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ADDRESS 8! GOVERNOR PARRIS BRYANT
TO
CITIZENS OF ESCAMBIA COUNTY
0N
GOVERNOR BRYANT DAY
JANUARY 3. 1962
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA
(For release after 7:30 PR)
I am deeply moved by the expressions of warmth and friendship
which you have accorded us here today.
At times such as this I am more conscious than ever of the great
reliance I, as governor, must place upon the people of Florida if the
goals we have set for ourselves and the state are to be accomplished.
Similarly, I am made doubly aware of the trust you place in me and
of the responsibilities to you I bear. Today, to the people of
Pensacola and Esoambia County, and through you, by this occasion, to
all the people or Florida, I would like to express the sense of
gratitude which I, my family and my associates, feel for the
encouragement and support which has been given us during the first
year of our service to Florida. There are no words of which I can
conceive adequate to express the warmth we feel, and so I must say
merely that we begin this year with a renewed dedication and with
our confidence for the future greatly bolstered by messages of good
will which we have received in recent weeks and by the reception
you have given us here today.
Just a year ago, as he left office, my predecessor released a
report on his service to the state which he entitled "Florida:
Across the Threshold". In my first year of service I have learned
and seen for myself that Florida indeed crosses new thresholds every
day. And in crossing those thresholds we encounter a whole new set
of circumstances which must be met with vigor and with vision by tne
state government, by local governments and by the individual citizens
of the state.
we have closed out 1961 as the ninth lac-:st of the 50 states.
)ur growth continues, but because of our size we are entering a
~eriod of stability in which we must concern ourselves not only with
he pt'nloum of wearing the hmnotHafn needs of an exploding
-opulation but also those of providing the rcnuiwtion for long-rang~
.ctivities which will insure the Floridians of today and tomorrow,
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of Jobs, cultural opportunities, of services they need to live in
comfort and in pleasure, and of places to play adequate for an era
of affluence and leisure.
The demands of the present are always great, but they must not
be allowed to overshadow our awareness of the needs of the future.
The decade of the 50's was devoted in large measure to meeting
current needs; the decade of the 60's must see us meet those needs
while we lay foundations for an expanding future which even yet can
be only dimly seen.
In no field is our position better illustrated than in the
field of education. In years of growth since the conclusion of
World War II our constant overriding concern has been the provision
of a sufficient quantity of facilities to meet the demands of a
school population which was always larger than we had planned. The
Minimum Foundation Program brought the state government into the
business of undergirding our educational system on a scale never
before dreamed. From a state contribution of $18 million state
aid was increased to $180 million. The stable revenue of motor
vehicle licenses was loaned to local school systems so that money
might be borrowed at reasonable rates of interest to finance a
tremendous capital outlay program. Increases in teachers salaries
from state funds was a biennial occurrence. So great did state aid
become that a ratio of 75$ state aid to 25% local contribution to
minimum foundation standards came to be accepted as.a proper
division of effort.
As the flood of children went up through the twelve grades to
college level, Junior colleges were expanded from five in number to
twenty-eight, even so providing less than the facilities needed.
And at the level of four-year institutions a new university was
started in the Tampa Bay area, a new university appropriated for in
the West Palm Beach area, and plans laid for a new four-year
institution in this rich and growing western sector of the State
of Florida.
During the campaign of 1960 I made a promise to you that we
would proceed with plans for your institution during this adminis-
tration. The inclusion of moneys for that possibility in the
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General Appropriations Bill was in part a satisfaction or that
promise; I am glad to tell you now that as we enter the second
year or this administration that I Will recommend to the Budget
Commission that the appropriation of money for planning be released
within a matter of days to begin the planning for a four year
college to be located in Pensacola. I look forward to the day when
the educational opportunity or the young people in this western
sector or Florida will be equal to that of those anywhere in the
State.
All or these plans, however, are not enough. The demands for
industry, and I have in mind the demands or industry in the
Pensacola area, among others, for opportunities for graduate study
and for highly trained personnel has been one or the factors bringing
about the establishment or a Florida Institute for Continuing
University Studies. It will be the function of the Institute to
establish centers of under-graduate and graduate instruction in
locations throughout Florida when the effective demand from students
will support appropriate programs. While there are organisational
steps yet to be taken to completely activate the Institute, you may
be sure that we are proceeding to take these steps as rapidly as
sound progress will permit.
Our preparations for this emphasis on education in 1962
progressed well in the year Just past. Enlightened Leislative
support resulted in an increase of salaries at our universities which
has made us competitive with some or the best in the nation.
Appropriations were also made for increases for secondary and
elementary school teachers and provisions for a merit pay increase
plan were enacted. Adoption of this plan is a clear sign of the
determination or the people or Florida, as expressed by their
representatives, that mediocrity is not good enough in our school
system and never will be.
The 1961 Legislature, at my request, created a Committee on
Quality Education to study the completeness and adequacy or our
academic program at the secondary level. I urge you to mark well
the name of that committee for you will hear much or it and from
it during 1962. Dr. Doak S. Campbell, president emeritus of
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Florida State University. has agreed to serve as ts executive
director and will bring to its studies the knowledge he has acquired
in a lifetime in educational pursuits and the benefit of his
experience in recent years in conducting similar studies for other
states. The recommendations I feel sure will be forthcoming from
this important committee will enable us in 1963 to offer the
LESislature a program that will do for the quality of education
that which the studies of the committee which developed the dinimam
Foundation Program in the late 1940's did for the quantity of
education.
As any parent with a child in college knows, education is
costly. So is its provision. To achieve the many goals we hold
will be expensive, but need not, in my opinion, be inexorably
linked with new or greatly increased taxes for our citizens. During
this last year I have seen confirmed in dozens of different ways
the conviction I expressed during my campaign that Florida's
government had for too long run under a loose economic reign. furing
1961 we pulled hard on the bit of economy and oinched tight the
girth of efficiency. How much money we saved by these practicee
in 1951 may be subject to dehate, but there are few in the stat-
today who will dispute my contention that by the end of this
biennum we will have saved and diverted to more fruitful purposes
well in excess of the 50 millions of dollars I pledged to cave.
No longer is the thought that it would be "nice to have" some
governmental aocouterment sufficient cause to spend public funds
for its purchase. A proven need must be shown and Justified.
Planning not only for today and tomorrow, but for the years ahead,
is saving as literally millions of dollars and these savings will
increase as we continue to convince administrators at every level
that the people's money must be expended with restraint and only to
meet a demonstrated and approved need.
we have weathered a poor financial year without new taxes and
enter 1962 on an upswing that promises to fully stabslize and
solidify Florida's fiscal footing. I believe that with wise planning
and the elimination of frills and the unnecessary we can meet the
needs of education, of roadbuilding, of providing for those unable
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to provide for themselves and or providing the recreational and
cultural advantages our citizens deserve within the framework of
Florida's existing tax structure.
This belief is based in part on my confidence that in 1962 and
in the years ahead we will benefit from an increase in Florida of
both the number or people who pay taxes and the ability or each of
them to pay taxes.
As our young people leave their schooling we must provide for
them opportunities for employment in Florida. The development or a
diversified program of industry and service organisations within the
state provides these opportunities. The per capita income or
Floridians in 1951 was 835 of the ratio:al average. In 1960 it
had risen to 89% and I believe that by the end or this decade it
will equal or exceed that average.
When we speak of industrial development, most or us think at
once of the giant industries that have come to Florida..... the
Chemstrands, the Hartins. the Pratt whitneys and others or their ilk.
Florida has in recent years hunted industrial big game.... and
successfully so, thanks in part to the tortutious circumstance or
our selection as Americas gateway to the soon. This approach is
not, however. enough. It is only a part of the program we must have
it we are to emerge from the sixties with the stability with which
we enter them.
A well-rounded industrial development program for Florida must
have at least three facets. These are: the securing of industries
from outside the state, the OXDBDBLOH of industries already o;cratl*g
within the state, and the creation or new home- owned industries
uithin the state. Thank! to diligent efforts of the Florida
Development Commission and the Florida Industrial Commission as are
well on our way toward having a well-rounded program in these thre¢
fields.
In the year Just past 600 new plants have begun operations in
Florida. These represent a capital investment or $1u8,uoo.cac.oo,
payrolls or $62.000,0C0.00, and Jobs for lh,600 people. Duri"g the
same period expansion or industries already in Florida has resulte
in a capital investment or nearly 380.800.000.00, payrolls or
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su3,ooo,ooo.oo and Jobs for 10,200 persons. And this, mind you, in
a year when business firms were largely in a state or reentrenchment.
It is worthy of note that Florida's industrial growth has taken
place without the "give-away programs" which have characterized the
promotional efforts of other states. we are grateful and proud of
our existing Florida industries and expect to treat them as well as
the new ones we seek. Furthermore, our record of success in
bringing industry to Florida shows that really substantial and
worthwhile corporations do not expect tax advantages, but instead
are willing to assume their fair share or the duties or community
and state citizenship.
A survey or the 33 states offering special attractions to
industry published by Business Week magazine early in December,
showed Florida having available only two or five so-called baits
to industry, and one or these, our Industrial Development Corporation,
a private credit corporation, was created by the 1961 legislature
in response to our request to provide a means for private assistance
to industrial financing in those cases where banks and other support-
ing sources could not participate.
we are anxious that Chemstrsnd, Armstrong Cork, St. Regis
and your other established industries not only expand and be Joined
by new industries, but we hope to see spring up across this whole
North Florida panhandle small industries, providing the needs of
Florida's marketplaces and stimulating the economy or this area and
or the state. The Development Commission has been making a survey
or the goods and services required by Floridians, and determining
which or these are not being filled from within the state. we hope
that these markets will be met by Floridians with initiative and
industry who are willing to open their own businesses in the
communities which offer fine locations and the avilability or able
workers and which have not as yet attracted industry.
The Armstrong Cork Plant here in Pensacola has expanded in the
cast year by almost 150 workers. I wonder how many ct you have
paused to reflect that to a community an industry or l50 workers
can mean:
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An annual payroll of nearly $h00,000
A plant investment of $300,000
An outlay of $120,000 annually for transportation
An annual expenditure in trade of $2,000,000
A dozen stores
A taxable valuation of over $1,000,000
The support of 1500 people
The sale and service of 400 cars
Yearly markets for $800,000 in farm products.
As I consider these facts, of what an industry of 150 employees
could mean to Milton, Crestview, Bonifay, Blountstown or any one of
the other Florida cities ready and anxious for industrial develOpment,
it is not difficult in the least to resolve for this new year to
give all of the backing and support within my power to the
development and diversification of industry within Florida and
especially to the matching of small industries with our smaller
communities where one can compliment the other and both will benefit
all Florida.
Each phase of our development interlinks with another, and I
wish that time permitted me to expand this discussion to touch on
the way in which the development of industry is linked to the
development of our highway system which in turn is of benefit to
tourism and serves further to link all areas of the state together.
Time, however, is running short, and I must close. I cannot,
however, leave Pensacola without noting that in our surge of
development we in Florida must not lose sight of the heritage that is
ours and the backdrop of history before which we build today. Your
Fiesta of Five Flags is a fine example of the continuing interest in
our heritage that all Florida would do well to emulate and I urge
you to maintain and strengthen your interest in that which is past
and your sense of history as it effects that which we do today.
For each of you I wish a New Year bountiful in the pleasures
of the tangibles of our lives and rich in the spiritual blessings
available to the free and God-fearing peoples of our world. Thank
you for this day.
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As I consider these facta, c cold inean to Milton, Crestview, the other Flori:la cities ready er it is not difficult in the Ieast give ?-11 of the backing ar.d suppo invanom-nt erd diver.siNnation o
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