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ptttfo a wot PUNTA GOEDA In Tropical Southwest Florida, a Seaport on the Famous Charlotte Harbor a Town that is Known for its Natural Attractions and the Hospitality of a Cosmopolitan Citizenship VOLUME XXIII NUMBER 2. PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1915. 5c. A COPY; $1.50 A YEAR A BUSY SESSION OF DESOTO COUNTY BOARD Official Transactions of the Coun ty Commissioners in Reg ular. Meeting The Honorable Board of Coun ty Commissioners met in regular session in their office in Arcadia, January 4th, A. D. 1915. Mem bers present were : V. W. Surren cy, chairman; II. J. Downing, John Hagan, D. L. Skipper and W. G. Welles. Minutes of the December Meeting were read and duly approved. The following business was transacted, to-wit: Upon motion duly seconded and carried, it is ordered that the county Treasurer be and he is hereby instructed to forward on the 10th day of January 1915, to Mr. P. W. McAdow, of Punta Gor da, Florida, the remaining twelve (12) bonds, numbered Nos. 13 to 24 inclusive, of the Punta Gorda Drainage District of DeSoto County Florida, with a draft at tached for $5,980.00 Purchase price of 12 bonds. at $475.00 $5,700.00 Accrued interest on $6,000, April 1, 1914, to January 10,1915 $280.00 $5,980.00 It is further ordered that the County Treasurer shall at once no tify the clerk of this board of the receipt by him of said $5,980.00, and that the clerk will thereupon return to Mr. P. W. McAdow his certified check for $240.00, at pres ent held by this board as evidence of good fa'ith to complete the a grecment of purchasing the above bond issue. Bond of II. G. Murphy, County Tax Assessor, with S. E. Roberts and C. A. Skipper as sureties, was approved. Bond of Harry R. Dreggors as Bond Trustee for the Punta Gbrda Special Road and Bridge District, with United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company, of Maryland, as surety, was duly approved by this board. Harry 11. Dreggors succeeds D. G. McCormick as one of the bond trustees for said dis trict. The board received the. report of State Auditor of his audit of the books and accounts of DeSoto county, and ordered the same pub lished as required by law. V. W. SURRENCY, Chairman. Attest: A. L. Durrance, Clerk. Meeting of New Board The new Board of County Com missioners met in regular session in their office in the court house, Arcadia, Florida, January 5th, A. D. 1915. The board was called to order by the clerk, and said board pro ceeded to organize by electing unanimously L. W. Whitehurst as their chairman. Mr. Whitehurst then look his chair and appointed the following committees to serve for the year, to-wit: Finance committee, John Hagan and D. L. Skipper. Committee on bonds, W. G. Welles and W. M. Written. Mayor Freeman and Judge Bell appeared before the board, asking for an extension of time to remove city prisoners from the county jail. Upon motion the city was allowed ninety days' extension of time in which to prepare for the care and detention of city pris oners. This board acknowledges the receipt of a resolution passed by the Board of County Commission ers, asking that this. board remit at once warrant drawn payable to the Converse Bridge and Steel Company, for the erection of a bridge across Caloosahatchee riv er. It was moved and carried that said warrant be not drawn until said bridge is completed and ac cepted by a joint committee of Lee and DeSoto county boards, and that until Lee county con structs road from said bridge to DeSoto county line, as per agree ment with this board. A resolution was received from the Civic League of the city of Arcadia asking for the removal of the convict camp from the court house square. Major Well es informed the board that said camp would be moved immediate ly. It was moved and carried that Major Welles be authorized to sell the old fence which formerly enclosed the court house square at fifteen cents per foot. Deputy sheriff's bond of II. B. Crosby, with L. O. Fagan and R. I. Harrison as sureties was accepted and approved by this board. Deputy sheriff's bond of F. S. Rhodes with W. H. Seward and Jake Wey as sureties, was accept ed and approved. Bond for justice of the peace of II. C. Brown, with J. B. Brown and J. II. Lopp as sureties, was approved by this board. . Constable's bond of W. B. Zach ary, with R. E. Raulerson and J. P. Brantley as sureties was duly approved. Notary bond of L. N. Town send, with W. D. Scott and C. P. Pillons as sureties, was duly ap proved. Bond for notary public of James L. Glasseo, with United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company of Maryland as surety, was presented to the board and same duly approved. Upon petition submitted to the board asking for the granting of a public road beginning at the southeast corner of section 23, township 33 south, range 25 east, and running due north two miles to intersect with Bowling Green and Crewsville road. The old road in this locality is hereby dis continued. It was moved and carried that the board in a body visit the coun ty's land near Punta Gorda, with a view of establishing a county poor farm. Application of J. E. Bowdoin for the position of superintendaut (Continued on last page) Valuable Land Only a few years ago the Board of County Commissioners purch ased 300 acres of land a mile east of Punta Gorda for three dollars per acre. The land is under laid with a good quality of clay for road building and the purch ase was made for the purpose of havuig access to this clay. To day the land is worth $100 per a cre. A "squatter" planted an acre of it in tomatoes last winter and gathered $400.00 worth of to matoes. A few more years and this land will be selling for $500 to $1,000 per acre. All of which goes to demonstrate that we have never realized the value of DeSoto county soil . We have hundreds of thousands of acres of such land throughout the county produc ing nothing but palmetto. A few years more will reveal the fact that we are now as ignorant of the possibilities of our lands as we were a few years ago when we sold large bodies of it for a song and dance. What this country will become when all these ideal lands are made productive and adorned with beautiful and pros perous homes, the imagination is powerless to paint. Arcadia J'n terprise. In appreciation of their never failing kindness to Tampa and Tampa affairs, the Tampa Rotary Club will invite the newspaper editors of -South Florida to attend a typical Rotary dinner, to be given while the Gasparilla Carni val, the dates of which are Febru ary 12 to 16, inclusive, is on. The Rotarians intend that the dinner shall "outgrid" the Gridion ban quets 'given annually by Washing ton newspaper correspondents, and the newspaper men will be called upon to play a part in the program. Col. Henry Watterson and Gen. W. B. Ilalderman of the Louisville Courier-Journal, James Whitcomb Riley, Frank L. Stan ton and Mixon Waterman, the poets, George Ade, the humorist, and other notable Floridians of the "winter bird" variety will be invited also. The Carnival gives promise of being the most success ful ever held in Tamna. and the dinner, although the Rotary plan ot serving nothing stronger than grape juice will be observed, will be second to no feature in pleasing interest. Villa asserts that Zepata is his brother in arms. Carranza must be his brother-in-law. European War Situation The Trend of Late Events London, England. Great arm ies battling in the east and west by artillery exchanges, sapping operations and trench attacks, continue to be alligned much as they were January 1. Every where the disposition seems to be to await spring, when, with fresh armies thrown into the field, events promise to move more quickly. Great Britain is sending thous ands of men to France every week and according to reports from Berlin, Germany, aware of that, is making military prepara tions for a counter-movement. All the reserves are being called to the colors, it is declared here, and the further statement is made that German generals are preparing to assume active direc tion of all the campaigns the Austro-llungarian fight against Servia and Russia and the Turkish campaign against Russia and Great Britain. That briefly is the plan London military observers believe will be WITH THE TILLERS OF THE SOIL By Mrs. K. S. Lawson BRIGHT LIGHTS AF- TER THE STORM Torrential Rains and High Winds Washed and Flooded Many Fields When the truckers came to check up on the results of the se vere storm of the 11th ult., it was found that there were many bright pots in the accounting. Once again drainage was iound to be the great essential in this section and where natural drain age was easy taken advantage of the situation promises to result in good returns. At this writing the storm perjod does not appear to be quite over but it is hoped that the high winds will straighten the extraordinary weather conditions which have prevailed this winter and there will ensue a season of normal South Florida winter, sunshine and soft temperature. Reports from various outlying sections are that much water is on the land. The most unpleasant feature of this condition is that many acres intended for tomato culture are still unprepared and unless the water drains quickly the work will be delayed. This is not the only locality, however where such conditions or much worse prevail and visitors to Punta Gorda since the storm have given much encouragement to the truckers to go ahead with the spring tomato crop as thoroughly as possible. George McLane said that ha bad never faced just such a situation before and wasn't quite prepared to decide what to do. He had not made seed beds and had not been able to get all the seven acres he wanted to plant in shape to re ceive the seed. lie thought however, he should bold the seed he had until late in the month is necessary to obtain settled weath er conditions. "I really believe," said Mr. Mc Lane, "that seed planted at that time under average conditions produces better plants, and fruits more satisfactorily very often than where it goes in very early and contends with cold soil and other weakening conditions. The section just north of '5 is of course that which puts the end to our best prices in shipping toma toes in the spring. If as is report ed conditions are very unfavor able in that area why we ought to be able to plant as late as the last of the month and still get good returns for the tomato crop." Out at .the south of Punta Gor da where the water from the flat woods rushed down and was held back by the railroad, as if diked and on the other side where high tide pushed water back the truck fields were pretty well badgered by the water pumps kept it down in the fields, however, and new ditches helped other spots. J. Stephens from the Kuyden- followed, subject, however, to any change which the entrance into the war of Romania or Italy might necessitate. Germany still claims she is mak ing slow progress toward Warsaw. There have been published in Lon don, however, reports that those operations are merely masking movements to shield a Ger man retreat to the Si lesian frontier. British military observers do not credit this idea, believing General Von Ilinden burg has further offensive streng th, but at the same time they draw attention to the fact that the Russians must feel confident of Warsaw's safety, else they would not continue to hurl so many troops against Hungary through Bukowina. In the west the points of great est interest are in the center, near Soissons, and on the French right in Alsace. There the fighting continues, while the remaider of the line is virtually inactive. dall place was in town the day af ter the storm for bean hampers and the farm intended shipping about fifty hampers. The drain was said to have helped this farm quite a bit, although no special work on laterals had been accom plished. This farm has shipped well over two hundred hampers so far this season. Out Solana way there were a number of truck fields that show ed up nicely after the tempest. At B. E. Perkins' half an acre of eggplants looked finely enough to please their grower. At D. Hill's the two acres of eggplants, peppers and tomatoes were in pretty shape as the drainage prov ed very satisfactory. Shaw's peppers were in good form and at Mr. Oswald's the tomatoes were uninjured. Patrick had some stuff which showed its location well chosen. Other growers had various kinds of stuff that will come into market in due season, beans probably fared as poorly as any other croV as the winds ripp ed the bloom off and knocked ov er plants. Out in the Pineapple river sec tion along the banks where drain age was arranged for some fields looked very hopeful. Up at the Dewey grove where A. C. Caldwell had two acres of beans and water melons in the fields looked very nicely and Caldwell who is one of the old truckers who have come in from up state was mighty well pleased. ' Mr. Cahl well's father is expected soon and when both have finished planting there will be seven or eight acres of water melons in there. At J. Harvey Miller's the onion patch in the old pond was out of sight when the heavy showers concluded operations. But on the following morning every bed was high out of water arid the patch was a sight to smile upon. The acre of eggplants also looked mighty fine, the acre of peppers gave every sign of surviving in good style and altogether Mr. Miller had about the prettiest farm anywhere around Punta Gor da on the morning after the tem pest. A Bean Story In the face of weather nn1 whin ing conditions this fall, the record ol J. t'owell is one of the best yet reported. From twn nn,i.a hn shipped 97 crates of beans chiefly to inicago, although some went to Philadelphia. At this time he has heard from 91, and they net ted him $135. 32 crates brought him about $14 as they were dam aged by extreme cold in Chicago supposedly in the hands of the draymen as far as Mr. Powell de termines from correspondence with the commission house, which is one he has been shipping to for some time. Fertilizer for these two acres of wax and green beans cost $75. But as Powell says anyway he got his fertilizer and seed back and then some and in the face of the weather he is thankeful for that much. He is putting in three acres of beans and one of squash for the spring crop. Brief Bits Martin Jackson of Tampa, staff correspondent of the New lork Packer, was in town last week and met many of the truckers. At the time of his visit. Mr. Jackson said the Punta Gorda men ought to be pretty well pleased with conditions here and as he was speaking after visiting a number of other trucking sections his o pinion was that of a well informed individual. Mr. Jackson expects to return in a couple of weeks and make a visit to some of the fields C. Tenet, representing a New lork commission firm, was in town this week after a trip down the coast and expressed surprise that the trucking situation around Punta Gorda was so good after the storm. He had been in some fa mous trucking sections within a few days which had suffered hea vy damages and said Punta Gorda men who had anything to ship from now on ought to get fair money. One bean grower below Acline, who has been little heard of, is re ported to have received three, hun dred dollars for his bean crop. Fine wax beans were picked this week at the Cooper farm and about fifty crates were shipped. This farm proved fortunate in several ways. The fertilizer for the big tomato plantings was only partly distributed so that com paratively a small amount will be lost. Nearly Two Million Professional Persons in United States Washington, I). C There are 1,825,000 men and women in the United States engaged in profes sional pursuits according to a re port which has just been issued by the Census Bureau. The males number 1,152,000 and the females 673,000. The professions repre sented are actors, architects, ar tists, ministers, dentists, journal ists, lawyers, musicians, doctors and teachers. Sixty-three per sons in every one hundred engag ed in professions in the United States are men and thirty-seven are women. Red Barns in Florida Many new barns are being built in the rural districts of Florida. Building material dealers in all sections of the State report an un precedented demand for barn lum ber and red paint. Next to the home the barn is the most impor- taut building wherever red frugality and supreme. on the farm, and barns exist there prosperity abides The rapid const ruction of new barns in Florida is lilting the farming industry of this state into a higher zone of utility and is es tablishing a new era in our indus trial progress. No community can proceed far into its agricul tural economy until its stock are well sheltered and its crops are properly boused. Poor Farm Idea The Board of County Commis sioners visited Punta Gorda Wed nesday to inspect the 300-acre tract of land belonging to the county. The Board has under consideration the mat ter of establishing a county poor farm on this body of rich and valuable land, with the view to making this farm ultima tely sustain our public pensioners, The county's unfortunates now cost the taxpayers from $2,500 to $3,000 per year, and each one on ly draws a trifling sum, at that. We hope and believe that the in vestigations of the board will lead to the establishment of such an m stitution, not only as an economi cal proposition for the county, but from the standpoint of proper care and comfort of those depend ent upon the public for exist ence. Arcadia Enterprise. Get together, and we will all get a part. CREDIT MERITED STATE BOARD OF HEALTH Should Have Confidence of Peo ple of Florida Has a Fine Record to Point to "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Every American possesses the inalienable right (or he thinks it is his) to cast his ballot as he chooses, to spend his Sundays as the mood strikes him, and to criti cize his neighbors. The average American citizen and that means you and me has a ready opinion on every subject and no fear of lesc majeste penalties deters him from expressing it. He feels him self fully qualified at a moment's warning, and without previous preparation, knowledge or con sideration, to tear to pieces the minister s sermon or his theology, the President's Mexican policy or the way the woman next door is bringing up her children. lie finds fault with the weather bu reau man because the predicted "local showers" fail to arrive and a bright sun shines out instead. He complains to the postman becauso ; the mail train was two hours late. and he kicks the dog because he himself has eaten more dinner than was good for him. And yet this same average A- merican rightly expects and de-' mands all due respect for his own worth-while accomplishment. Criticism-knocking is, the other . word for it is a habit rather common among us and it's a habit that is demoralizing both to the possessor and to him whom it hits. Criticism here is limited to the habit of finding fault with persons and things that you don't know e nough about to qualify yourself as their critic. It's a habit that grows on him who indulges in it. It leads him to question the man whom and whose motives, he trusts. It fosters a tearing down without adequate, or any, reason. worthy and beneficial accomplish ment. It attacks without cause the man and his work that are a- bove and beyond the carping of such incompetent critics, but it hurts and discourages. Big men rise above it, but it embitters them. livery man who is worth the space he occupies in the world, earns ins right to it by doing something worth while, something to make the world better. He is an expert or a specialist in some direction, who wins bis right, in credit by some real accomplish ment. He is a Caesar to whom his fellows owe some tribute of praise. The man or the organization that has written the record of things done is entitled to public confidence. It has thf right to expect that its acts shall be ac cepted as proper without announc ing in advance the reason for them. The record is the guaran tee on which is based the right to public confidence. It is on its record covering the last quarter of a century or more, that the State Board of Health bases its right to the confidence of the people of Florida, it has accomplished tangible results that the whole world knows and prais es. It has made Florida a better place to live in. It has built up barriers against disease from oth er lands. It has waged success ful war against the ills that start nearer home. It has won the confidence of Florida's people, ev en of those who unrcasoningly criticise it. It is waging a campaign to edu cate these same people how to ward off preventable disease, how to lower the ratios of sickness and of death, how to use the means within the reach of all to make Florida the most healthful state in the Union. In this campaign nothing is done in the dark, there is a reason tor every move and this reason is not hidden. It may be known to all who will take the trouble to ask, even to read the newspapers of the State. And m view of its record the Board asks and seeks the co-operation of every loyal Floridian. and it asks that criticism shall be withheld until the reason the why is known. And it feels that in this it is asking only what is its due. Bulletin.