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Farris Bryant Speech isr (Channel 10) April 21, 1960
One hundred and eighty miles away from Miami, as close to us
here as Melbourne, Florida, there is being established at this very
moment a beachhead of communism in the Western Hemisphere. Agents
from Russia are made welcome in the land where Americans died on San
Juan Hill. American citizens are being imprisoned without warrant and
without cause. The American Ambassador to Cuba is being ignored and
insulted while the dictator of this nearest neighbor reviles our nation
and our people.
The American Naval Base at Guantanamo, established by the
treaty which has been honored for over fifty years, is under a thinly
disguised propaganda attack, obviously designed to force us to give up
and sacrifice legal rights which have been internationally approved.
The Monroe Doctrine, which has been honored for 135 years of American
history, is being flouted.
What has Florida to do with this? what has a candidate for
Governor to do with this?
First of all, there is, of course, the concern which the
government and people of Florida feel for their own security from this
potential base for enemy missiles. But this national interest is
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augmented by the remarkable, shocking, inexcusable fact that it is the
people of the Sovereign State of Florida who are subsidizing these
activities calculated to imperil our security and our nation. It is
the control by the Federal Government over the productive efforts of the
people of Florida that makes this tragic situation possible.
Out of the pockets of the people of Florida, there is being
taken by the dictator in Cuba for the support of his pro~comunist
regime $175 million dollars annually -- more than is being taken by the
government of Florida through the sales tax upon all its people.
These are grave charges. Let me explain.
Do you know that there is today a sugar industry in Florida
that produces sugar valued at twenty million dollars annually -- but
that the people of Florida and the land of Florida has a capacity to
produce sugar worth two hundred million dollars annually -- ten times
as much, if allowed to do so.
How much is two hundred million dollars? More than the annual
income from the great citrus industry. We produce more citrus in Florida
than all the rest of the world put together, but the annual yield to
growers from citrus is less than can be produced from sugar in this
state.
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How much is two hundred million dollars? More than the
total investment in all the state of Florida in the great cattle industry,
and Florida is the foremost state in the South East in the production
of cattle -o its purechred herds dot a thousand fields and bring a
sustaining income to hundreds of thousands of people.
I want to lead the people of Florida as its Governor to a
realization of this wealth that lies in its own back yard. This is
how it can be done:
The United States has an arrangement with Cuba which has
been incorporated in a statute known as the U. S. Sugar Act. Under
that Act, the people of America buy from the Cuban dictator three million
tons of sugar every year -- and at the same time, and under the same
Act, the people of Florida are prohibited from growing even as much as
five per cent of that quantity of sugar. Cuba sells us three million
tons oo Florida is allowed to produce only one hundred and forty
thousand tons.
In addition, under these same arrangements, we pay Cuba for
its sugar -- $50 more per ton than they can sell it for anywhere else
in the world -- $50 more than they charged Russia for the same sugar. Or,
as that sugar comes to your table, in excess of three cents per pound
over the price Cuba could get anywhere else in the world.
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But there is more to this story than this:
Today, there is invested in Florida forty millions of dollars
in the production of sugar. Tomorrow, if the Federal Government
will release us, there can be invested four hundred million dollars for
that purpose.
Today, sixty thousand acres of Florida soil are used in the
production of sugar o- tomorrow, six hundred thousand acres can be so used.
Think what it will mean to the counties of South Florida
when this tremendous investment in machinery and land is placed on the
tax rolls of the counties and the tax money made available to meet the
tremendous needs of a growing state. Today, people who work in the
sugar industry receive payrolls of two and a half million dollars
each year -- tomorrow, those wages can be twenty-five million dollars --
wages paid to unskilled labor, and to skilled technicians, to office
workers and truck drivers, and machine operators.
Just the other day in Washington, Senator Holland, our own
senator from Florida, gravely concerned, pointed out the need for a
re-evaluation of our sugar program. Senator anthers has introduced
a bill cutting the Cuban quota ten per cent. Senator Ellender of
Louisiana has called for a revision of the sugar quotas. The American
Farm Bureau made this statement of policy:
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One hundred and e[ghty mi] Melbourne, Florida, there is a beachhead of carmunism in t issia are made welcome in the .ll. AmerLcan citizens are h .cause. The American Ambar The ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .... .......a Bs t unaametalsedb h iich ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ...... be. ..oe o vr it erisudratil
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ion dollars? More than the a We produce more citrus in F] ether but [[10 annual yield to a produced Erom sus;ar in this
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eeninororte i a taut kow ..h U... .S uarAc :. A ....., .h mpeo mrc u fo h ua ittrL
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Today, there is invested in Flarida forty millions of dollars in the production of sugar. Tomorrow, if the Federal Government will release us, there can be invested four hundred million dollars for thEt 70rPO5e. Today, sixty thousand acres of Flarida soil are used in the production of sugar -tamorrow, six hundred thousand acres can be so used. Think what it wtll nean to the counties of South Florida when this tramendous investment in machinery and land is placed on the tax rolls of the counties and the tax money made available to meet the tremendous needs of a growing state. Today, people who work in the sugar industry receive parrolls of two and a half million dollars each year -tomorrow, those wages can be twenty-five million dollars wages paid to unskilled Labor, and to skilled technicians, to office workers and truck drivers, and machine operators. Just the other day in Washington, Senator Holland, our own senator fram Florida, gravely concerned, pointed out the need for a re-evaluation of our sugar program. Senator Smathers has Introduced a bill cutting the Duban Tuota ten per cent. Senator Ellender of Louisiana has called for a revisian of the sugar quotas. The American Farm Bureau nade this statement of poliev:
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