitor to get an eye
full of scenery, and th* big Pullman
busses with individual chain and air
cushions afford a comfortable mean*
of travel.
These big blue, white. gMn, red and
orange busses go streaking across the
I do not mean by thia that all deals
In Florida are handled by such men.
or that Florida la free of sharpens or
crooks. Bnt there ar* "Square rftoot-
ers” in Florida who retemn their word
as their bond. And there are crooks
and sharpers also. It would be almost
have given way to some subdivision
just as many of the orange groves am
giving way to -them.
Of all the crops which Florida pro
duces, perhaps the largest revenue is
received from the winter tourist crop
which has been variously estimated
at from «200,000,000 to «200,000,000
annually.
The highways leading into Florida
are dotted with the rusting "bones” of
automobiles of various makes, and one
is. reminded of the skeleton-strewn
trail into Oregon and California as
recounted by the historian who re
counts the incidents of *49.
An illustration of the —ntirr of.
cars from other states observed in
Florida may be found in a recent edi
tion of a Tampa paper when the staff
photographer at the Lafayette street
bridge within an hour snapped license
plates on cars from 2X states.
At the New River bridge in Fort
Lauderdale where the Dixie highway
lead» to Miami, from 600 to 1,000
automobiles cross every day, according
to those who keep tab on such thing»
Ix-ster, the aggressor, secured a fall in
17 minues with an arm scissors and
double wrist lock. La Chapelle, how
ever, allowed corfbiderable ability in
defensive work by breaking numerous
holds of his opponent.
Henry Jones, of-Utah, was the ref
eree In the main event, and Harry 8on-
nicksen in the preliminary.
Tearii Odd Fellowship by Living It
To'the Odd Velio ws of Oregon, Greet
ings : •
Dispensation is hereby granted to
Woodville Ixalge No. 217, I. O. 0. F.,
to circularise the Odd Fellow lodges
-ef < I reg wn, -« a hta g for a denetlen from
such lodges that feel they can afford
it, for the Iteneflt of Bro. Ferd Horton,
who was badly hurt and is unable to
earn bis living.
Al) donations should be sent to the
Grand Secretary, Bro. E. E. 8haron,
and be receipted for by him.
Tout* in_______
F. L. T.
Henry Young, .
Grand Master.
Sparks-Gatebel
AIRPLANE SPIN
GETS MORTENSEN
Miss Ruby Gatchel, daughter of Mrs.
W. E. Gatchel. and Walter Rparks. son
of W. R. Sparks, both of Hood River,
were married Sunday. December 2(1,
Rev. W. N. Byars, of Odell, officiating
at his Odell home. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks
will make their home in Hood River.
Law Rsand Trip Fares for New Yeart
Via Union Pacific between points in
Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Sale
dates December 30 and 81 ; return
limit January 4, 1926. For further
particulars see local agent.
stand in the
Radium Vapor Baths
bolds on the Wyoming sheriff.
Six for «10 during December. Even
Ring the 8am* hold with Which he ing appointments. Phone 1622. Cot
ner Third and Oak streets.
Smoky and Smelly Oil Stove
using Eocene Oil. Try thio l
coal oil next time add seethe
Any quantity, gallon to barrel, at E. A.
Frans Co,
________
m2»tf
is yoare. Drink radio-active
Revtaa.or for your borne.
r> Third end Oak Sts. d24
Canada.
who 10 yean ago
champion «hl
with Georg*
r
.X