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Florida: Commodities

Know Florida

Circa 1935

America's greatest financiers have invested in Florida. Scores of millions of new capital are coming to the state yearly. The population of the state has increased thirty-seven per cent within the last ten years. There are many reasons for this. Below we give some of them.

Agriculture

The basis of most wealth is agriculture. Florida has at least ten million acres of good agricultural land as yet undeveloped. Only a small part of her area is in cultivation. Florida produces more than a hundred thousand carloads of fruits and vegetables above her home needs. Consumers are paying two hundred million dollars annually for soil products of Florida. We have vast undeveloped business ahead for our agriculture.

Geographical Advantages

Florida is within forty-eight hours of more than ninety per cent of the people of the United States. Using regular train schedules every State in the nation, save ten, can be reached by rail from Jacksonville, Florida, within forty-eight hours. Shipping to and from every quarter of the globe enters and leaves Florida's ports. Water transportation along the Atlantic Coast affords rapid trade exchanges between the industrial East and our State. Trade between North and South America now aggregates two and one-quarter million dollars per day. Florida ports are the logical places for exchange for much of these commodities.

Transportation

Florida has nearly eight thousand miles of railroad and is building more. Florida has more than seven thousand miles of hardsurfaced highways. Florida's State Highway Department and their sixty-seven counties are spending more than twenty-five million dollars per year for roads.

Manufactures

The "Playground of the World" is being utilized for workshops and factories. Capital is being convinced that a place so ideal for recreation and sports is also ideal for industry and permanent, profitable living. Already Florida's factories turn out products aggregating nearly two hundred million dollars in value per year. One of the South's largest Portland Cement Companies with an investment of five million dollars recently began operation at Tampa with a capacity of ten thousand bags of cement per day. Florida can supply material for the following manufactures:

Glassware	Tile	Vegetable Hair
Chinaware	Filters	Fish Products
Insulation	Paper	Buttons
Materials	Roofing	Leather
Can Goods	Cement	Awnings
Creameries	Furniture	Tents
Phosphate Mills	Porcelain	Dairy and
Cotton Goods		Poultry Feeds

Health Means Efficiency

Florida's sunshine is perennial. It is neither too hot nor too cold. Just right for both pleasure and work. Our mean annual temperature is about seventy degrees Fahrenheit. The mild climate makes possible almost ideal living conditions. Captains of industry recognizing the vital relation of health and efficiency, are considering Florida as a place for their factories. Our State offers a greater variety of food products continuously through the year than any other State, The expenses of housing, heating and clothing are greatly under those of the colder climates.

Source:
Excerpt from "What Florida Offers Capital" Know Florida, Issued by the State Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee, Circa 1935, pg. 20.

Exploring Florida: A Social Studies Resource for Students and Teachers
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College of Education, University of South Florida © 2005.