FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
17 
A 
houses again pointed heavenward. Mam¬ 
moth business blocks had arisen, adding to 
your commercial prosperity and your 
noble river was crowded with the com¬ 
merce of the State, bound for the nations 
of the earth. Your magnificent railway 
systems were taxed to their fullest 
capacity in carrying to and from your 
busy marts the commerce that was to glad¬ 
den you and build up the entire state. V/e 
enjoyed on that occasion, and on every 
other when we accepted your hospitality, 
sessions of the greatest success, marking 
the greatest prosperity in the history of 
our Society. Your sons and daughters 
entertained us with excursions, with 
music, with receptions, with everything 
that became them and was worthy of the 
City they represent. We are again 
your guests. We see all around us new 
evidences of that prosperity which not 
only at this time characterizes Jackson¬ 
ville, but the whole State of Florida and 
the entire South. 
Mr. President: In viewing the pros¬ 
perity of this country at large we are 
prone to forget its real importance. We 
are likely to overlook the main things that 
are bringing to pass this commercial and 
business prosperity. To-day there are 
two great industrial enterprises on foot 
that shall stamp their impress upon this 
country, that shall give it new impetus. 1 
ref ere to the great Panama enterprise and 
the extension of the East Coast system of 
railroad to the distant island of Key 
AVest. Of the latter I wish especially to 
speak and in speaking of it I feel that 
I represent not only the people of the 
South and the people of the State of 
Florida, but in a special way, the business 
of the Florida State Horticultural Socie¬ 
ty. It has been well said that, ‘‘The his¬ 
tory of a country is the biography of her 
great men.’’ In dealing with this im¬ 
mense business enterprise the extension of 
railroad facilities to the Island of Key 
West, we must necessarily consider the 
part played in it by the Friend and Patron 
in the development of what was but a few 
years ago the wilderness known as the 
East Coast of Florida. That wilderness 
became the object of attention of one of 
the great Captains of Industry of the 
twentieth century. In it he beheld vast 
possibilities. Actively and indomitably 
he pushed forward step by step south¬ 
ward until the shores of the Indian 
River were reached. Onward, still on¬ 
ward, until beautiful Lake Worth was 
bound to Jacksonville by ribs of steel. 
Here a pause was made until the beauties 
of the Bay of Biscayne were brought to 
light by this indomitable developer. Then 
he pushed forward into the country of the 
Seminoles, the country of the everglades 
the faraway tropics of the State. Every¬ 
where palaces of beauty arose. The vari¬ 
ous industries of the sections touched were 
developed. Splendid facilities for trade 
and commerce were afforded and the East 
Coast became the Shibboleth of the Home- 
seeker, the Tourist for pleasure and those 
in search of health. And to-day the stu¬ 
pendous announcement is made that this 
Captain of Industry is determined to link 
the isolated Key West with the balance of 
tlie state and of the nation. At what cost 
of energy and of capital I dare scarcely 
guess. That it is one of the most stu¬ 
pendous enterprises of modern times is 
admitted by all, and yet the Wizard of 
the East Coast, with vision sharpened by 
experience and with the courage of the 
man of affairs, and above all with the love 
for his State which has strengthened 
with the passing years, is eager to under¬ 
take this great enterprise. A glance at the 
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