FLORIDA. 



319 



County Debts. The total debt of Florida 

 counties in 1890 was $390.616. of which $320, 

 700 was a bonded debt and $69,916 a floating 

 debt. There has been a decrease of $45,377 in 

 the total county debt since 1880. Twenty-two 

 of the forty-five counties in the State of Florida 

 are without debt. 



Population. The official figures of the na- 

 tional census for the year are compared with 

 similar figures for 1880 in the following table : 



* Decrease. 



Phosphate Deposits. There has been much 

 excitement in the State during the year, espe- 

 cially in the counties bordering on the Gulf of 

 Mexico, over the discovery and development of 

 phosphate deposits. In March, 1887, Dr. J. Kost, 

 the State geologist, announced, in his annual re- 

 port, that he had discovered remarkably valuable 

 phosphate beds in several counties. The exist- 

 ence of considerable deposits had long been 

 known, but their value was first understood and 

 published by Dr. Kost. Col. Scott, a wealthy 

 fertilizer manufacturer of Atlanta, Ga., with a 

 few northern capitalists, purchased a large tract 

 of phosphate lands on Peace river in southern 

 Florida, and began mining operations in 1888, 

 shipping the rock to Atlanta. But the people 

 were not aroused until, in the summer of 1889, it 

 was announced that a syndicate of capitalists, 

 now known as the Duiinellen Company, had 

 bought up large tracts of rich phosphate lands 



on Withlacoochee river in Citrus and Marion 

 Counties, and would soon begin extensive mining 

 operations. It was said that about 90,000 acres 

 had been purchased by this company, and the 

 announcement that it had paid from $50 to $100 

 an acre for thousands of acres that formerly sold 

 at $5 to $10 created a whirlwind of excite- 

 ment. Every one turned prospector, and reports 

 of valuable discoveries came thick and fast. 

 Scores of poor farmers had acquired a compe- 

 tence through their sales to the Dunnellen Com- 

 pany, and hundreds more were soon able to sell 

 their acres at speculative prices. In Wakulla 

 County, between Sopchoppy and Ocklockonee 

 rivers, and in Jefferson County near Wacissa 

 river, valuable beds have been found, and in 

 nearly every county of the State deposits can 

 now be shown. Phosphate companies have 

 sprung up all over the State, there being six in 

 Marion County alone. The Florida beds are 

 often 30 feet thick, and it has been estimated 

 that the phosphate can be taken out and put on 

 the cars for fifty cents a ton. Analyses of the 

 product of the beds in the Dunnellen district 

 show an average of about 68 per cent, of bone 

 phosphate of lime. 



Political. On Aug. 13 the Democratic State 

 Convention met at Ocala, and nominated ex-Gov. 

 William D. Bloxham for State Comptroller, and 

 ex-Lieut.-Gov. Milton H. Mabry for Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, the latter defeating Justice 

 A. E. Maxwell. Members of the Farmers' Al- 

 liance formed a large portion of the convention, 

 and were conspicuous in its proceedings. The 

 platform is as much a declaration of alliance 

 principles as of Democratic doctrine. It con- 

 cludes with the following declarations : 



That we urge our members in both branches of 

 Congress to advocate all legislation tending to aid and 

 encourage the agricultural and laboring interests of 

 the country. 



That in the revision of the present protective tariff 

 the burdens now resting on the agricultural and 

 laboring classes shall be reduced to a fair and equita- 

 ble basis not to exceed the requirements of the gov- 

 ernment honestly and economically administered. 



That \ve advocate the passage of laws that will ef- 

 fectually prevent the creation of trusts and combines, 

 and pronibit speculation that seeks to interfere with 

 prices of prime necessities and agricultural products. 



That we persistently and continuously oppose the 

 pernicious system of contracting the circulating me- 

 dium of the country as now conducted by the National 

 Government. 



That the consideration of the Sub-Treasury bill in 

 Congress indicates a desire upon the part of the 

 whole people for an increase of a circulating medium, 

 and that it is the duty of our members in Congress 

 to secure the passage of some law that will give the 

 requisite relief. 



That we advocate the support of all measures for 

 the reduction of countyj State, and national taxation, 

 asserting that all taxation should be based upon a 

 uniform system of equalization, operative alike upon 

 capital and labor, that all bear equally their iust pro- 

 portions of the burden, and that taxation should be 

 levied for revenue only, and then onlv under a rigid 

 system of economic and judicious administration of 

 government. 



On Aug. 14, at the same place, Congressman 

 Robert Bullock was renominated for Congress in 

 the Second District, and at Bartow on the same 

 date Stephen R. Mallo/y was made the Demo- 

 cratic candidate for Congress in the First District. 



