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FLORIDA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
TAMPA, FLORIDA
NOVEMBER 18, 1963
I welcome once more this opportunity to speak to the
leadership of Florida, partly because it is important that the Governor
make frequent reports to you of the affairs of state, and partly
because of the opportunity it affords me to thank you for your
continuing and effective help.
It is very much on my mind that when I last spoke in Tampa
it was to many of you met here to launch a campaign for the adoption
of the College Building Amendment. It was the Chairman of the
Education Committee of this organization who accepted the chairmanship
of that campaign, and it was largely the membership of this organization
which bore the brunt of battle.
We won a great victory for Florida but we were not waging and
did not win a "war to end all wars."
The war for prOgress is never
won. In this particular instance our obJective was not to borrow
money. Our objective was not to build buildings. Our objective was,
and is, to make progress in the constant battle to create, through
improved and increased higher education, a better world in which to
liVe. In this battle new college buildings are not goals; they are
weapons. Once we have taken the victory of November 5 and out of it
forged these new weapons, the taek of making effective use of them
in the war for progress will begin.
Higher education, in its size, cost and complexity, poses
problems in kind and degree which we have never before faced. Where
we took 115 years to build three universities, we are building three
more, plus a college, plus 25 Junior colleges, in a decade. Even if
these new institutions could be built upon the relatively simple lines
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of colleges of agriculture and arts the task would be exceedingly
great by reason of size alone. When, in fact, we build for all these and
in addition for areas of knowledge not yet defined, the task becomes
infinitely greater.
The presence of the President of the United States in Florida
over this weekend, while coincidental, is closely related to the
effort we are making in the field of higher education. The occasions
for his visit have tremendous significance for all the nation, but
particularly for us.
He comes here to inspect Cape Canaveral, America's point of
contact with the universe. Because it is located in Florida we will
never be the same. Because it is located in Florida in a few short
years events are occurring here, changes are being made, which other-
wise might have reQuired a generation -- if they occurred at all.
Because it is located in Florida a type of people is coming here, a
demand for education is made here, a speed of development is required
here, which otherwise would have been unthinkable.
He comes here to inspect Strike Command. Certainly I have no
knowledge which would permit me to foretell the permanency or the
extent of the commitment of the Department of Defense to the development
of Strike at MacDill. Yet everyone here is awake to the possibilities
that can flow from the establishment in our state of the control point
for America's world wide responsibilities.
He comes here to commemorate the beginning of commercial
aviation, the growth of which has changed the destiny of our state.
When I reflect that it was only 50 years ago that this new dimension
in time and space became an effective force in human affairs, and
that it was only five years ago that the first commercial Jet flight
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in the United States, from New York to Miami, took place, I am shocked
into a realization that there is a new and to a greater degree
controlling dimension in the development of this state--a fourth
dimension or a fifth dimension--which requires us to rethink all our
thoughts about the future of Florida, just as the scientists who place
an astronaut in space must rethink every element of his activity and
eQuipment in a world in which there is no gravity.
The Florida of today is at the same latitude and longitude
that it has always been; the climate is the same; the same oceans wash
our shores. But the mind of man is changing the world of which our
State is a part, and the challenge in this decade for the leadership
of Florida, both in and out of government, is to comprehend the nature,
the degree and the significance of these changes. It is beyond our
power to control most or these changes, but as the sailor uses the
wind to drive him towards his goal, regardless of from whence it blows,
so we must use the new forces of the mind, or be driven like so much
flotsam, helpless before the wind.
We are very fortunate that at such a time many of the problems
that have plagued Florida for so long are being solved. The fruits of
the labors of many people over many years are being realized, and
Florida has arrived at that stage in its development when many of its
problems are susceptible of solution, and we have the means and the
will to solve them.
For example: tuberculosis. In spite of improved methods of
detection the known incident of tuberculosis is dropping, and treatment
is more rapid and effective. We have consolidated the work of four
TB hospitals into three, and prospects for reducing this number to two
are good.
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In the field of mental retardation we are still expanding
facilities, and must expand them further. But we are drawing abreast
of the proper handling of this prOblem. Techniques in treatment and
training are among the best in the nation, and adequate custodial
facilities are within reach. At the new Sunland Training Center to
be built in Dade County an advanced diagnosis is to be developed which
will permit many retarded children whose only prospect now is an
institution to remain in the love and security of the home and still
achieve maximum progress - without destroying the family. Florida can
take great pride in its progress in this field.
Our prison system, which has been chronically and dangerously
over-loaded, will be expanded in this biennium to a sufficient capacity.
A new reception center will provide for classification of new prisoners
to insure maximum recovery of these wasted human resources-oat, in the
long run, less cost to the state and to society generally.
The same story can be told in the fields of mental health,
forestry, and conservation. The program of this State in the field of
outdoor recreation and conservation assues us that being outdoors in
Florida will always be the unique and wonderful experience that has
made this State a mecca for people all over the world.
In the field of secondary education much remains to be done,
but we are about the task. For the first time in history we
appropriated enough money for textbooks - $10,000,000. The increased
appropriations for public schools over the preceding biennium was
$100,000,000, and our teachers are now drawing salaries in excess of the
national average. Increased money is no guarantee of improved education,
but it is an indispensable tool to acquiring it -- and Florida has
provided the tools.
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Our public health program, largely under Federal impetus, is
expanding rapidly. The State has moved to provide adequately for
medical care to the aged indigent through the implementation of the
Kerr-Mills Act. Encephalitis research has been speeded. A new
anthropod laboratory is being established on the Gulf Coast.
Our tourism promotion program should be expanded, but its
quality is good. Our Worlds Fair Exhibit will be a great credit to
the State. In these areas the COOperation of local government and
private industry with the Development Commission and with each other
has multiplied all our etforts.
There is much more to the same story to be told. All of it
costs money. I think that we can rejoice that although Florida is in
the top ten states in size in the nation, it is in the bottom twenty
in per capita taxation, state and local.
Our agricultural econOmy is sound. We still have problems,
like freezes, British preference, Georgia restrictions, and competition,
but farmers in Florida are competent and on top of their problems. The
Commissioner of Agriculture is providing outstanding leadership.
We have a tremendous unrealized potential in the field of
industrial development. As transportations improvement and population
shifts increase our market, and classic natural resources lose their
importance, there are no limiting factors on our industrial growth.
The Cross Florida Barge Canal, when completed, will put us on all
fours with the most favored areas in the country.
let me tell you a story. I was talking in Japan with the
president of Sony Corporation. He had told me about their expansion
program -- in particular, about a new plant they had put in Shannon,
Ireland. That struck me as strange, so I asked him why they selected
Ireland for a new plant. His answer was as old as salesmanship, and
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as new as tomorrow: "Because they asked us to.
All over this natiOn industrialists are planning the growth
and expansion of their companies. We have much to offer them, and
a IeSpOnsibilitj)r to let them know it.
I would like to concentrate, during the last year of this
administration, with you, on industrial development. We should cover
this country, like an insurance salesman covering his assigned area,
telling our story to good prospects. Two weeks ago we had a group
of businessmen as guests of the Development Commission covering the
State, visiting cities and towns from Pensacola to Key west, meeting
with our businessmen aha local leaders. A second group will be here
December 3. This trickle shOuld be the beginning of a torrent.
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