54 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
a majority, but had to be a unanimous 
vote. If any one member had voted 
against it, our item would have been lost. 
Our first $300,000 was in the De¬ 
ficiency Bill. It had absolutely no right 
whatever in that bill. If any member 
had objected, it would have been thrown 
out. It passed unanimously. Our item 
of $430,000 in the Agricultural Bill ; one 
man could have raised his voice and the 
item would have been thrown out, and 
lost. 
I wish the members of our Legislature 
in Tallahassee could have heard such 
statesmen as Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, or 
Congressman Mann or McLaughlin, liv¬ 
ing in states where the citrus tree cannot 
be grown and never will be, where there 
was no possible benefit to come to their 
constituency by supporting this case, and 
if anybody had a right to object and raise 
a voice against the measure, it was those 
men, but as I say, we had no divided 
house. 
Now, here we come down at home, in 
Florida, among our own people, and a 
few persons in the Legislature in Talla¬ 
hassee are raising some opposition to this 
measure. Not because they are opposed 
to the citrus growers having it, but op¬ 
posed to the increased taxation being bur¬ 
dened on their constituency in the non¬ 
citrus-producing counties. 
They raise the argument that boll wee¬ 
vil has invaded their fields and the cotton 
crops are gone; that they are a poor coun¬ 
ty. Well, my friends, if that is not a 
warning to those people to get busy and 
protect the biggest industry they have in 
the State, what more do they need to 
wake them up? (Applause). 
The state of Florida divided into citrus 
and non-citrus counties, would make a 
very interesting tabulation for us. It is a 
fact that of the 6J4 millage assessment 
two years ago, citrus-producing counties 
paid 76 per cent of that tax. The non¬ 
producing counties paid 24 per cent, but 
still they object to giving us this appro¬ 
priation from the general treasury of the 
state. 
It would be a unanimous measure if the 
members of this Committee would agree 
to an amendment of that Bill providing 
for a box tax. There is not a member of 
the House and Senate but would advocate 
it if we would agree to that. But we 
have taken this position; the great burden 
of eradication of citrus canker to date 
has fallen on the grower. It may sur¬ 
prise you to learn that nearly 3,000,000 
grove trees have been destroyed since the 
fight began, which are worth easily $1,- 
000,000. Before the fight is over, it is 
estimated that another million dollars 
worth of trees must be destroyed. I 
mean healthy trees; diseased trees have 
no value. 
If we had gone to Tallahassee and 
asked the Legislature not only to provide 
the money to carry on this fight, but reim¬ 
burse us for the value of the property de¬ 
stroyed, then the subject of a box tax 
might be one for discussion. 
The Government is paying one-half of 
the cost of this eradication. We are ask¬ 
ing the state to pay the other half. The 
grower is taking his medicine and saying 
nothing. 
I submit that as a fair proposition. I 
submit that the benefit which will accrue 
to that part of the state in which citrus 
