FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FLORIDA:

Wealth
or

Waste?

FLORIDA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Tallahassee
COLIN ENGLISH, Superintendent

IF

1i

COPYRIGHT
1946
BY
STATE OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

A

FOREWORD

The Florida Resources-Use Education Project is a cooperative enter-
prise in which many teachers, school administrators, citizens and State
agencies are cooperating. The primary objects of the project are to
provide instructional materials relating to Florida, its people and its
physical resources, and to stimulate the use of such materials in the
educational program. The State Department of Education, the State
Planning Board, the University of Florida, the Florida State College
for Women, and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College are
the co-sponsors of the project; all of the institutions of higher learning
are cooperating. Dr. M. W. Carothers, Registrar of the Florida State
College for Women, is serving as coordinator.
The manuscript for this textbook was prepared by a group of public
school teachers and principals under the direction of Mr. Henry Becker,
head of the Geography Division of Florida State College for Women,
assisted by Miss Gladys Fawley, Assistant Professor of Geography.
Members of this group included Miss Evelyn Bates, Mrs. Marian Black,
Miss Mary Bostick, Mrs. Annice D. Elkins, Mrs. Sarah H. Fite, Mr.
Horace B. Gray, Mr. M. Luther King, Miss Jean Matheson, Miss Jennie
Spivey, Mrs. Varina Vaughn, and Mrs. Mary Williams.
Many persons and agencies have been generous in their editorial
assistance and in furnishing illustrative material. Particular mention
should be made of the State Department of Geology, Florida Department
of Agriculture, State Board of Conservation, State Advertising Com-
mission, Florida Forest Service, Florida Park Service, State Road De-
partment, Extension Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
U. S. Soil Conservation Service, Newman Industries, Pan-American
Airways, University of North Carolina Press, Harper's Magazine, St.
Petersburg News Service, Dr. Kathryn T. Abbey Hanna, Henry F. Becker,
Gladys Fawley, American Geographical Society, Dr. Raymond Moyer,
Mr. W. F. Jacobs.
Mr. T. George Walker has rendered valuable assistance in the prepara-
tion of the manuscript for the printer and in arranging for printing details.
Except where otherwise indicated the figures quoted are from the
1940 Federal Census. In many cases it was not possible to secure later
data; in other cases the 1940 figures were used deliberately to avoid a
distortion of the picture due to temporary war conditions.
In connection with the use of this textbook, teachers are urged to
secure additional materials from State agencies such as the Florida Forest
Service, Florida Park Service, the Geological Survey and the State
Department of Agriculture. A map of each county showing transpor-
tation lines, towns, rural homes, and many other helpful features can
I

FOREWORD-Continued

be secured for 20o from the State Road Department. Through the
courtesy of the State Chamber of Commerce, a copy of the Statistical
Abstract of Florida Counties can be secured from the Curriculum Labora-
tory at the University of Florida or the Curriculum Laboratory at the
Florida State College for Women for $1.15 postpaid. National Resources
Planning Board Report, Part XI, The Southeast can be secured from
the same sources for 35c postpaid. State Florida School Bulletins,
November, 1945 and December, 1945, give helpful suggestions and
bibliographies.
It is hoped that this volume will aid the boys and girls of this State
to understand more clearly the problems confronting the State and to
appreciate more fully its wonderful opportunities.

Colin English,
State Supt. of Public Instruction.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES

igure Number Page No.
1. Cut-over Land in Florida (picture) ................................. 1
2. Fine Stand of Pine Trees in Florida (picture) ....................... 2
6.* A Badly Eroded Area in North China (Courtesy Charles Moyer and
Geographical Review), (picture) .................. ................ 4
8. Estimate of Selected Mineral Resources of The United States (graph).. 4
9. Land Use in the United States, 1630 and 1930 (graph) ............... 5
10. Extent of Erosion in United States (table) ........................... 6
11. Ruined Farm Land in the "Dust Bowl" (picture) ..................... 6
12. The Results of Forest Fires (picture) ............................ ... 7
13. A Badly Eroded Field (picture) .................. ......... ...... 8
14. Cattle Grazing on Improved Pasture in the Everglades (picture) ...... 9
15. Air View of Swampland (picture) ................................. 10
16. Air View of Daytona Beach (picture) ............................. 10
17. Jacksonville Harbor (picture) ..................................... 11
18. Air View of Citrus Groves (picture) .................... ... ...... 11
19. Harvesting Celery Near Sanford (picture) .... ..... ................ 12
20. Main Street in Moore Haven (picture) ..... ................ .... 12
21. Area and Population of Florida Counties, 1940 (table) ............. 13
22. Population Density of Florida, 1940 (map) ................ .....14-15
23. Per Cent of Urban and Rural Population (graph) ................ 17
24. Urban Centers, 1940 (map) ................. ...................... 17
25. Florida's Ten Largest Cities, 1940 (table) ............. ........... 18
26. Florida Counties (m ap) ................................... ........ 18
27. Number of Urban Centers in Seven Southeastern States, 1940 (table).... 19
28. Per Cent of Population Increase in Florida, the Southeast, and the United
States, 1860-1940 (graph) ....................................... 21
29. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1860 (map) .................... 22
30. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1860 (map) ................. 23
31. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1870 (map) ................... 24
32. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1880 (map) ................. 25
33. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1900 (map) ................... 26
34. Distribution of Population in Florida, 1920 (map) ................... 27
35. Per Cent of Increase and Decrease in Population between 1930 and 1940
(map) ........................................ ................. 28
36. Rates of Birth, Death, and Natural Increase, 1940 (graph) ............ 28
37. Leading States of Origin of Native-born Americans Living in Florida
in 1940 (table) ................................................. 29
38. Population Gains and Losses by Migration, 1935-1940 (map) ......... 29
39. Per Cent of Population by Race, 1940 (graph) ....................... 30
40. Per Cent of Negro Population in Relation to Total Population, 1930-
1940 (graph) ............................................. 31
41. Distribution of Negroes in Total Population by Counties, 1940 (map)... 32
42. Part of a Seminole Indian Village (picture) ........................ 33
43. Foreign Born Population (table) ................................... 33

SGaps in numbering of illustrations are due to inability to secure certain pictures
planned for, after manuscript was in page proof.
III

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES-Continued

Figure Number Page No.
44. Per Cent of Total Population by Age Groups, 1940 (graph) ........... 35
45. Per Cent of Population in Two Age Groups, 1940 (map) .............. 35
46. Average Annual per Capita Income (map) .......................... 38
47. Average Annual Income in Dollars from All Farm Products per Farm
(map) ................................ ..... .... ... ................ 39
48. Number of Deaths per 100,000 People from Four Diseases (table) .... 41
49. Average Number of Malaria Cases, Estimated (map) ................ 42
50. Number of Persons per Doctor, 1941 (map) ......................... 45
51. Number of Persons per General Hospital Bed, 1941 (map) ........... 46
52. Full-time Health Department Services, 1942 (map) .................. 47
53. Health Departments and Per Capita Health Expenditures (table) ...... 48
54. Worker's Homes in Turpentine Camp (picture) ..................... 49
55. Farm Home in Poor Agricultural Area in North Florida (picture) ...... 50
56. An Old Farm Home in Central Florida (picture) ................... 50
57. Farm Home Near Hastings (picture) .. ............... ......... 51
58. Modern Rural Non-farm Home on the East Coast (picture) ........... 51
59. Modern Urban Home in South Florida (picture) .... ................. 52
60. Average Value of Houses, 1940 (map) .............................. 52
61. Some Housing Characteristics, 1940 (graph) ................ ........ 53
62. Per Cent of Homes Having No Running Water, 1940 (map) .......... 54
63. Per Cent of Homes Having No Refrigeration Equipment, 1940 (map).. 55
64. Per Cent of Homes Having No Electric Lighting, 1940 (map) .......... 56
65. Per Cent of Homes Having No Inside Toilet Facilities. 1940 (map). .57
66. Percentage of Houses in Florida Needing Major Repairs (graph) ...... 58
67. Number of Houses Rented Seasonally, 1940 (map) ................... 59
68. Slum Districts in Jacksonville before Improvement (picture) ......... 60
69. Improved Housing Project on Same Site as Figure 64 (picture) ........ 60
70. Florida's State Park System, 1945 (map) ........................... 62
71. Scene in Highlands Hammock Park (picture) ....................... 63
72. Scene in Hillsborough River Park (picture) ........................ 64
73. Scene in Torreya Park (picture) .................................... 64
74a. Camping in Myakka River Park (picture) ........................... 65
74b. Inside of Cave in Caverns State Park (picture) ...................... 66
75. Per Pupil Investments in Education (table) ......................... 68
76. Public School Expenditures per Pupil in Daily Attendance, 1940 (map) . 69
77. Per Cent of Population Under 21 Years of Age, 1940 (map) ......... 70
78. Some General Characteristics of a Good School (table) ............. 70
79. College Education of Teachers (table) .............................. 71
80. Per Cent of Children of Various Age Groups in School (table) ....... 72
81. Number of School Years Completed by All Persons Over 25 Years of
Age (table) ..................................... ............. 73
82. Employed Persons by Basic Occupations (table) ...................... 75
83. Estimated Annual Value of Production by Basic Industries, 1940 or 1941
(table) ........................................ ............... 76
84. Percentage of Employed Persons by Service Occupations (table) ...... 77
85. Traffic Flow Map, January, February, March (map) ................ 79
86. Traffic Flow Map, June, July, August (map) ....................... 80
IV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES-Continued

Figure Number Page No.
87. Florida Highways (map) ........................... ............ 81
88. How The Tourist Dollar is Spent (graph) .......................... 82
89. A Cabin Court (picture) .................... ..................... 83
90. A Trailer Park (picture) .................... .................... 83
91. A T ourist H otel (picture) .......................... ................ 84
92. Estimated Percentages of Tourists Using Major Types of Living Quar-
ters 1937-1938 (table) .......................................... 85
93. Average Winter Temperatures (map) ............................. 88
94a. A Florida Bathing Beach (picture) ................................. 88
94b. Physical Map of Florida (map) .................................. 86-87
95. Sports Fishing in Florida W aters (picture) .......................... 89
96. Hunters and Their Kill (picture) ................................. 90
97. A Shuffleboard Court (picture) .................................... 91
98. Major Land Uses, United States, Southeast, Florida (graphs) ........ 98
99. Virgin Forest in United States, 1850 (Courtesy, Harper's Magazine)
(m ap) ........................................ .... ........... 99
100. Virgin Forests in United States, 1945 (Courtesy, Harper's Magazine)
(map) ....................................... ..... ............ 99
101. A Log Loader At W ork (picture) ................................... 100
103. A Turpentine Face (picture) ...................................... 101
104. Florida Lumber Production (graph) ............................... 102
105. Major Timber Types in .Florida (map) ............................ 103
106. A Scrub Oak Stand (picture) ....................................... 104
107. Lumber Production by Counties, 1942 (map) ........................ 105
108. Location of Wood-Using Mills in Florida, Saw Mills (map) .......... 106
109. Location of Wood-Using Mills in Florida, Non-sawmill (map) ........ 107
110. How Florida Lumber Stands Have Vanished (graph) ............... 108
111. Comparative Soil Values of Southeastern States (graph) .............. 109
112. Approximate Acreage of Good Land (map) ........................ 110
113. Per Cent of Land Area Forested, Lower Southeast 1944 (map) ........ 110
114. Per Cent of Land Recommended for Permanent Forest (map) ........ 111
115. Condition of The Commercial Forest Area (graph) ................. 112
116. Planting Trees on Worn-Out Farm Land (picture) .................. 112
117. Tree Planting in Florida (graph) ................................. 113
118. Per Cent of Forest Land Burned (graph) ........................... 114
119. Fires by Per Cent of Causes (graph) ............................. 115
120a. Ownership of Forest Land in Florida (graph) ........................ 116
120b. Use of State Forest Lands (graph) .............................. 117
120c. Use of Federal Forest Lands (graph) .............................. 117
121. A Fire Lookout Tower (picture) ................................... 118
122. A Firebreak Plow (picture) ........................................ 119
123. A Forest Fire Truck (picture) ...................................... 120
124. Growth of Fire Control on Private Lands (graph) .................. 120
125. Fire Protection in Florida (map) .................................. 121
126. Recommended Division of Fire Control Costs (graph) ................ 122
127. Uses of Florida Farm Land in 1940 (table) ........................ 124
128. Average Value Per Acre of Croplands Harvested 1940 (table)........ 125
V

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES-Continued
Figure Number Page No.

129. Citrus Production of Leading States, 1939 (table) .................... 126
130. Production of Orange and Grapefruit, 1939 (map) .................. 127
131. Average January Temperature (map) ............................ 128
133. W ood Stacked in Grove (picture) ................................. 129
135. Citrus Grove with Cover Crop (picture) ............................ 130
136. Production of Limes in Florida, 1939 (table) ......................... 130
137. Vegetables Harvested for Sale in Leading States, 1939 (table) ........ 132
138. Leading Ten Florida Vegetables Harvested for Sale 1939 (table) ...... 133
139. Beans With Windbreak of Corn Rows (picture) ..................... 133
140. Large Field of Irish Potatoes Near Homestead (picture) ............ 133
141. Value of Vegetables Harvested for Sale, 1939 (map) ................ 134
142. Spraying a Truck Crop Against Insect Pests (picture) ................ 136
144. Value of Other Fruit and Nut Production, 1939 (table) ................ 136
145. Papayas and Avocados (picture) ................. ........ ........ 137
146. Pecan Grove (picture) ........................................... 138
147. Tung Grove (picture) ........................................... 138
148. Dairy Cows in Barn, South Florida (picture) ......................... 139
149. Poultry Farm (picture) ....................................... 139
150. Shade Tobacco Field (picture) .................. ................... 139
151. Plowing Land for Sugar Cane (picture) ............................ 140
152. Cutting Cane (picture) ..................................... 140
153. Stocks of Ramie (picture) .......................... .............. 141
154. Horticultural Specialties, 1939 (table) .............................. 142
155. Average Value of Land and Buildings per Farm, 1940 (map) ........ 143
156. Total Corn Acreage, 1939 (map) ................................ 144
157. Vegetables Grown for Home Use Only (map) ....................... 144
158. Peanuts Harvested, Acreage, 1939 (map) ............................ 145
159. Sweet Potato Production, 1939 (map) .............................. 145
160. Cattle and Calves, 1940 (map) ................................... 146
161. Sw ine, 1940 (m ap) ..................... ........... ........... 146
162. Grinding Cane (picture) ........................................ 148
163. Contour Plowing (picture) ...................................... 149
164. Cattle Grazing on Unimproved Pasture (picture) .................... 150
168. Livestock Market (picture) ....................................... 151
169. Number of Beef Cattle, 1940 (map) .............................. 151
170. Value of Beef Cattle Sold in 1940 (map) ........................... 152
171. Brahman Cattle (picture) ....................... ................ 154
172. Cattle Grazing Along Highway (picture) ......................... 155
173. Preparing Improved Pasture in Lake Okeechobee Region (picture) ..... 156
176. Value of Principal Mineral Products by Counties, 1940 (table)......159-160
177. Value of Production of Minerals in the United States, Leading States,
and Southern States (table) ..................................... . 160
178. Value of Mineral Production in Florida, 1940 (table) .................. 160
179. Known Deposits of Phosphate Rock, 1936 (table) .................... 161
180. Florida Mineral Resources (map) ............. ..................... 161
181. Dragline Dredge at Work (picture) .............................. 162
VI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES-Continued

e Number

Page No.

Figur
182.
183.
184.

Hydraulic Mining of Phosphate (picture) .......................... 163
Phosphate Rock Plant Near Mulberry (picture) .................... 163
Annual Tonnage and Annual Value of Phosphate in Florida, 1900-1941
(graph) .......................................................... 164
Florida Minerals and Their Uses (table) ......................... 165
Limerock Crushing Plant (picture) ................................. 166
Mining of Limestone in Jackson County (picture) .................. 167
Commercial Fishing in Southeast, 1940 (table) ....... ................ 169
Commercial Fishing in United States, 1940 (table) .................. 170
Total Catch of Fishery Products, 1940, Thousands of Pounds (map) .... 170
Total Catch of Fishery Products, 1940, Thousands of Dollars, (map) ... 171
Total Catch of Fishery Products by Regions (table) .................. 172
Florida's Fishery Products, 1940 (table) ............................ 173
M ullet and Trout Fishing Dock (picture) .......................... 175
Oyster Fishing (picture) .......................................... 177
Sponges on the Docks at Key West (picture) ... .................... 178
Tarpon Springs Water Front (picture) ............................. 179
Leading Groups of Florida Manufactures, 1939 (table) .............. 183
Value Added by Manufacture (map) ............................. 184
Power Used in Manufacture (map) ............................... 184
Number of Wage Earners Engaged in Manufacturing, 1940 (map) .... 186
Value Added by Manufacture, 1940 (map) ...................... ... 187
Small Sawmill (picture) ......................................... 188
Crate and Box Factory (picture) ................................ . 189
Work Regions of Florida (map) .................................... 192
Florida Railroads (map) .................................... ..... 193
Florida A airlines (m ap) ........................................ 194
Modern Airport, Miami (picture) ................................ 195
Gandy Bridge (picture) ............... ............... .......... 195
Tonnage of Leading Florida Ports, 1940 (table) .................... 196
Disposition of Fresh Florida Fruits and Vegetables (table) ........... 197
Retail Sales, 1939 (map) ........................................ 198
W wholesale Sales, 1939 (map) ...................................... 199

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
List of Illustrations and Tables .................................... iii
Suggestions to Teachers .......................................... ix
SI. Florida: W health or W aste ........................................ 1
II. Florida's People ........................................ ........ 9
III. Levels of Living in Florida ....................................... 37
IV. How People in Florida M ake a Living ............................ 75
V. Florida's Tourist Industry ......... ................... .. 79
VI. How Florida's Forests Are Used .... 44... .......... ......... 98
VII. Farming in Florida ................ ~ ........................ 124
VIII. Cattle G razing in Florida ......... .. ... ........ .... ..... 150
IX. M ining in Florida ................ .... .. ............... 158
X. Florida Uses its Sea Resources ....... ......................... 169
XI. Manufacturing Florida's Products ...... "2. K ............ 182
XII. Transportation, Communication, and Commerce .................... 191
XIII. Florida Faces the Future ........................................ 201
Index ........... ....... ............................. .. 206

VIII

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION
(Suggestions for Teachers)

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
The stage of development of any region and the levels of living attained
by its people depend largely on the following groups of basic resources
and how well they are used: the people, the technology or skill they pos-
sess, the available natural resources, and the institutions that have been de-
veloped. That all is not well with levels of living in the Southeast is now
generally admitted. Such facts as low incomes, poor housing, inadequate
diet, and low health levels in comparison with the Nation suggest either
that the Southeast lacks one or more of the resources basic to development
or that these resources have been unwisely used.
In recent years the people of this region, which is faced with the di-
lemma of a wealth of resources and the label of "the Nation's Economic
Problem Number One", have been called to social action by the authors
of numerous books and pamphlets. Representative of such publications are
the following:
Odum, Howard, Southern Regions of the United States. University of
North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1936.
Johnson, Gerald W., The Wasted Land. University of North Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill, 1937.
Johnson, Embree, and Alexander, The Collapse of Cotton Tenancy.
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1935.
National Resources Planning Board, Regional Planning Part XI, The
Southeast. United States Government Printing Office, Washington,
D. C., 1942.
From the challenge thus presented has grown the conviction that public
education through community-centered schools can and must assist other
agencies in solving social problems growing out of the waste of the resources
of the region, the state, and the community, and that schools are faced with
the necessity for developing a program designed to improve living through
wiser uses of both human and natural resources.
The Gatlinburg Conferences in the summers of 1942, 1943, and 1944,
attended by educators, representatives of state planning boards and of the
Tennessee Valley Authority, and other persons, stimulated keen interest in
the thesis that resources education is a prime necessity if southern levels of
living are to be raised. Out of these conferences grew a south-wide move-
ment, now actively participated in by most of the states. Further impetus
was given to this movement by the volume, Building a Better South
Through Education, produced by the Southern States Conference in Day-
tona Beach in the summers of 1943 and 1944.
This text, Florida Wealth or Waste?, attempts to present to teachers
and pupils the necessity for a careful and analytical re-examination of how
man is using his total resources in this state. People everywhere are faced

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
with the need for making constant readjustments in their living to fit an
environment conditioned by an increasingly rapid rate of change. Only by
courageous and realistic appraisal of conditions as they are can the people
of Florida hope to recognize and solve the numerous existing resource-use
problems.
The vitality of an educational program depends largely on the degree
to which it grows out of and helps to meet human needs in community,
state, region, and nation. These needs to be met by education are fre-
quently stated in terms of four basic aspects of living: personal, immediate
personal-social relationships, social-civic relationships, and economic rela-
tionships. Needs in these four areas must be met by centering education
around understandings, attitudes, and skills essential to more effective liv-
ing. Resource-use education, dealing as it does with needs growing out of
many vital phases of human life, affords unparalleled opportunities to con-
tribute to the development in children of such basic understandings, atti-
tudes, and skills as suggested below:1
A. Understandings
I. That the scale of development and levels of living attained by
a people depend to a large extent upon the resources of a
region and how they are used.
2. That the conservation (wise use) of human and natural re-
sources is imperative to the well being of the people of any
region.
3. That man should play an active rather than passive role in the
adjusting and readjusting to a continuously changing environ-
ment.
4. That past experiences can contribute to solving present day
problems.
5. That there is need for people to adjust to the natural disad-
vantages as well as the natural advantages of a region.
6. That modern industrial development has accelerated the rate
of the use of natural resources.
7. That specialization in work leads to interdependence between
people of different regions.
8. That the economic, political, and social conditions and con-
flicts of people in various parts of the world are in part an
outgrowth of their natural environments or of their use of their
environments.
9. That interdependence and widespread misuse and waste of
natural resources in the past and at present make imperative
a world wide program of conservation of resources for our
own and future generations.
B. Attitudes
i. Honest curiosity regarding the relationships existing between
human and natural resources.
SFlorida School Bulletin, Volume VIII, Number 3, pp. 22-23, State Department of
Education.

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
2. Appreciation of the achievements and ways of living of other
people.
3. Tolerance for resource-use problems and conditions of other
people.
4. Intolerance for needless and inexcusable waste.
5. A realization of the futility of a blanket indictment of past use
or misuse of resources.
6. Willingness to participate in a program of better use and ad-
justment.
7. Personal responsibility for wise present and future use of human
and natural resources.
8. An intelligent interest in fitting resource-use into an active
community program.
C. Skills
I. A study of resource-use contributes to the development of such
general study habits as ability to think accurately; to follow
directions; to use the dictionary, atlas, indexes, and tables of
contents effectively.
2. Resource-use study trains pupils to work independently in:
a. securing significant information from landscapes, pictures,
maps, graphs, statistics, and from reading materials.
b. Raising significant problems from facts gained.
c. Organizing effectively facts gained from various sources.
d. Learning to put significant information into written form,
on maps, and into graphs.
e. Applying knowledge gained as an aid in understanding and
interpreting present and past events, and in attempted solu-
tions of present day problems.

ROLE OF THE SCHOOL2
"Among the agencies in the South which must educate people for full
and wise use of all resources is the public school. More than nine million
students and probably eighteen million adults are affected directly or in-
directly by its program each year. If teachers and administrators in the
public schools are to capitalize upon their tremendously challenging op-
portunities, they will need to understand clearly what is meant by educa-
tion in resource use and how it may be made an integral part of an
ongoing, functional program to improve the quality of living in the 'here
and now', as well as in the future. In short, they will need to know the
'what' and the 'how' of resource-use education . .

SFonville, Mary Sue, "Classroom Teachers make Resource Use Vivid." Education
Helps Build a Region, pp. 139-140, University of North Carolina Press, 1946.
This article expresses so well the philosophy of resources-use education that parts
of it are quoted here with the kind permission of the editors, Dr. John E. Ivey,
Jr., and Mr. Harry B. Williams.

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
"Resource-use education does not purport to be new or revolutionary.
It is rather an attempt to expand, unify, emphasize, and vitalize what has
long been recognized as an essential part of an adequate and effective edu-
cational program for the public schools in America-conservation education.
In other words, resource-use education is all that conservation aims to be,
and more too.
"Resource-use education goes beyond the usual concept of conservation
education in several ways. First, it interprets resources as including not only
natural resources but also human resources-the quality and quantity of the
population-and social resources-customs, institutions, capital, and skills.
Second, resource-use education recognizes as fundamental certain prin-
ciples or concepts not included, or not sufficiently emphasized, in the usual
conservation texts, and teaching procedures:
(I.) There is an uncomprising unity and balance among all the ele-
ments of the natural environment.
(2.) The natural and social environments are inter-dependent. There
is an inescapable companionship between nature and culture.
(3.) The attitudes and customs of groups, as well as their skills and
institutional arrangements, condition the use that they make of
their resources.
"Third, resource-use education differs from the usual conservation
instruction in that it seems to offer a more positive, creative approach to
the problem of using all resources. It is careful to emphasize that wise
resource use does not mean the locking up and hoarding of resources. It
means that resources must be used in such a way as to maintain the
natural process of replenishment. Only the use of resources will result
in higher levels of living. Their scientific use will also insure their avail-
ability for future generations. . .
"Both the starting point and the methods employed in resource-use edu-
cation depend upon the same variable factors which condition any other
part of a sound educational program: (I) the general nature and needs
of the local community; (2) the needs and achievements of the pupils; (3)
the philosophy, the curricular content and organization, and their rela-
tionships in the school; (4) the knowledge, interest, ingenuity, and coop-
erativeness of the teachers and administration; (5) the available materials,
facilities, and services.
"Since this is true, there is no 'one right way' to begin or to proceed
in developing an effective program of resource-use education. There are,
however, certain important considerations which should have the continu-
ing attention of both teachers and administrators concerned with such a
program.
"In the first place, resource-use education should be considered an
evolving aspect of the total educational program. The knowledge, under-
standings, attitudes, skills, and habits which are its objectives cannot
be developed in one unit or in one course. They can be achieved only if the
programs of pupils at every level from the primary grades through the
secondary school provide experiences designed to build them up. There-
XII

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
fore, the final effectiveness of resource-use education will depend on the
extent to which the philosophy underlying it prevades the school's cur-
ricular and extra-curricular activities and the concepts fundamental to it
are woven into different units and courses with continuity and con-
sistency.
"This does not mean, of course, that it may not be desirable at some
point, probably at the junior high school level, to offer a course in which
students have a chance to draw together, interpret, and integrate their
earlier learning about resources and their use. In fact, it seems to be the
opinion of a number who have studied this matter that such a course may
not only be desirable but essential.
"Another consideration to be borne in mind is that while the subject
fields of health, home economics, science, and social science will furnish
the basic facts and concepts concerning resources and their use, the fields
of art, music, language, and literature have invaluable contributions to
make, especially in developing those attitudes and appreciations without
which knowledge might never be expressed in action. ...
"Even more, perhaps, than some other aspects of a school's program,
resource-use education must grow out of the needs of the pupils concerned
and must have both roots and results in the community situation. Its
nature, purpose, and procedures all demand this. Therefore, among the
considerations to be kept before those who are initiating or expanding such
a program is the necessity for identifying as soon as possible the needs of the
pupil and of the community in terms of their use of their resources. To
be sure, certain resource-use needs are common to all communities. . .
Fortunately these have, for the most part, already been identified and
authoritatively set forth in publications easily available to teachers and ad-
ministrators. However, in some communities certain needs may be more
acute than others and if these are duly recognized, they can indicate both
the point of beginning and the first lines of emphasis for the resource-use
education program."

MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION

These pupil and community needs can be met best in a school environ-
ment that encourages thinking, questioning, and the solution of problems.
Use of material in this book by traditional reading-recitation procedures will
defeat the purpose for which it was intended. Successful results will be
attained in the classroom when the teacher and pupils work together in a
problem-solving laboratory situation with the teacher guiding and partici-
pating in activities initiated by the group to discover or help solve their
own community problems.
While there has been a vast amount of research dealing with resource-
use in the South, only recently has any effort been made to channel it into
educational materials. Thus, there is at present time a dearth of suitable
material for pupil use which deals with the inter-relationships of all the
resources of Florida.
XIII

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
Therefore, this book, Florida, Wealth or Waste?, and the community
itself will be the principal sources of materials for a class discovering how
this State uses its resources. It is suggested that this text be used in ninth
grade classes. Teachers of civics, science, and general mathematics will
need to discuss the implications of specific resource-use education in their
respective fields. They may decide to use this text in one subject or plan
its use cooperatively. Teachers of all grades will find it a useful refer-
ence for resource material. Its primary purpose is to serve as a source of re-
liable information, a guide for discovering and doing, and one means of
developing desirable understandings, attitudes, and skills. The com-
munity, large or small, will provide numerous sources of previously un-
available or undeveloped materials for the teacher who is skilled in recog-
nizing and utilizing opportunities.
Many pupil activities have been suggested in this book. One of these
is group planning through discussions of the major problems facing the
Nation, the Southeast, and Florida with special emphasis on the local
community. Group discussion of important problems and panel discus-
sions, which have grown out of special reports or surveys and are led by
individual pupils, are two effective devices. The teacher should provide
plenty of opportunities for this type of activity in order that the pupils
may develop the ability to think carefully and accurately about matters
vital to their own community. There is a definite need to teach them to
gather information, to organize it, and to evaluate it in a scientific manner.
Guidance is necessary to see that they are dealing with problems with
which they can help; sometimes, the problems may be vital but cannot be
solved by children's thinking, even though they should be aware of them.
Many maps, graphs, and tables have been included in this book. As
each type of map is introduced in the text the teacher must make a special
effort to help the pupil interpret it. As it is referred to again or a similar
map is used the teacher can check on the pupils' ability to obtain the desired
information. It would be a fallacy on the part of the teacher to assume
that most pupils will be able to interpret these materials for themselves.
This is a place where careful guidance is needed. Children should be
encouraged to make additional maps when a need for them arises. Copies
of an outline may of the state (8/2" x II") may be obtained from the
College Book Store at Florida State College for Women3 or similar maps
may be made with duplicating equipment. Large County maps may be se-
cured from local sources or from the State Road Department in Talla-
hassee for twenty cents. Those from the latter source have many kinds of
valuable information on them. In addition, an excellent sectional map of
Florida showing railroads and political boundaries may be obtained free
from the State Department of Agriculture.
In many cases it would be both helpful and practical to request assis-
tance and cooperation from the mathematics teacher in the interpretation
and making of graphs. Several types are found in this text and their use
SWrite to the College Bookstore, F. S. C. W., Tallahassee, Florida, for the price
of these maps.
XIV

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
will probably have to be explained. The making of other graphs will help
the children present information relating to their community resources in
a clear and attractive form and will give them practice in using or de-
veloping several skills. Sometimes information for comparative purposes
can be given more clearly or economically in tables. Reading tables for
desired information is another skill in which the children require guidance.
An attempt has been made in the text to keep the tables and graphs as
simple as possible. These may serve as a pattern for those prepared by
the pupils.
In order to make the best possible use of the available material many
teachers will wish to obtain two additional copies of this text for the
purpose of cutting out and mounting the maps, graphs, and pictures for
maximum use in interpretations and comparisons. They may be passed
around the class, posted on the bulletin board, or used in an opaque pro-
jector. This suggestion is made because teachers cannot secure most of
this material from other sources.
In order to secure additional information regarding the community,
surveys of many types should be developed. Guidance in selection of in-
formation to be obtained and methods of making the surveys will be neces-
sary. If desirable results are obtained the problem will have to be defined
and specific questions listed to be answered by means of interviews or field
trips or both. Participation in such activities, if properly supervised, will
help children to gather information and to evaluate it objectively.
Many schools will use movies and film slides in addition to the mate-
rials suggested in the text. Film libraries in the county should be checked
for suitable movies. Many state and local agencies have films to loan to
schools. Valuable help in knowing what is available may be obtained from
the Extension Division.4 However, the teacher will have to use great
care in selecting and using this type of material to be sure it helps to develop
the basic understandings.
Additional suggestions for teachers of resource-use are available in the
school office file of the Florida School Bulletin.6
Only when better use of all resources is realized will Florida's people
be able to improve their living. If the children using this text read it
without carrying out its suggested activities in their own communities and
without initiating other activities, their time will be wasted. Most of the
facts presented have been known for many years, but only by recognizing
them and doing something about them will the children and adults in the
community be able to achieve greater well-being through a higher level
of living. To this end the classroom must be part of the community; the
school cannot be an island. Some information about the local community
can be obtained from various statistical sources, but much will have to be
obtained by local surveys and field trips. In addition, there will be many

" General Extension Division, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
' Florida School Bulletin, December, 1945, State Department of Education, Talla-
hassee, Florida.

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
people who will be able to give valuable aid by speaking to classes or to
school assemblies if they are aware of the need. Other valuable com-
munity resources include such agencies as the local civic clubs, health units,
and city and county offices. The latter would include the County Agri-
cultural Agent and the Home Demonstration Agent. Very valuable sug-
gestions regarding the classroom planning involved in using the resources
of a community are given by Edward G. Olsen6. The section of the
pamphlet prepared for county studies by the Florida Citizens Committee
on Education7, which deals with resources and education, will prove valu-
able to the teacher planning a county study.
Although there is a lack of books or pamphlets which cover all phases
of resource-use in Florida, there are many free or inexpensive materials
which contain valuable information on one or more subjects. These may
be used in a vertical file along with newspaper and magazine clippings. In
addition, pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers are good sources of pic-
tures for bulletin boards, opaque projectors, or the making of charts and
booklets. Some agencies which have free materials available include:
I. Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee
2. Florida Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee
3. Florida Forest Service, Tallahassee
4. Florida Geological Survey, Tallahassee
5. State Dept. of Conservation, Tallahassee
6. State Health Department, Jacksonville
7. State Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville
8. General Extension Division, Gainesville
9. United States Forest Service, Washington, D. C.
Many times schools will wish to prepare their own materials for the
study of local resource-use. These might well include pictures, film
slides, charts, maps, graphs, and written reports which would be very
valuable additions to any resource-use program. Moreover, some classes,
schools, or possibly counties may desire to make a county study of resource-
use. It is suggested that this would probably involve a time span of more
than one year. Items for study should be chosen on the basis of the needs of
the community and the interests of pupils involved. The method of con-
ducting the study should receive careful consideration before being put into
execution. After data are collected, specific plans for evaluation should be
made. These should lead to constructive action.
Many teachers may feel the need of more information concerning the
resource-use program than it is possible to include in this supplement. A
"Selected Bibliography on the Use of Florida Resources" may be found in
the Florida School Bulletins. Following is a carefully selected list of books
and pamphlets which should prove valuable background or reference ma-
terial for the teacher:
Olsen, Edward G., School and Community. Prentice-Hall, 1945.
S"Guides for County and Local Studies of Education in Florida", Florida
Citizens Committee on Education, Tallahassee, Florida.
S"Florida School Bulletin", Volume VIII, Number 2, pp. 3-17.
XVI

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
Glover, Katherine. America Begins Again. New York, McGraw-Hill
Book Company, Inc., 1939. $2.75.
Focuses attention upon the country's original wealth of natural
resources and the waste to which they have been subjected;
outlines present responsibilities.
Bingham, Florence C. Community Life in a Democracy. Chicago, Na-
tional Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1942. $1.8o.
Emphasizes relation of schools to community life.
Colcord, Joanna C. Your Community. New York, Russell Sage
Foundation, 1941. $0.85.
A very good set of questions concerning each of a number of
phases of community life.
Barbour, Thomas. That Vanishing Eden, A Naturalist's Florida. Bos-
ton, Little, Brown, and Company, 1944. $3.oo.
Story of the gradual inroads of civilization on the natural
beauties of Florida; informal guide to the plants, animals, in-
sects, fossils, springs, lakes, and other natural features.
Economic Leaflets, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, Col-
lege of Business Administration, University of Florida, Gainesville,
Florida.
Published monthly and sent free to residents of Florida on re-
quest; an excellent source for authoritative material on all phases
of industrial activity in Florida.
Florida Health Notes, Florida State Board of Health, Jacksonville,
Florida.
Published monthly and free to schools; an up-to-date analysis
of current health problems.
POSSIBLE TEACHING APPROACHES
A brief description of some of the plans used by other teachers to de-
velop resource-use education may be helpful for the teacher inexperienced
in this type of work.
"The experience of a tenth grade civics class in a consolidated school
in the Kentucky village of Stamping Ground suggests how pupils may join
with their teachers and parents in identifying community needs. This
civics class, after reading Improving Our Community's Homes and Pre-
paring to Serve in Your Rural Community, prepared by the University of
Florida's Sloan Experiment in Applied Economics, decided to make a sur-
vey to ascertain what the people of their town thought were the most
needed improvements in their homes and in the community. A question-
naire for this purpose was prepared. The most frequently noted needs
were better recreational facilities for young people, better sewage disposal,
natural gas for cooking and heating, and improvement in housing.
"The activities of this class illustrate, not only participation in identi-
fying certain needs, but also participation in helping meet the needs identi-
fied. The civics class is building up a background of knowledge to help
XVII

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued
in improving the housing situation. It is preparing a bulletin containing
information on construction and on the location of materials needed for
the improvements. Later, members of the group expect to help with some
of the actual construction. Other groups are working too. The Future
Farmers of America are trying to make arrangements for natural gas to
be piped from Georgetown, the county seat, eight miles away. The biology
class is planning to work on the sanitation problem"".
"In the course of learning about the natural resources of their state, an
eighth grade class in the Broughton High School of Raleigh, North Caro-
lina, made a special study of soil. Members of the staffs of the district and
state offices of the Soil Conservation Service supplied pamphlet material,
slides, and films. They made several visits to the school, and conducted an
excursion to a nearby farm which was once badly eroded but which is
now the scene of various practices designed to restore the soil and maintain
its fertility. After having a unit on Soil Conservation, a ninth grade civics
class in the same school joined the eighth grade group in initiating a proj-
ect to stop erosion on the worst section of the school grounds. Participa-
tion by other groups was sought with the result that there is now under-
way a program which has enlisted grounds committee of the Student
Council, the class in public speaking, the school newspaper, members of
former civics classes, the grounds committee of the Parent-Teacher Associ-
ation, the school principal and the superintendent, the city parks and
recreation director, and the Soil Conservation Service"10.
"A group studying the institutions of society in general and of their
community in particular might become concerned about why their com-
munity's institutions are no better than they are. In trying to answer this
question, they might be led to discover and appreciate that interaction of
nature and culture which is such a fundamental concept in resource-use
education. Still another approach to resource-use education in public
schools lies in courses or units involving the study of occupational oppor-
tunities and needs in the local community, the state, and the region."11
"A teacher of high school science makes excellent use of audio-visual aids
in teaching resource-use. Each time a class takes up a new subject that
concerns resources, the teacher collects pictures and charts showing the re-
source and its use. Students learn how the use being made of the resource
now corresponds with the supply in reserve. The teacher also points out
correct and incorrect methods of putting resources to use. For example,
during the study of sulphur, charts from the sulphur companies and maps
from state geological surveys are used to show where and in what quanti-
ties sulphur is found. The importance of this resource is, of course, studied
in connection with its extraction."12
At the present time several Florida counties have undertaken county-
wide programs in resource-use education. Many other counties have whole
O Fonville, Mary Sue, "Classroom Teachers Make Resource Use Vivid", Educa-
tion Helps Build a Region, p. 141, The University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill, N. C.
'o Ibid, p. 142.
1 Ibid.
2 Ibid, p. 143. XVIII

RESOURCE-USE EDUCATION IN ACTION-Continued

schools and classrooms where special emphasis is being given to this type
of program. For example, one Bay County school has taken the lead in
calling a meeting of parents, the school faculty, and other representative
citizens to determine how the school can help in solving significant problems
in the community. Following the school-community planning the eighth
grade has taken the leadership in the school. While all phases of resource-
use in the community have been considered, special emphasis has been placed
upon health. The children chose to work on the hookworm situation in
their own community because they doubted the printed statements regard-
ing the number of cases. They have studied the life-history of the hook-
worm, the incidence of hookworm infestation in Florida, Bay County, and
their own community. As part of this study every child in school was
tested and the groups planned methods of prevention as well as cure. In
addition, all general health problems were discussed in relation to the
community and plans worked out to attempt a solution. Better use of all
resources of the community by the school has been developed in all class-
room situations by means of the cooperative planning of the pupils, teach-
ers, parents and other interested citizens. While this is only the beginning
of a long-range program, results in the life of the community are evident
already. During the summer months when all the teachers in the school
were attending summer school, parents planned and carried on a summer
program for the children of the community. They used school and com-
munity facilities.
A school in Duval County began its program of wise forest use by
planting pines under the direction of the State Forest Service before the
school building itself was built. The fifth grade has taken the responsi-
bility for planting and caring for this acreage. In order to further this proj-
ect the school patrons have bought additional land for planting purposes.
The children in this school have learned to use and to appreciate their forest
resources.
In a town in Levy County the Future Farmers have a game refuge of
several thousand acres where they have carried on a fish restocking program,
protected game, done some reforestation, and provided fire protection.
Another school in Suwannee County has cut timber on a selective basis
from two to three acres at a profit of about $1200.oo. The pupils have
given this acreage complete care, including adequate fire protection.
The above descriptions of various activities in resource-use education
are merely suggestive. Many other schools could have been mentioned
but those cited afford examples of some activities which are actually being
carried on or developed at the present time. Each class and each school
will wish to develop its own plans to meet its own community needs if its
young citizens are given training in wise utilization of resources. As time
goes on, Florida teachers and pupils will develop a rich body of experiences
in resource-use education which they will wish to share with other schools.
If any group wishes to share any successful experiences of this kind, they
should send a brief description of it to the curriculum laboratories at the
University of Florida and the Florida State College for Women.
XIX

CHAPTER I

FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

Did you ever cross the State from Jacksonville to Pensacola? Or go
south from Sarasota to Fort Myers? If not, you may have made a similar
trip across some other part of the State. Did you notice a great deal of
country like that in Figure I ? More than half the land of Florida was at
one time covered with fine trees similar to those in Figure 2. In fact, there
was so much fine timber in the State that for many years the people who
settled here used the forests to get lumber, turpentine, and rosin without

. -. . ......... .. ." 1

FIGURE 1

ever bothering to save the small seedlings or keep out fire. Now, however, it
is known that such wasteful "mining" of timber causes land that once gave
work to many men to become ugly and useless like that shown in Figure I.
It is known, too, that when land is made unproductive in this way the
people who depend on it for a living either move away or become much
poorer. Another result of using forests wastefully is that as timber be-
comes scarce the price of lumber and wood for fuel rises very high. Ask
the older people in your community how the cost of building a fine home
of wood today compares with that of twenty or even ten years ago. Of
course, some of the former forest land has now been planted to truck farms,
citrus groves, and corn fields, and some of it has been used for towns and
highways. But far too much of it was not suitable for these uses and is now
covered with worthless blackjack oak, saw palmettos, and scrubby bushes.
Pine saplings tried to grow in these places but yearly fires left each new
crop of them charred and dead. Some of these lands are now protected
from fire and are planted to young pines, most of which are, as yet, too
small to use.

2 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

Every community, state, and nation has two very valuable possessions:
its people and the endowment of trees, minerals, soils, fish, game, and other
things given it by nature. Does not the example above of how the forests
have been treated make clear that if these natural resources are too rapidly
and wastefully used people or human resources will also suffer? Stated in
another way this means that a community, state, or nation cannot long be
prosperous unless all of its people can earn enough money to live well. In
order for people to benefit in these ways decade after decade, the use of
natural resources must be wisely planned to prevent waste and to provide
a continuing supply of such resources as trees, grasses, and game, that are
replaceable. This planned use of both human and natural resources is called
conservation. Conservation does not mean that the people of today should
stop making use of thcse natural resources to satisfy their needs but that
they should think of the needs and the welfare of the many generations
that will come after them. Your own generation, like every other, will
praise or blame previous generations for the way they have used or mis-
used the natural resources on which your living depends. Do you think
that your generation will later merit praise or blame for the way these
resources will be used during your lifetime ?

FIGURE 2

Have you ever wondered why many of the great nations that you have
studied about in history are now of little importance or have disappeared
altogether? And why, on the other hand, some nations have continued to
prosper? The following paragraphs should help you to discover some
reasons.
In the eastern Mediterranean region scientists have discovered buried
beneath shifting sands the ruins of previously great civilizations. What is
now desert land was once covered with forests and grasses. The grasslands
were destroyed by over-grazing, that is, pasturing too many animals on them,
and the exposed soils were left to be blown about by the wind. Cutting
most of the trees on the mountain slopes allowed floods to wash the topsoil
down on the lower lands. Scholars now think this misuse of the land is a

FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

major reason for the decline of the former nations of this region. Mis-
treatment of natural resources is only one of the causes for the downfall
of nations. Perhaps you can recall other causes from your study of history.
While some nations were rashly destroying their resource wealth, others
were using theirs by careful and wise planning. Such a nation is Switzer-
land, which for a thousand years has practiced methods of land use which
have actually resulted in enriching her soils rather than making them poorer.
She accomplished this by cultivating only the lower, more level valley
lands and by keeping the steeper highland slopes planted to grasses and
trees in order to hold the soil.
Denmark, unlike Switzerland, misused her land so badly that by the
middle of the last century many of her people were moving away because
they could not make a living. Her forests had all been cut. Her lack of
coal, iron, or water power prevented her from becoming one of the indus-
trial nations of Western Europe. When the vast fertile prairie lands of
Eastern Europe and of America began producing grains, she found that her
poor sandy soils could not compete in the growing of cereal crops. Hope-
less as this situation seemed, a few discerning leaders formulated a plan
that turned Denmark into a prosperous nation. These leaders studied the
natural resources of their country and the markets in neighboring countries
to find out what Denmark could produce and sell. They knew that Britain
and other manufacturing countries would buy butter, bacon, and eggs at
good prices. So they divided their lands into small farms and planted
them to pastures and fodder crops which grew very successfully on
the sandy soils and in the cool, damp climate of Denmark. These crops,
together with some imported feeds, were fed to animals and converted into
butter, bacon, and eggs for the breakfast tables of England and other
neighbors. Thus, with the aid of science to find improved methods of
production and marketing and of education to make better farmers of the
people, Denmark was soon selling at top prices the best quality butter, bacon,
and eggs in the world. As a result of this re-planned use of her human and
her rather poor natural resources, Denmark was successful in providing well
for her people and in making a highly useful place for herself in both Europe
and the world.
China is an example of a country in which both wise and careless use
of the chief resource--soil-may be seen. The interior highlands have
been deforested, over-grazed, and cultivated where slopes are too steep.
As a result the wind and the water have carried away much of the
soil (Figure 6). This wearing away of soil is called erosion. For
the most part, however, the farmers of this thickly settled nation have
given their fields such excellent care that they have remained productive
for more than 4,000 years.
You have seen how the well planned use of natural resources, as in
Denmark, can result in increased happiness and well-being for an entire
population. Some nations, however, have made unwise plans for the use
of both people and natural resources. Germany, whose leaders turned all
their efforts toward war, is an outstanding example. The German plan
has resulted neither in greater happiness for her citizens nor in a better
world. She viciously destroyed by outright killing many people in her own
country and in the nations she occupied. As a result of persecution many

4 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 6

of her people who were most capable of bringing about a more effective
use of both human and natural resources were exiled or they fled to other
countries. Germany's natural resources were made into war equipment
instead of into the articles people needed for daily living. It seems clear
now that the rest of the world will share the burden of helping to restore,
where possible, those resources of Europe which Germany so ruthlessly
destroyed or which were damaged by the Allies in defeating the German
people. This result can hardly be called a wise use of resources.

FIGURE 8

''
ri~y::LI ~.~
I~L~
it
~7s~~U.~

FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

So far you have learned about waste and conservation of resources in
some parts of Europe and Asia. Now come back to the United States and
see whether this younger nation has profited by the experiences of other
peoples. Try to find the answer to this question by studying the following
table and graphs. It should be pointed out that some of the figures, such
as those for land, are reasonably accurate. Others, such as those for
minerals about which accurate information is hard to get, are only rough
guesses. Sometimes the amount of a resource that is still left is of a poorer
quality or harder to use because man always takes first the best and the
most easily secured.
An estimate of the original quantity of several mineral resources of
the United States is given in the graph in Figure 8. As you study the
graph note the per cent of each mineral which has been exhausted. The
term exhausted is used because the rate of formation of these minerals is
so very slow that millions of years are required for new deposits to form.

LAND USE IN THE UNITED STATES
1630 AND 1930
MILLIONS OF ACRES
OPEN
WOODLANDS,
PRIMEVAL FOREST NATIVE MOUNTAIN
1630 GRASSLAND TOPS,
ARID LANDS,
etc.
820 600 480

FORESTLAND FARM LAND
CUT-OVER OPEN g
1 a GRAZING I
1930 C ROP PASTURE g LAND

00 200 150 400 380 190 330 100

URBAN
50

FIGURE 9

Of course, it is possible that there are mineral deposits as yet undiscovered
and that satisfactory substitutes for some minerals may be developed.
In order that you may determine to what extent the original forests
and native grasslands of the United States have been converted into crop
land, grazing land, and cut-over forest land since the period of discovery
and exploration, study the graphs in Figure 9.
The table in Figure Io shows the extent of erosion in the United States.
What per cent of the total land area has been subject to erosion?
Does a study of the information gained from Figures 8, 9, and o1 help
you to understand why some thoughtful Americans have asked whether
the United States will continue to be a leading nation of the world? Do

6 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

you suppose these leaders might have been thinking of the mistakes made
in the past by other nations that now have declined or disappeared?
The American people gave little time or thought to the prevention of
waste as long as they could still find new lands farther west. A few
decades ago, however, they awakened to the fact that the new lands were

EXTENT OF EROSION IN THE UNITED STATES
Little or no erosion (much of this land is not
adapted to agriculture)......................... 30%
Land area subject to erosion:
4 to 4 of topsoil gone.......................... 41%
34 of topsoil and some of subsoil lost.............. 99%
Mesas, canyons, rough mountain lands, barren
mountain lands, scablands, shallow lands ...... 8%
Essentially destroyed for further tillage ............ 6%
Moderate to severe gullying ................... 6%

TOTAL LAND AREA ................. Ioo%

FIGURE 10

all gone. To make matters worse they discovered many frightening evi-
dences that their resources had been very badly treated. Dust from the
misused, semi-arid wheat lands and over-grazed plains (Figure II) was
blowing many hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. Disastrous
forest fires were bringing flaming death to animals and trees as well as
to human beings (Figure 12). Soil erosion was becoming a serious prob-

FIGURE
"- t 4 *^ "^ y ',

,. ,:rQ;. ; ,'

FIGURE 11

FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE? 7

lem on more than half of the crop land (Figure 13) as well as on much of
the deforested and over-grazed land. The mineral resources which are
irreplaceable because of the slow rate at which they are formed by nature
have also been wastefully used. Even in this gasoline age only one out of
every five barrels of oil mined is recovered for use. At the pre-war rate of
consumption it is estimated that the oil reserves will be exhausted in a few
decades unless new reserves are discovered or less wasteful mining and
handling methods are used.

FIGURE 12

Many American families moved out of badly misused areas to other
parts of the country which often lacked work for new people. The prob-
lem of finding enough jobs was made harder by the absence of new lands
on which to settle and by the invention of many machines that threw some
factory workers and farmers out of work. A great many families, how-
ever, remained in these mistreated areas. Lowered production and un-
employment led to poverty and lowered living levels as evidenced by
inadequate diet, ill-kept homes, fewer comforts of living and recreational
advantages, and run-down schools. These in turn resulted in poor health,
discouragement, lowered human efficiency, and the inability to live and
work happily and successfully. Thus it is clear that waste of natural
resources results in a corresponding waste of human resources.
For many years a few thoughtful leaders had been warning the Ameri-
can people that they must not continue this destructive use of natural and
human resources. As more people became aware of the facts, plans for
repairing the damage were begun. Gradually many acres of eroded lands
were returned to their original use as grasslands or forest. These will
provide products which will lead to a greater satisfaction of human wants,
in contrast to the dust storms, forest fires, and floods, which were the re-
sult of the unplanned harvesting of the Nation's crop of resources. Much

8 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 13

has been accomplisnea, out a great deal more remains to be done. Waste
still goes on and the advice of experts is often ignored as the American
people continue to misuse the land, minerals, and other resources. The
great problem of how to use resources wisely cannot be solved in the com-
munity, the state, the nation, or the world until more people understand
that prosperous, permanent societies are possible only when there is long-
time planning to avoid waste of irreplaceable resources and to provide a
continuing supply of the replenishable ones. Do you not see that if the
United States is to continue to be a great nation, each part of the country
must contribute by making the best possible use of all the resources it has?
Your home state of Florida is a part of southeastern United States.
The term Southeast in this book refers to the states of Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. As
you continue your study, try to learn more about the use of the resources
of your State in relation to the Southeast and the whole country. See if
the people of Florida have made good adjustments to their natural environ-
ment and if they have made effective use of the human resources. If you
find that in some ways an improvement can be made, try to decide how
best to bring about the change.

CHAPTER 2

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

Have you ever heard the story about the three blind men who "saw" an
elephant for the first time? You may remember that one man touched the
elephant's leg and said that an elephant was like a tree, another felt its
huge sides and said that an elephant was like a wall, and the one who
grabbed the animal's tail said that an elephant was like a rope. You may
say that each one of these men had a ridiculously limited picture of an ele-
phant, and that no one who could see would make such a mistake. Yet you
might be surprised to know how many people have as false a picture of
Florida as the blind men had of the elephant.
Look at the pictures in Figures I and 14-20. Some, or all of these will
remind you of something in your own section of Florida or of scenes you
have noticed in your travels about the State. Do you think you could guess

.. .. .

FIGURE 14

where each of these pictures was taken ? Would it be fair to judge Florida
by any one of these pictures, even though each is typical of certain areas
of the State? Is Florida all burnt-over pine land, covered with saw pal-
mettos? Or all vast stretches of 'glade or prairie, where one sees only cattle
or water birds? Is it all a vast rolling land of citrus groves and lakes? Or
tropical beach resorts with soft breezes and waving palms? Or gloomy
swampland with towering cypresses and dripping moss? Is Florida en-
tirely a state of rich truck gardens, small towns, or bustling cities?
You know that it takes all these things, and many more, to give a true
picture of this State. Many Floridians know little about the use of re-
sources in their own part of the State, much less in Florida as a whole. As
you study this book, you should get a better over-all picture of the State.

io FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

.N..'.

I.A Ifi; ^^e'o It 4

FIGURE 15

11r '' '):5;

t..~,. .5
7f~ ,.~.,.',
PMW '7;n" 011
ve~r~~~
''" ''""l*"~~: ~ ~ J;, 4,4.1 0A t~
~r~Ff~; -:4y ""46-~,

FIGURE 16

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE II

FIGURE 17

11A *"1E~,
'r frc

FIGURE 18

12 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 19

FIGURE 20

FLORIDA: LAND OF LARGE AREA AND FEW PEOPLE

What do you think of when you hear the word resources? Land, forests,
water, minerals, and the like? That is correct, but if you stop there you
have omitted the most important resource of all, the people who make use
of these natural resources. Therefore, you should learn more about Flor-
ida's human resources, who the people are, where they live, how they live,
and in what ways they earn a living.
Florida might be described as a land of large area and few people.
When you compare Florida's population figures with those of other states
of similar size you will understand why this description is accurate. For
instance, Florida's area is not much less than that of Georgia or Michigan,

~i :-
""$:.~

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

yet the 1940 United States census gives Florida's population as 1,897,414,
Georgia's as 3,123,723, while that of Michigan is 5,256,o16.
Florida's comparatively small population is not evenly distributed on
the land. Many people tend to concentrate in some areas, leaving others
very thinly settled. In order to make population comparisons between
counties that differ in size or number of people or both it is helpful to know
how many people there are for each square mile of area. To get this
average density of population per square mile for a county the total number
of people is divided by the number of square miles. The average population
density for each county is given in Column 3, Figure 21. How many
people are there per square mile in Duval County? Okeechobee County?
Collier and Wakulla Counties? Which county is the most thickly settled?
The most thinly settled ?

AREA AND POPULATION OF FLORIDA COUNTIES, 1940

Land Density
Total Area in per
County Population Square Square
Miles Mile

Florida 1,897,414 54,262 35
Alachua 38,607 892 43
Baker 6,510 585 11
Bay 20,686 753 28
Bradford 8,717 293 30
Brevard 16,142 1,032 16
Broward 39,794 1,218 33
Calhoun 8,218 557 15
Charlotte* 3,663 705 5
Citrus 5,846 570 10
Clay 6,468 598 11
Collier 5,102 2,032 2
Columbia 16,859 786 21
Dade 267,739 2,054 130
DeSoto 7,792 648 12
Dixie 7,018 688 10
Duval 210,143 777 270
Escambia 74,667 663 113
Flagler 3,008 483 6
Franklin 5,991 544 11
Gadsden 31,450 508 62
Gilchrist 4,250 339 12
Glades 2,745 746 4
Gulf 6,951 557 12
Hamilton 9,778 514 19
Hardee 10,158 630 16
Hendry 5,237 1,187 4
Hernando 5,641 488 12
Highlands 9,246 1,041 9
Hillsborough 180,148 1,040 173
Holmes 15,447 483 32
Indian River 8,957 511 18
Jackson 34,428 942 36
Jefferson 12,032 598 20

Land Density
Total Area in per
County Population Square Square
Miles Mile
Lafayette. 4,405 543 8
Lake 27,255 996 27
Lee 17,488 786 22
Leon 31,646 685 46
Levy 12,550 1,103 11 ,
Liberty 3,752 838 4
Madison 16,190 702 23
Manatee 26,098 701 37
Marion 31,243 1,617 19
Martin 6,295 559 11
Monroe 14,078 994 14
Nassau 10,826 650 17
Okaloosa 12,900 938 14
Okeechobee 3,000 780 4
Orange 70,074 916 76
Osceola 10,119 1,325 8
Palm Beach 79,989 1,978 40
Pasco 13,981 751 19
Pinellas 91,852 264 348
Polk 86,665 1,861 47
Putnam 18,698 803 23
St. Johns 20,012 609 33
St. Lucie 11,871 588 20
Santa Rosa 16,085 1,024 16
Sarasota 16,106 586 28
Seminole 22,304 321 70
Sumter 11,041 561 20
Suwannee 17,073 677 25
Taylor 11,565 1,032 11
Union 7,094 240 30
Volusia 53,710 1,115 48
Wakulla 5,463 614 9
Walton 14,246 1,046 14
Washington 12,302 597 21

FIGURE 21

14 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

ILATION DENSITY
PER SQUARE MILE
I UNDER 15
3 15-30
3 30-100

FIGURE 22

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE 15

16 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

You know that the people are not evenly spread over the land in your
county; that there are more people in some places than in others. For
example, in Pinellas County with an average density of 348 people per
square mile, there are many more than 348 persons per square mile in the
city areas and not nearly so many in the country.
The map in Figure 22 gives a more accurate and detailed picture of
where people live in the State by showing average density of population
for parts of counties instead of for entire counties.
Find in the table in Figure 21 the Florida county with the largest
population. How does this population compare with one of the three
counties with the smallest population? Which nine counties have more
than 50,000 people? How many counties have fewer than Io,ooo people?
Find from Figure 21 how Duval and Okeechobee Counties, about equal.
in size, compare in population. How do Collier and Wakulla Counties
with about the same number of people compare in size?
On the same map you may see the great contrast between the parts
whicli are most heavily settled and those where there are fewest people.
If you could survey the State from the air you would observe few roads
and buildings, and little activity in the sparsely settled areas and better
roads, larger buildings, more homes, and a general appearance of busyness
in the more densely settled parts.
See if you can tell in which of the four population densities shown
on the map the pictures in Figures 15 and 16 were taken. You may
also find out from the map in which population density you live.
The fact that Florida has such a relatively small population might
suggest that few of its people live in towns and cities. The opposite,
however, is true. Well over half of Florida's population is urban. As
used in census reports, urban population consists of all persons living in
towns of 2,500 or over, while those who live in places under 2,500 or
in the open country make up the rural population.
Regions within the United States differ from each other with respect
to percentages of rural and urban population, just as they do in other
ways. Since Florida is a part of southeastern United States, one might
expect the State to follow rather closely the pattern of this part of the
country. The graph (Figure 23) tells a story which may surprise you.
Does it show Florida's percentage of rural and urban population to be
more like that of the Southeast or of the Nation as a whole? Since
such a large percentage of the people of the State live in urban areas it
is important to find out where the cities and towns are, what size they
are, and what attracts people to them.
The map in Figure 24 shows the location of all urban centers in the
State. They are grouped according to size of population. How many
cities have a population of 20,000 or more? How does Figure 24 help
you to understand the population densities shown in Figure 22? The
population figures for the ten largest cities are given in Figure 25.
By using this table we find that 3.- per cent of all Florida's people,
live in these ten cities. With the aid of Figures 24, 25, and 26 name
the counties containing these 10 cities. Notice, too, the large population
of the three metropolitan centers-Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa-St.
Petersburg. You probably know some reasons why people have con-

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE 17

FIGURE 23

FIGURE 24

PER CENT OF URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION
1930 AND 1940

1940

1930

URBAN CENTERS-1940
OVER 20,000 INHABITANTS
5,000-20,000 INHABITANTS
2,000-5,000 INHABITANTS
COUNTIES WITH NO URBAN CENTERS

18 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FLORIDA'S TEN LARGEST CITIES, 1940
Total Population of State, 1,897,414
City Population
I. Jacksonville ................... 173,o65
2. M iami ....................... 172,172
3. Tampa ...................... 108,391
4. St. Petersburg ................. 60,812
5. Pensacola ..................... 37,449
6. Orlando ...................... 36,736
7. West Palm Beach .............. 33,063
8. M iami Beach .................. 28,012
9. Daytona Beach ................ 22,584
10. Lakeland ..................... 22,068
FIGURE 25

FIGURE 26

FLORIDA
COUNTIES

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

centrated in these areas, and as you study succeeding chapters you will
find other reasons. In surprising contrast to these more densely settled
spots we see from Figure 24 that 27 of Florida's 67 counties have no
urban population at all. Find the names of these counties from Figure
26. Are these counties found in any particular section of the State?
Later you will find out why so few people live in these sections.
We have said that Florida's population is small, and that it is more
than half urban. The table in Figure 27 emphasizes both these points.
This table shows that, in actual numbers of people, only one state in
the southeastern region has a population as small as Florida's. Yet, in
proportion to total population, Florida has the largest number of urban
centers.

NUMBER OF URBAN CENTERS 2,500
AND OVER IN SEVEN SOUTHEASTERN
STATES-1940
State Number of Urban Centers Population

Alabama 60 2,832,961
Florida 70 1,897,414
Georgia 77 3,123,723
Mississippi 48 2,183,796
North Carolina 76 3,571,623
South Carolina 50 1,899,804
Tennessee 57 2,915,841

FIGURE 27

Your teacher will show you a population fnap of the United States,
so that you may compare Florida's urban centers with those in other
regions of the country. Notice particularly the contrast with the North-
east, and with the West.
Suggested Activities: I. In the first paragraph of this section the
statement is made that the people of Florida are the most valuable of
all resources of the State. Think of all the reasons you can why this
statement is true. As you study look for other reasons to add to your list.
2. On an outline map of Florida write in ink in the center of each
county the average density of population figure given in the table in
Figure 21. (See also Figure 26.) Color yellow all counties with an
average density of less than 20 persons per square mile; orange all those
with 20-40; light green those with 40-6o; dark green those over 60.
3. Find the percentage of all Florida's people who live in the three
largest urban centers (Figures 21 and 25).
4. Test Yourself: (DO NOT WRITE IN THE BOOK). In
column B are several terms used in this chapter. On a separate sheet
copy the definitions given in Column A. Write at the right of each
definition the term from Column B that best fits the statement.

20 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

A B
Map showing the distribution of people Number of people per square
over an area mile
People who live in centers of 2,500 or Negro population
over Population map
Population density Rural population
People who live in the open country or in Political map
places under 2,500 Urban population
5. On a separate sheet of paper copy the following sentences, filling in
each blank space with the one of the suggested words which best completes
the sentence.
(I) Florida has, in comparison with many states of similar area,
(few, many) people. (2) These people are (evenly, un-
evenly) distributed over the State.
(3) Florida has ___(more, fewer) towns over 2,500 in proportion
to its population than any other southeastern state. (4) This means that
it has a greater percentage of (rural, urban) population than have
those states. (5) Florida has (more, fewer) metropolitan centers
than northeastern United States.
Questions for Further Study: In the preceding paragraphs, some im-
portant facts about Florida's people were used to raise questions that re-
quire further study. These questions are summarized below. Keep them
in mind and try to answer them as you continue reading this book. Similar
questions will be raised also in other sections of the book.
I. Why has Florida so few people for its large area?
2. Why are some parts of Florida sparsely settled and other parts
moderately settled?
3. Why is over half of Florida's population urban?
4. Why is about one-third of Florida's population concentrated in its
Io largest cities?
5. Why have 27 out of 67 Florida counties no urban population?
6 Why are the people of Florida the most valuable resource of the
State?
FLORIDA'S POPULATION GROWS
Perhaps you feel that the picture you have gained thus far of the
numbers of people in Florida and where they live is a permanent one.
It may surprise you, therefore, to learn that during the last hundred years
the population of the State has been changing in both numbers and distri-
bution.
For 280 years after the settlement of St. Augustine in 1565 Florida was
the ward of first one colonial power, then another. The change in po-
litical control accompanied by disturbed conditions attracted few settlers
and Florida became a state in 1845 with only 57,951 people. As a re-
sult of confidence in the United States government and the call of a
new frontier, Florida had a population increase of 35 per cent during
its first 15 years of statehood. Look at Figure 28 to see what happened
to Florida's rate of population growth from i860 to 1940. How did

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

FIGURE 28

Florida's rate of increase compare with that of the Southeast and of the
Nation? By 1860 its population was 140,424, not a very large number, to
be sure, but it is the rate of growth which is significant. Development
which took place in adjoining southeastern states extended into north
and west Florida, accounting for the early growth and similar character
of these parts of the State. Progress southward in part was discouraged
by transportation difficulties and the tendency on the part of the Semi-
noles to resist attempts at settlement on their lands. In addition the
pioneer-spirited individuals who surmounted these difficulties were con-
fronted by natural surroundings of a semi-tropical character new to their
experience. Figures 29-34 show how people spread over the state from
1850-1920.
During the latter part of the 19th century and in the early 20th the
picture changed. Henry B. Plant extended his railway system to Tampa
on the west coast and built short lines into the interior. During this same
period Henry M. Flagler had a vision of a tropical resort in the far
south where pines and saw palmettos were the most conspicuous features
of the landscape. The railway, and the hotel system which accompanied
it, reached Daytona Beach in 1890; Palm Beach four years later; then
went on to Miami and finally to Key West. As the rails went southward,
so did the people. New regions were settled and agriculture, forest
work, and grazing developed. So rapid was this increase in population
and development that it seemed to many that all the world wanted to
come to Florida to make money. As often happens under such conditions
the fever for quick wealth through land speculation led to the Florida
boom of the 1920's. Building lots and acreage were bought and sold at

PERCENT OF POPULATION INCREASE IN FLORIDA,
THE SOUTHEAST AND THE UNITED STATES
eo, 1860-1940

22 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 29

fabulous prices and great fortunes were made overnight, at least on paper,
Within a few years whole new towns had come into existence. Note in
Figure 28 that the greatest percentage of increase in population occurred
during the decade 1920 to 1930 in which the boom occurred. How
great was this increase? Then came the awakening-loss of confidence
in the ever-increasing prices and realization that the development was
based on unsound hopes rather than on actual possibilities for making a
living from the existing resources. A sadder but wiser Florida rubbed
its eyes and started on an era of more sensible development when people
came into the State to settle permanently rather than to engage in specu-
lation. How is this change reflected in the rate of population growth
from 1930-1940 as compared with that of 1920-1930 (Figure 28) ?
Although Florida as a whole increased greatly in population from
1930 to 1940 the map in Figure 35 shows that all parts of the State
did not gain equally, and some counties actually lost people. Compare
this map with Figure 22. Do the counties that have grown the most
also have the most people? Where is this true? Where not true?
Are the counties that have grown the most the counties having consid-
erable urban population? (Compare the maps in Figures 24 and 35.)

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN
FLORIDA- 1850

II '. t '*LL
LESS THAN 2 INHABITANTS
PER SQUARE MILE

FROM ABBEY," FLORIOA, LAND OF CHANGE"
COW/RESy OF rUe AUTHOR AND TtE UNIVERSITY
OP NorTH CAROu/N PRESS., PUrUSHRS

1 61117177111_

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

FIGURE 30

Where is this true? Where not true? Recent changes in rural and
urban population are shown in the graph in Figure 23. Between 1930
and 1940 was there an increase or decrease in the number of people living
in rural areas in Florida? In the Southeast? In the Nation? During
this period urban centers gained a larger percentage of Negroes than
white people. There is a change of two per cent among white people,
as against seven per cent among Negroes. It is quite possible that in
some sections there has also been a considerable gain in population since
1940. If there has been any great change in your own town or county,
do you know why this change has occurred? If you do not know, ask
informed persons in your community. As you study later chapters watch
for reasons why people have moved into certain counties and out of others.
Briefly, the foregoing gives an idea of some of the principal events
which have contributed to Florida's amazing growth. Population in-
crease or decrease is affected not only by the number of people moving
into the state, and number of people moving out of the state, but by the
birthrate, and by the death rate. By birth rate and death rate we mean the
number of people who are born and who die each year in proportion to the
total population. These figures are usually stated as the number out of each

24 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 31

1,000 people. Suppose we found that Florida's birth rate for a certain
year was 60 per I,oo0 and the death rate 45 per I,ooo. By subtract-
ing the number of deaths from the number of births we find that 15
more people were born than died per 1,000 persons. We call this dif-
ference between birth and death rates the rate of natural increase of the
population
The graph in Figure 36 shows you that the rate of natural increase
in Florida is smaller than that of either the Southeast or of the United
States. Florida's population increased by 429,203 between 1930 and
1940, only 84,882 of this number being due to excess of births over
deaths. Unfortunately, census reports for earlier periods do not show
what percentage of population growth was due to natural increase. This
much is certain, however: our extremely rapid growth in population
cannot be explained wholly by natural increase People have come from
outside, from other states and other nations, to make new homes here.
This movement of people into the State has played a major part in the
development of Florida. The 1940 census showed that slightly over
one-half of all Florida residents were born outside the State. This

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN
FLORIDA-1870

FROM ABBEY."FLORIDA.LAND OF CHANGE.
COURrESY Of THE AUTHOR E THE UNIVERSE
OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS. PUtlLISHERS

I : '7 . .

|;|i||||||: -:-., .r^-.:,,rTI i
|llll lll i:ll..-'l' d i l l": lu: l

[ _I t LE

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

FIGURE 32

is very different from the situation in most of the United States, espe-
cially in the rest of the Southeast. In fact, only eight far western states
have a higher percentage of people who have come from other states.
In this respect, Florida might be called a frontier state. Where did
all these people come from? Figure 37 tells you. By 1940, had most
of Florida's new citizens come from neighboring or distant states? From
what part of the United States did most of the Negroes come? Some
parts of the State get their share of newcomers from only one or two sources,
but others, such as Dade County, receive new residents from nearly all
these places.
Among sources of the white population up to 1935, southern states
were far in the lead. Between 1935 and 1940, however, there was a marked
increase in the number of people coming to Florida from the North. In
1935 the leading seven states of origin were southern; by 1940 four of the
seven were northern.
You have just learned about the great stream of people pouring into
the State each year, either to visit or to make homes. But certainly not all
of this traffic can be one-way. Some residents leave the State in order to

26 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 33

make homes elsewhere, The census tells us that about five out of every
1oo persons left Florida during 1940. The other southeastern states lost
about the same percentage of people during that year.
A true picture of the effect of shifting population can be gained only
by putting the number of people coming in beside the number of people
moving away. When the smaller of these two is subtracted from the larger
the result shows whether the State has gained or lost people in this way. In
the one year, 1940, 147,000 more people moved into the State than moved
out. In many states the movement is in the opposite direction. Figure 38
shows which states in the Nation have a greater number of people moving
in and which have lost people to other states. Notice especially Florida's
position with regard to the other southeastern states, and how it compares
and contrasts with those that have gained the most and lost the most. In
this, as in other ways, Florida shows one of the characteristics of a
frontier state.
No one may state with assurance how long this striking increase in
population will continue. One factor which will enter into the postwar
picture is the extent to which the State has sold itself to the thousands of
servicemen and war workers located temporarily within the peninsula.

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN
FLORIDA-1920

OVER 90 INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE
t I', INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE
'6- INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE
1 l i --6 INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE
:-- INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE
L | LESS THAN 2 INHABITANTS PER SQUARE MILE

FIGURE 34

What does Florida offer them? Will present industries be expanded fur-
ther and new opportunities for employment created? Much planning is
being done along these lines; much more remains to be done. The way in
which the people of Florida answer these questions will largely determine
the State's future growth.
Test Yourself. (DO NOT WRITE IN THIS BOOK.) In Column
B are several terms used in this chapter; in Column A some definitions. On
a separate sheet make a copy of the definitions in Column A and place at
the right of each definition the name of the term which it best describes.

i. Difference between rate of birth
and rate of death
2. A period of ten years

i. Birth rate
2. Century
3. Decade
4. Natural increase
5. Death rate

Questions for further study. i. Why has Florida's population grown
so rapidly?

28 FLORIDA: WVEALTH OR WAASTE ?

--- -' - ... "" '"
. -. .' \

PER CENT OF INCREASE AND DECREE 't.
IN POPULATION
BETWEEN 1930 AND 1940 .

INCREASE OF MORE THAN 40%
.i .. F LESS THAN 40% .6
DECREASE i3

LESS THAN HALF OF ONE PER CENT 1,'

FIGURE 35

FIGURE 36

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

LEADING STATES OF ORIGIN OF NATIVE-BORN
AMERICANS LIVING IN FLORIDA IN 1940

White
T otal .............1,312,125
Florida ............. 625,917
Georgia ............. 160,714
Alabama ............ 82,244
New York .......... 51,892
Pennsylvania ......... 36,275
O hio ............... 35,662
Illinois .............. 29,o48
Tennessee ........... 25,093
South Carolina ....... 22,154
Indiana ............. 20,793

Negro
Total ............ 507,227
Florida .............. 313,962
Georgia .............. 122,103
South Carolina ........ 26,150
Alabama .............. 24,472
North Carolina ........ 6,781
M ississippi ............ 1,987
Virginia .............. 1,982
Louisiana ............ 1,604
Tennessee ............. 1,078

FIGURE 37

FIGURE 38

I PER CENT OF GAIN (-mltom )
= PER CENT OF LOSS@.Ao OR AI

LESS THAN HALF OF
I PERCENT

30 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

2. Why has the population of central and south Florida grown so much
more rapidly than that of north Florida? Why have some areas actually
lost population ?
3. Why has most of the incoming population, both white and Negro,
come from adjacent southern states?
4. Why has there been an increasing number of northern-born white
residents in recent years ?
5. Why have some parts of Florida attracted new residents from only
one or two outside states, whereas other areas attract people from many
states?
6. Why has the increase in urban population been greater than the in-
crease in rural population? Why has the percent of increase in urban areas
been higher for the Negro population than for the white?

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE: WHO ARE THEY?

So far you have learned something about the distribution of Florida's
population and some facts showing how the population has grown. Con-
tinue your study by trying to find information about what kinds of people
live in the state. Whether these people are careless and selfish, or thrifty
and thoughtful of the well-being of their fellow-citizens, will determine in
large part how wisely the natural resources are used. As democratic living
becomes more and more real, people learn to appreciate the good qualities
and valuable contributions of all of the population including those born
in or outside of the State, the foreign-born, the various racial and age
groups. As you study, list ways in which the varied or cosmopolitan char-

PERCENT OF POPULATION BY RACE
1940

100

00

O0

WHITE NEGRO OTHER

FIGURE 39

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

acter of Florida's population contributes to the welfare of the State. Add
to this list from your own experiences.
The principal racial groups in Florida or any other southeastern state
are whites and Negroes. There are also a few Indians, Chinese, and
Japanese members of a third racial group. What does Figure 39 tell you
about the percentage of whites and Negroes in Florida? Figure 40 shows
Florida's rank in comparison with the Southeast and the United States in
the percentage of Negroes in the total population. You will notice that
the percentage of Negro population in all the southeastern states has de-
creased during the decade, 1930-1940, while there has been a slight increase
in the percentage in the country as a whole. You find that when Florida is
compared with the other southeastern states it ranks low, but when it is
compared with the United States it ranks much higher. You probably have
recognized that this is one more instance where Florida is more like than
different from the Southeast.
The map in Figure 41 shows how the Negro population of Florida is
distributed. You will see a marked concentration in many northern counties
of the State and a slight concentration in some counties in the southern
part. Notice the percentage in your own county. From your study of
American history you already know that northern Florida was part of the

PERCENT OF NEGRO POPULATION
IN RELATION TO TOTAL POPULATION
70

1940

Z 1930

20

MISS. SOUTH GEORGIA ALABAMA NORTH FLORIDA TENN. UNITED
CAROLINA CAROLINA STATES

FIGURE 40

plantation life of the Old South, a fact which helps to explain the larger
number of Negroes in northern Florida. As you study the ways in which
the people of Florida earn a living, try to find other reasons which explain
the distribution of Negro population and why there has been a decrease in
the percentage of Negroes in relation to the total population in Florida and
the other southeastern states.

32 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 41

The Seminole Indians are probably the most numerous and picturesque
members of the third racial group. You have read stories about Osceola
and other Indian chiefs which tell of their struggle against United States
forces to hold part of Florida for themselves. Actually the tribe is still at
war with the United States, as part of the Seminoles escaped into the
swamps of the vast Everglades where they never surrendered and never
were captured. Later many were sent or went voluntarily to western
reservations and there have been no open conflicts in recent years. Some
of the members of the tribe have continued to gain their living by primi-
tive methods of hunting, grazing, or farming. Small groups of brilliantly
dressed Indians (Figure 42) have been attracted to well-traveled highways
or to centers of population where they have built small villages of palm-
thatched huts. There they earn a livelihood by selling to the tourists
trinkets and souvenirs that often are diminutive replicas of articles used in
their own way of living. These people are interesting because they are
picturesque and remind us of the days when the red man had this "Land
of Flowers" all to himself. The musical Indian names of many Florida
towns, lakes, and rivers will always keep their memory alive.
Of the various racial groups living in the State, slightly less than half
the white people, three-fifths of the Negroes, and pi )bally all of the In-

DISTRIBUTION OF NEGROES
IN
TOTAL POPULATION, BY COUNTIES
1940

LESS THAN 25 PER CENT
I : ..,_r TO 50 PER CENT
OVER 50 PER CENT

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

FIGURE 42

dians were born in Florida. Relatively few of these Florida-born people
can boast that their forefathers have lived in the State at least two genera-
tions. This seems odd when you reimcmber that St. Augustine, on the
east coast of Florida, is the site ot the first permanent white settlement in
North America. Truly Florida can be called an old land of new people.
Figure 37 shows the states from which Florida's American-born citi-
zens came. From what part of the United States did most of them come?
While the Florida-born people are scattered throughout the state, they
tend to be concentrated in the northern part. Those Floridians born in

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
Section Per Cent
United States......................... 9
Southeast ............................ I
F lorida .............................. 4

FIGURE 43

34 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

other states and countries have also scattered throughout the State, but
have tended to settle in central and south Florida.
The percentage of population that is foreign-born is shown in Figure
43. Notice that Florida's percentage is approximately half that of the
Nation, and four times that of the Southeast (which includes Florida).
From your study of American history, why would you expect to find much
larger percentages in such states as New York (13 per cent) and California
(13 per cent) ?
Of Florida's total population 77,839 are classed as foreign-born; these
people have come from almost all of the countries in the world. However,
about 18 per cent of these people came from the nearby islands of the West
Indies and about 56 per cent came from Canada and all parts of Europe.
Sometimes groups from one of these countries settle in separate communities
or colonies. When this happens, the younger generation is influenced both
by its parents' culture and by that of Florida. Excellent examples of this
are found in the Greek colony in Tarpon Springs and the Latin community
in Tampa. Can you give further examples from your own knowledge or
experience? Thus, you can see that merely knowing the percentage of
foreign-born in the State might not give a complete picture of their in-
fluence on certain communities. The foreign-born, while relatively few in
number, have introduced some new ideas and ways of living that have
added local color and attracted the tourists.
So far in this chapter you have had considerable help in gaining in-
formation from maps, graphs, and tables. Check yourself on these skills
by working out the following completion exercise based on information
about age groups given in Figure 44. Copy it in your notebook. DO
NOT WRITE IN THIS BOOK.
A. From Figure 44 I find that of the 1,897,414 people living in Flor-
idaper cent were younger than 15 years of age; per cent
were between the ages of 15 and 29; per cent were 30 to 44;
per cent were 45 to 59; and Io per cent were and over. By
using the total population figure for Florida and the percentage
figure for my own age group I find that there are persons in
this group.
B. When I compare the percentage of people in each age group in
Florida with the percentage of people in the same age group in
the Southeast and the United States as shown in Figure 44, I find
about the same percentage of persons in each age group in_
and In the two younger age groups the Southeast has a-
percentage than either__ or_ ; but in the age groups above
30, and__ exceed the percentage of These com-
parisons suggest the following question: Why are there more peo-
ple over years and fewer younger people in Florida than in the
Southeast but about the same number in all age groups in__ as
in the Nation?
Age groups are as unevenly distributed throughout the State as race and
population. Notice that this fact is brought out in the map in Figure 45.
Probably you are surprised to find that most of the counties with a high
percentage of young people are found in the northern section of the State.
Undoubtedly you are wondering how this might affect such things as

FLORIDA'S PEOPLE

FIGURE 45

FIGURE 44

36 FLORIDA: \VEALTII OR WASTE?

education andi opportunities for work. As you study further about the
people of Florida try to answer tilis question as well as those you have
already listed.
Test Yourser/. (DO.NOT WRITE IN TillS BOOK.) By now
you should have gained a great deal of information to help you answer the
question asked in the title of this section : lorida's People: I' ho are They?
The following true-false exercise will help you test yourself on this section.
Copy each sentence on a sheet of paper. After you have read the state-
mert decide whether it is true or false and place the correct word after
the statement on your paper.
1. Florida has a larger peiceltage of Negro population than any other
southeastern state.
2. lThere has been a decrease in the percentage of Negro population in
relation to total population in all the southeastern states between
1930 and 1940.
3. (O the racial groups living iln Florida the Seminole Indians rank
second in total numbers.
4. Most of the white people living in Florida were born in the State.
5. M~ost of the Florida-born population is found in southeast Florida.
6. A relatively large percentage of Florida's people were born in foreign
countries.
7. There are more young people in Florida than in the Southeast.
8. More young people are found in the northern part of Florida than
in the southern part of the State.
9. In the matter of age groups Fllorida is unlike the Southeast.
to. There are very few people in Florida who do not belong to the white
or Negro races.
Questions for further study. I. Why does Florida have a cosmopoli-
tan population consisting of whites, Negroes, Indians, and oriental peoples
some of whom are foreign-born ?
2. Why does Florida have more old people and fewer children than
the neighboring states? Why are the young people concentrated in north
Florida and the older people in central and south Florida?
3. Why is Florida called an old land of new people?

CHAPTER 3

LEVELS OF LIVING IN FLORIDA

HOW PEOPLE IN FLORIDA LIVE

You read a great deal about how well the American people live. It is
true that a larger proportion of the people of the United States than of
any other nation enjoy conveniences and luxuries and have opportunities
for education and recreation. But that does not mean that all Americans
live on a high level. There are in the Nation such contrasts as the share-
cropper's family, living in a two-room shack, eating for the most part corn
bread, fat pork, and molasses, having little opportunity for education or
recreation; and the family of the millionaire, living in a luxurious home,
eating sumptuous food, riding in a fine automobile or yacht, and enjoying
travel and other forms of education and recreation. All Americans cannot
live like millionaires, but all Americans should be able to attain a level of
living which would provide for a sufficient amount of nourishing food, a
comfortable home, good clothes, medical care, recreation for all members
of the family, education, and savings for security against old age or loss
of employment. Since a happy, healthy, well-housed, and well-clothed
population is necessary to build a prosperous, progressive community, state,
and nation, most communities are making some provision for improving
levels of living, that is, planning for the conservation of human resources.
Most people would like to live in comfortable homes and have good
health, adequate education, and recreation for themselves and their chil-
dren. But all of these things are dependent, to a large extent, on the
amount of money that individuals and families have to spend and how much
tax money governments invest in public welfare and education.
Statistics based- on the United States census show that in Florida in
1940 each person had on the average $475 to spend for food, clothes,
housing, medical care, education, and recreation. This per capital income
for Florida compares with one of $692 for'the Nation and $369 for the
Southeast. The Nation's war program beginning in 1941 brought more
employment and higher wages to Florida. In 1942 the average. per capital
income for the State was $685. Consult the map in Figure 46 to find
how many counties in Florida in 1940 ranked above the average per capital
income of the State and how many below. What is the highest income
shown for any county; the lowest? Which parts of the State have the
highest income; which the lowest? What was the average per capital
income for your county? How much above or below the State average
was it?
Secure similar information for the counties of the State from Figure 47
which shows another measure of the average annual incomes of a large por-
tion of Florida's population. From what you know of people in your county
it should be evident that not all persons have the same amount of money
to spend.

38 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 46

There are other measures of the financial condition of the people, one
of which is the size of their bank deposits. In 1940 there was an average
deposit of $239 per capital in the banks of Florida. The same year the
average per capital bank deposit for the Nation was $488, and for Alabama,
a typical southeastern state, $105. Another index is the number of auto-
mobiles in use. In 1940 there were 417,111 automobiles registered in
Florida, or an average of one for every four or five persons, which was
also the average for the United States. In Alabama the average that year
was one automobile for every eight persons. Since many of the older cars
in use are worth very little money, possession of an automobile does not
necessarily mean a high level of living. The ownership of automobiles in
Florida in 1940 was not evenly distributed. Six urban counties, Dade,
Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas, registered 59
per cent of all passenger cars in the State.
As you continue your study of Florida, look for reasons which help to
explain the facts you have just learned.

LEVELS OF LIVING

FIGURE 47

HEALTH

People who are sick or weakened from disease or lack of nourishing
food do not attain high levels of living. When a nation goes to war its
most important weapon is the physical fitness of its people. So, also in
peace, a nation or community is strong in proportion to the health and vigor
of its people. It would seem, then, that every community should have as
a part of its plan for the conservation of human resources, a good health
program.
In thinking about health as a measure of the levels of living in Florida
it is helpful to compare the State with the Southeast and the United States.
General health conditions in the Nation as revealed by physical examina-
tions for the national armed services are quite unsatisfactory. Far too
many men and women, both young and mature, have beci7 rejected because
of physical unfitness. The Nation as a whole should be made aware of
the necessity for an effective health program. In the Southeast, particu-
larly, the health picture is poor. Studies of this part of the country show a
direct relationship between the average low income and limited educa-

40 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

tional opportunities and poor health conditions. The climate of most of
the Southeast, which is seldom cold enough to kill germs and insects, also
influences health.
Health in any region depends on many conditions such as sanitary water
supply, effective sewage and garbage disposal, control of communicable
diseases, elimination of preventable diseases and accidents, well-balanced
diet, and available medical care. Since it is impossible to discuss fully all
phases of the health picture in Florida, we shall consider only the out-
standing features of some major health problems.
Water supply. An adequate water supply is of great importance to
people everywhere regardless of where they live or what they do. People
who live on isolated farms are concerned mainly with keeping their water
from becoming contaminated. This is a very real problem from a health
point of view. Their drinking water is often drawn from shallow wells,
and most of their houses have poor sanitary arrangements. As people come
to live together in communities and cities, the problem of maintaining a
good, pure water supply and adequate sewage disposal for a large popula-
tion becomes even more difficult. These two problems are closely related
because sewage disposal in towns and cities depends on a plentiful supply
of water. Standards set by law must be upheld strictly by everyone if the
menace of disease is to be reduced. You will remember that not only is
the population of Florida increasing but more people are going to the cities
to live. Do you know the source and method used in obtaining the water
supply in your city or community? Is securing water more or less difficult
than in other areas you know? Demands on the water supply are increasing
due to a growing population, to expanding industry, to extending irriga-
tion, and to new uses of water. Furthermore, Florida now has smaller
water reserves than she formerly had. As you read the rest of this section,
find reasons for the reduction in the amount of water in the State.
Ground water resources, or unseen waters stored in the earth, furnish
the supply for 220 of the 240 municipal water works in Florida. Wells
vary in depth from about 20 feet in some places to 2,100 feet at Fernandina.
State geologists tell us that most of Florida's drinking water comes from
the great, soft limerock formations underlying the State that absorb the
heavy rainfall like a sponge. The pressure created by the storage of these
large quantities of water is called the artesian head. It causes the water
to rise in the well and in some places to flow freely and make pumping
unnecessary.
For a long time it was believed that the artesian water supplies were
inexhaustible. Thus the only concern has been to drain the water off the
land to make way for great farming and city areas. There has been care-
less wasting of many billions of gallons of underground fresh water through
a large number of uncontrolled and unused wells. The forest cover that
might have helped hold the water in the soil has been cut. These wastes
of water plus droughts in the last few years have lowered the average
water level of the State 13 feet in two decades and reduced the pressure.
In some places where the wells no longer flow, pumping systems have been
installed. In other places, as at Ft. Myers, the wells are going dry and
new well fields or sources of surface water supply must be found. About
20 municipal plants are already supplied from streams, lakes, and springs.

LEVELS OF LIVING

Our water resources can and will be exhausted unless we use them wisely
and plan for some method of storing water to be used in dry seasons.
As the water level is lowered and the pressure reduced, water is harder
to get and is harder, i.e., it contains more mineral matter when it is secured.
Florida ranks fourth among the states in the hardness of its water and
third in municipal water softening plants. St. Augustine has found that
the cost of softening water has trebled in the last few years. Other places
have had similar experiences.
There are several hazards to our domestic water supply besides main-
taining an adequate amount. These concern primarily the problem of
supplying pure water. At Miami, Tampa, and other places it has been
found that lowering of the ground water table, or upper surface of the
water held in the soil, results in salt water filtering into the fresh water.
This ruins not only the present supply but any supply in that particular
rock for generations to come. For every foot that the surface of the water
table falls, the salt water rises about 40 feet in the wells. If you have
seen your lawn or vegetable crop die because of salt water; if you have
been in a city where there was an epidemic of typhoid fever transmitted
in the water supply; or if you have been forced to carry boiled water to
school after a hurricane, you will understand the importance of keeping
ground water supplies uncontaminated.
Contamination of the water supply is a problem that the State Board
of Health tries hard to prevent. Any well which is left open, or uncapped,
forms a potential source of contamination to the whole supply. Hence,
everyone drilling a well for water is required to report to the State Board
of Health. Many wells have been dug, not to get water, but to dispose of
water. Industrial plants and sewage systems use this method of disposal
but are discontinuing it, as the dangers are realized.
Do you now see why the maintenance of a pure and adequate water
supply is called one of Florida's major problems? Is this problem present
in your community? If so, can you think of any ways in which it may be
solved? Is the water supply of surrounding communities of any concern
to you ? Discuss these questions with others in your class and school.
Death rate from certain diseases. The table in Figure 48 shows the
rate of death in Florida, the Southeast, and the United States from four
different preventable diseases. You will note that in each instance the rate
of death in the Southeast is higher than that of the Nation and that in one

NUMBER OF DEATHS PER Ioo,ooo
PEOPLE FROM FOUR DISEASES
Tuber- Influenza
Area culosis Malaria and Pellagra
Pneumonia
United States........... 50 I 70 2
Southeast .............. 54 4 90 6
Florida ................ 51 5 82 4

FIGURE 48

42 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

instance Florida's death rate is higher than that of the Southeast as a whole.
The subtropical climate may explain why some of these diseases are more
widespread in the Southeast and in Florida than elsewhere in the Nation.
For example, the hookworm parasite seems to thrive best in the moist, warm
sand of the Southeast. As you continue your study, you will see other
reasons for the differences.
You will note that the table shows Florida's death rate from tubercu-
losis as higher than that of the Nation but not quite as high as that of the
Southeast as a whole. In all areas the death rate among Negroes was found
to be higher than that among whites. The table does not disclose the
number of people ill with these diseases in 1940. Experts on tuberculosis
have estimated that for each person who dies from that disease during any
period of time there are nine others suffering from it. That would mean
that in Florida in 1940 there were 955 deaths and 8,694 other cases of
tuberculosis. Medical science has found the cause of this disease and has
proved that most cases can be arrested if discovered in the early stages and
given proper treatment, which can best be provided in special hospitals.
At present, Florida has only one state tuberculosis hospital with room for
400 patients.
Experts on malaria estimate the number of cases by multiplying the
number of deaths by 300. In Florida 98 persons died of malaria in 1940,
and 29,400 other persons had the disease. The map in Figure 49 based

AVERAGE NUMBER OF MALARIA CASES r-
ESTIMATED

EM MORE THAN 7,500 CASES
PER 100,000 POPULATION
PER 100,000 POPULATION -

FIGURE 49

LEVELS OF LIVING

on a study by health authorities shows a block of Florida counties where
the greater number of malaria cases occur. Is your county included?
This area of greatest malaria concentration in the Southeast also extends
into south Georgia. Here the anopholes mosquito is most plentiful because
it finds highly favorable breeding conditions in the alkaline water of the
many limestone sinks. In cases where malaria does not kill, it weakens peo-
ple, makes them more susceptible to other diseases, and lessens their effi-
ciency. It is a preventable disease but because of the many swamps, lakes,
and other places in Florida where mosquitoes can breed, malaria control
is a difficult public health problem. Screening of all houses would aid
greatly in protection against mosquitoes and the spreading of malaria. It
is hoped that the new insecticides will be effective in eliminating mosquitoes.
Hookworm, another preventable disease, is not shown on the chart
because information for the Southeast or the Nation is not available. But
it is definitely known that hookworm exists to an alarming extent in Flor-
ida and should receive attention in any discussion of health. A study, com-
pleted in 1938 by the Florida State Board of Health and other health
agencies, found that of 29,000 persons examined, 35 per cent were infested
with hookworm. It was estimated that at least 186,500 people in rural
areas in 56 Florida counties had hookworm. This did not include an un-
known number of town and city dwellers who have the disease. Hookworm
seldom causes death, but it seriously affects the general health and efficiency
of the person who has it and often causes such illness as heart disease and
jaundice. It retards physical growth and school progress of the child, and
the capacity of the adult to work. Hookworm can be cured by treatment
of individual cases, and prevented by proper sanitary measures and the
wearing of shoes.
Other serious health problems of the Southeast not shown on the chart
are the high maternal and infant death rates. The rate of death of mothers
at childbirth in the Southeast is high. In 1934 Florida had the highest
maternal death rate of any state in the Union. That has since been reduced.
However, in 1937 Florida was fifth from the highest among the forty-
eight states. It is estimated that over a five-year period 1,790 infants died
in Florida each year during the first year of life. Authorities state that
40 to 50 per cent of maternal and infant deaths could be prevented by
proper medical attention and nursing care.
Accidents. The toll of preventable death and injury goes on year after
year in every community. Most people would agree that "Any preventable
accident or injury is one too many." Individually they resolve that this
must stop; collectively they do little or nothing. In 1940 the Florida In-
dustrial Commission listed 56,305 accidents most of which could have been
prevented. Automobile accidents took 655 lives in that year; 0oo were
killed from accidental burns, and 138 from drowning. Industrial accidents
depend largely upon the type of community. For persons who live on
farms and in small agricultural towns, there are peculiar hazards of farm-
ing, while persons who live in an industrial city or mining town have dif-
ferent threats to their safety. Far more injuries than deaths result from
accidents; and annually hundreds of persons are wholly or partially
disabled.
When you remember that practically all accidents might nave been

44 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

prevented, can you agree that there is need for a great deal of thought and
work on the question? Find out how many and what kinds of accidents
occurred in your community during the past year. What is being done to
prevent accidents? Is your community equipped to provide adequate care
f'-r victims of accidents?
Nutrition. A basic factor in maintaining good health is good diet. A
good diet means a balanced intake of the essential food elements, particu-
larly those contained in proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Milk, eggs, lean
meat, cereals, butter, fresh fruits, and vegetables are the chief sources of
these elements.
Dietary habits seem to have a direct relation to education. How much
people know and practice about such things as the improvement of soil,
the right use of farm land, home gardening and canning, wise buying at
stores, menu planning, and food preparation has a great influence on the
variety and quality of food consumed. It is doubtless true that many fami-
lies at all different income levels could improve their diets by applying such
knowledge as is available. But it has been proved that the greatest single
influence in improving the diet of people as a whole is an increase in income.
Studies made by the United States Department of Agriculture of the
diets of families of five regions of the United States rated all farm operators
in the Southeast lower on diet than those of other regions of the Nation.
It was found that for all farm people, including sharecroppers and Negro
farm families, grain products, especially corn, made up about half the
average daily diet. Urban wage earners and clerical workers, both white
and Negro, in the Southeast were found to have diets that compared favor-
ably with the average in other regions. These groups depended less on
grain and balanced their diets better by using more milk, eggs, fruits, and
vegetables.
There are no studies that give definite information regarding diets in
Florida, but it seems safe to assume that conditions found true in the
Southeast as a whole apply to some extent in this State. Does Florida have
a larger or smaller percentage of rural population than the other south-
eastern states? Would that tend to make the average diet consumed by
Florida people poorer or better? Do not forget, however, that the low
income of many Florida people makes it difficult for them to buy the
foods needed for a well-balanced and healthful diet. Programs of nutri-
tion, already begun in Florida, need to be further developed as a part of
a plan for raising levels of living.
Facilities for medical, dental, and hospital care. Another measure of
health conditions in Florida is the number of doctors, dentists, and hos-
pitals available. The protection and maintenance of the people's health
depends upon physicians. They give medical care in the hospitals, homes,
and clinics and direct preventive public health programs. It is hard to say
just how many persons one doctor can care for adequately, but an accepted
maximum number seems to be I,ooo.
The number of persons per doctor is shown, by counties, on the map
in Figure 50 for the year 1940, the last year of normal medical care before
war demands began to take doctors away from civilian practice. In that
year there were 1,906 resident doctors of medicine in Florida, or an average
for the state of one doctor for every 995 persons.

LEVELS OF LIVING

53I

95-

NUMBER OF PERSONS PER DOCTOR
1941
STATE AVERAGE-995 PERSONS
701
= LESS THAN 1000 PERSONS
S1000--000 67
= MORE THAN 2000 PERSONS
MNO DOCTOR

FIGURE 50

By studying the map find how many counties had enough doctors to
meet the standard, how many were undersupplied, with 2,000 or more
persons per doctor, and how many were seriously handicapped with 3,000
to 6,500 people per doctor. In what part of the State do doctors seem to
concentrate? Look at Figure 24 for a list of the 10 largest cities in Florida.
Are these cities in the areas where there is an adequate number of doctors?
Can you suggest reasons why doctors tend to concentrate in urban areas?
Not only do rural people have fewer doctors than town people but they
usually live farther from the doctors in nearby towns or even in adjacent
counties and find it harder to secure their services quickly.
Florida shows an even worse condition in regard to dentists. An ac-
cepted standard for minimum dental care is one dentist per 2,000 people.
In 1940 there were o1 counties that had no dentists and 49 counties that
had one dentist for every 2,000 or more people. In only 8 counties of the
State was there one dentist to serve less than 2,000 people. Of the 729
dentists in the State, 443, or 61 per cer cent, were in 6 counties, Duval,
Dade, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Orange, and Palm Beach, in which our
largest cities are located and in which 47 per cent of the State's people live.
Thus, all of the rest of the people of the State, 53 per cent, were served by
only 39 per cent of the dentists.

C, 988

T65

634

46 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

The map in Figure 51 shows Florida's condition in regard to general
hospital beds. A general hospital is one which meets the standards set by
medical organizations and is available to the public for general treatment.
A minimum satisfactory measure of hospital facilities is thought to be one
hospital bed for every 500 people. Count the number of counties in each
of the three groups on the map. In which group does your county belong?
In 1940 the State had a total number of 75 general hospitals containing
5,074 beds which would seem to give a bed for every 374 persons. But as
you see by the map, the number is not evenly distributed over the State.
The 6 counties having large urban centers have 68 per cent of all general
hospital beds in the State. In addition to the general hospitals Florida had
27 institutions for special groups such as tuberculosis, nervous and mental
cases, and convalescents. Also, there was an unknown number of small
hospitals which were not listed as general hospitals because they did not
measure up to the special standards set by medical organizations but which,
nevertheless, rendered valuable service to the community.
Public 'health programs. Early in the history of this country public
health became a concern of the state and national governments because
health conditions depend not only on services to cure illness but also on the
prevention of disease. All public and private health agencies working
together can do much to control communicable diseases, to provide better

FIGURE 51

NUMBER OF PERSONS
PER GENERAL HOSPITAL BED
1941
STATE AVERAGE 374 PERSONS
MORE THAN 500 PERSONS
Mi LESS THAN 500 PERSONS
= NO GENERAL HOSPITAL

~vbB

LEVELS OF LIVING

care for mothers and infants, to enforce sound food and drug laws and
sanitary measures, and to aid in health education. Much of this good work
is being done by county, state, and federal agencies. The experience of
the national, state, and private organizations led to the belief that public
health programs can be most satisfactorily organized and carried out by
local health units with state and federal assistance. At present, the plan
of organization by counties or districts is fairly general over the United
States. The establishment and maintenance of county health units is,
then, one measure of health conditions in Florida.
Count in Figure 52 the number of counties that had health depart-
ments in 1942. How many counties in Florida did not have a public
health department? In which group does your county belong?
Find in the table in Figure 53 how Florida compares with the other
states of the Southeast in the per cent of counties having full-time health
services. Which states have a higher per cent? Which a lower per cent?
How does Florida compare on the per capital expenditure for health
activities with the other southeastern states and with the Nation?
What you can do about health conditions in Florida. By now you
have doubtless decided that Florida, like the rest of the Southeast, shows
a rather unattractive picture in regard to general health conditions. But
the picture is not altogether discouraging. Many of the health hazards

FIGURE 52

FULL-TIME HEALTH DEPARTMENT
SERVICES
1942

COUNTIES WITH FULL-TIME
HEALTH DEPARTMENT SERVICES
COUNTIES WITHOUT FULL-TIME
HEALTH DEPARTMENT SERVICES

48 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

can be removed by cooperative effort by the people of Florida. But what
can a student in school do about it? First of all, you can learn more about
health conditions in the state and ways of improving them, and tell others
about what you have learned. You can learn and practice health habits
necessary to keep yourself well and to protect those around you. Finally,

HEALTH DEPARTMENTS AND PER CAPITAL HEALTH
EXPENDITURES
1942
Per Cent of Per Capita Annu-
Counties al Expenditure
Area With Full- In Dollars for
time Health Health Activities
Services
Alabama .................. Ioo 0.94
Florida ................... 48 1.64
G eorgia ................... 33 0.95
M ississippi ................ 77 0.98
North Carolina ............ 81 0.91
South Carolina ............. Ioo 1.85
Tennessee ................. 74 0.76
Southeast ................ 67 1.o8
United States ............. No data 1.90
FIGURE 53

you can lend your cooperation to all efforts to improve general health con-
ditions and to insure safety. For example, you can help eliminate breeding
places for mosquitoes around your home and elsewhere; you can observe
all traffic rules; you can remove any hazard to safety that you see, such
as skates or a bicycle left where they may cause someone to fall; you can
cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough; you can spend time
out of doors in the health-giving sunshine. These may seem little things,
but through them and others like them you as a young citizen can have a
part in improving the health picture in your community and state.
Suggested activities. I. Find out how much money your county pro-
vides for maintaining a health department. How does the per capital ex-
penditure compare with that of the State as shown in Figure 53 ?
2. Get your teacher to arrange a visit to your county health depart-
ment. Find out what free health services are provided by this depart-
ment and by state and federal health agencies.
3. Make a trip to see the water supply and garbage disposal systems of
your community. Tell the class whether you think these systems are good
ones or not, and why.
4. From your local health unit find out how many cases of the diseases
mentioned in Figure 48 occur annually in your county. What other
diseases are present in your county?
5. Find out how many doctors, dentists, and hospital beds are avail-

LEVELS OF LIVING

able in your county. Are there enough to meet the standards on those
items mentioned in this chapter?
6. Read all you can find about mosquitoes and how they can spread
malaria. Write a story on what you learn.

HOUSING

Look at the pictures shown in Figures 54-59. Do you live in a home
similar to one of those pictured? Have you seen houses in your community
which resemble any of the others? If you cannot answer these questions,
ask your teacher to tell you where, in your part of the State, you can see
houses like the ones in the pictures.
Florida's rank. From the map in Figure 60, determine if your county
is above or below the state average in value of houses. In what sections
do you find most of the counties above the state average? Which of the
houses shown in Figures 54-59 do you think are representative of the houses
in counties above the state average? Which ones below it? Remember
that houses like those in each picture are found in every county in the State,
but that some counties may have more of one kind and fewer of others.
Only a small proportion of the homes in Florida are as fine as the one shown
in Figure 59.
Florida communities, like those of other states, passed through a period
of rapid growth characterized by lack of building regulations. Shopping
districts, factories, railroads, and main highways have often encroached on
residential districts. Therefore, many communities have had to designate
the type and use of all buildings constructed in a given area or zone. This
has caused a major housing problem, especially in many urban centers, and
is resulting in the adoption of zoning laws and the replanning of parts of
communities. In Florida as a whole, much of the replanning remains to be
done and should include the repair of existing dwellings as well as the

-. *. ." -
: ,- .. '^ ,^ -A

ai.a. %*," ts. ,.,- ...- -. 31 L -
FIGURE 54

50 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 55.
FIGURE 55

study of the location of residential, business, and manufacturing districts
and other city uses of land such as parks and playgrounds. By referring to
the graph in Figure 61 find out what percentage of the 600,000 dwellings
or homes in Florida require major repairs. How does this percentage
compare with those needing repairs in the Southeast and the country as a
whole? These houses have foundations, floors, plaster, walls, or roofs
which require repairs or replacements to keep them from becoming safety

i^ii

,. i' "~FIURE56

FIGURE 56

LEVELS OF LIVING 51

i

.-"" d., ,'.. ..,

FIGURE 57

or health hazards. Using the percentage shown on the graph and the
number of homes, determine approximately how many homes in Florida
need to be repaired.
Aside from major repairs needed, many homes in Florida lack con-
veniences essential for healthful living. Use the maps shown in Figures
62, 63, 64, and 65 to determine the percentage of homes in your county
which lack running water, refrigeration, electric lights, or bathroom facili-
ties. Again use the graph in Figure 61 to compare Florida with the South-
east and the Nation in the number of homes lacking these conveniences.
Notice that while Florida has more such homes than the Nation, in the
southeastern states as a whole the percentage of homes with none of these

FIGURE 58

52 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 59

FIGURE 60

AVERAGE
VALUE OF HOUSES-1940
STATE AVERAGE-- 1274

3236

ABOVE STATE AVERAGE
| |I BELOW STATE AVERAGE

SNO DATA

45 \
653

706

Inn.

LEVELS OF LIVING

conveniences is almost double that of Florida. See if this same comparison
holds true for those homes which are overcrowded or have too many people
per room for comfortable living. While overcrowded conditions in Flor-
ida closely resemble those for the Nation, how does the Southeast compare
with Florida and the Nation in this respect? Compare Florida with the
Nation in Figure 62. The lack of so common a possession as a radio in
some Florida homes suggests that other facilities that contribute to a satis-
factory level of living may also be lacking.
From your study of population distribution you should recall that about
45 per cent of Florida's people live in rural areas. By far the greater

SOME MOUSING CHARACTERISTICS

9-
90 1940
so
MFLORIDA
70 ----SOUTHEAST--
Go=UNITED STATES

IJJ
40

NEEDING NO NO NO NO OVER-
MAJOR RUNNING ELECTRICITY REFRIGERATION RADIO CROWDED
REPAIRS WATER
FIGURE 61

number of houses in Florida and the agricultural Southeast needing re-
pairs and lacking such facilities as running water and electricity are found
in the rural areas. Keeping this in mind, use the graph in Figure 66 to
compare the percentage of urban, rural non-farm, and rural farm houses
in Florida which need major repairs. This same comparison holds true
when overcrowding is considered. Moreover, crowded living conditions
are worse in rural farm homes where families often average larger than
in the urban centers. Another marked contrast occurs between Negro and
white homes, because a large part of the Negro population is in the low-
income group and as a result only a few can afford homes with those con-
veniences which are necessary for healthful, comfortable living. A very
large number of the Negro homes and some of the white homes in the state
resemble the houses shown in Figures 54 and 55.
Some typical Florida homes. The home in Figure 54 is typical of saw-
milling and turpentining areas as well as the lower quality farm tenant

54 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 62

houses. This one to three-room type of house usually has a leaky roof, thin
walls of warped boards, and worn, broken floors. Light is provided during
the daytime by unscreened, shutter-covered windows and cracks in the walls
and by kerosene lamps, smoky fireplaces, or rusty kitchen stoves at night.
These same fireplaces and stoves provide the principal means of cooking
and heating. Also, this type of home lacks inside toilet and bathing facil-
ities and sometimes has no outdoor toilet. Privies, which generally ac-
company this type of home, are usually open to flies and animals, and fre-
quently afford no privacy. Often the only water supply is polluted and is
either drawn from a shallow well or is carried from a stream or pond. The
health of the families living in such a home is affected by the many disease
germs which breed where there are no sewers, sanitary toilets, or a pure
water supply. This type of home (Figure 54) is considered "unfit for use"
rather than "needing major repairs" because of poor construction, present
poor state of repair, and general unsanitary conditions.
There are many homes which appear better than the house in Figure 54,
but actually they also lack many things which constitute good housing.
Figure 55 shows a better home than Figure 54, since the cooking and eating
are done in a kitchen built at the rear of the house, leaving the major part

PER CENT OF HOMES HAVING NO
RUNNING WATER-1940

I UNDER 25

JIM 50-75
OVER 75

HOMES FLORIDA SUTE
ALL 28 26
URBAN 12 6
RURAL-NON-FARM 42 36
RURAL-FARM 65 71

22 19
(4

LEVELS OF LIVING

FIGURE 63

of the building for bedroom space. However, slightly more floor space
and glass windows rather than shutters are the only major advantages over
Figure 54. Moreover, these homes are overcrowded, lack sanitary con-
veniences, are poorly lighted, and are inadequately heated. In Figure 56
you see the old farm type of residence commonly found throughout the
northern and central parts of the State. Most of these houses are not
screened. Only a few of them are as overcrowded as the ones shown in
Figures 54 and 55. When built, many of these rural houses had bathrooms
but no running water in the house and had outside toilets. These three
types of houses have been common for several decades in Florida. Many,
which have had few repairs over a period of years, are still occupied, but
some have been remodeled or torn down to give place to such modern
homes as pictured in Figures 57, 58, and 59.
These modern homes differ from each other principally in the quality
of materials used in construction and the landscaping of the surrounding
grounds. Most of them have adequate toilet and bathing facilities, elec-
tricity, refrigeration, and bedrooms separate from living quarters. Using
the map in Figure 6o again, decide in which counties you would expect to
find a large percentage of these homes. Many of the houses rented to

56 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

tourists are of these types. The map in Figure 67 shows the number of
houses which are rented seasonally in each county. Where are the largest
number of these homes found? How many are rented in your county?
Florida's plans for better housing. You may well be wondering what
is being done or can be done to improve the poor housing conditions found
in Florida, especially those in your own community. Because of the scat-
tered nature of these improvements it may be a little difficult for you
to actually see them. The pictures in Figures 68 and 69 will show you
one example of the improvements which have been made in Jacksonville.
Many similar things are being done to improve the poor housing con-
ditions in Florida and the Southeast about which you have just studied.
Some of these are part of the public housing projects provided for
under the National Housing Agency which in 1942 consolidated a num-
ber of government groups concerned with housing problems. It aids in
improving community and individual family housing conditions by re-
building entire neighborhoods, making loans for housing improvements,
and insuring mortgages. In this way many people in the low income
groups have been able to live in homes which meet standards necessary
for healthful living. Also, there are some private groups interested in

LEVELS OF LIVING

FIGURE 65

housing projects. In pioneering in this field of public housing many
mistakes have been made but many benefits have resulted, both of which
should lead to future improvements. In addition, many educational pro-
grams relating to improved housing conditions are being carried on by
county agricultural agents, home demonstration agents, and public school
classes in science, social studies, home economics, and many vocational
subjects.
Much valuable help has been given by the Sloan Foundation work-
ing through the University of Florida and other Florida colleges on the
improvement of housing through education. Be sure to ask your teacher
if the materials prepared by this project are available for you to use. If
they are not, your school may wish to obtain them so that you can help
to improve the housing in your community.
You have already learned that houses needing major repairs make up
about one-fifth of the total number of homes in Florida, but this does
not mean that all of them need to be replaced. Many of these could
be repaired and modernized where needed by adding the conveniences
which are lacking. These improvements plus the addition of such things
as adequate space for lawn, flower and vegetable gardens, and recreation

58 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

PERCENTAGE OF HOUSES IN
FLORIDA NEEDING MAJOR REPAIRS
1940

TYPE PERCENT
S10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

URBAN

RURAL-NON-FARM

RURAL-FARM -I-I

FIGURE 66

areas for both children and adults are needed, particularly in urban areas
where poor housing conditions exist. This type of improvement has
already been carried out in some Florida communities by public housing
agencies and a few privately-sponsored housing groups. These have been
built for both white and Negro people in those counties which have
gained rapidly in population during the period between 1930-1940 (Fig-
ure 35). By 1940, improved housing projects had been completed in
Daytona Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, West
Palm Beach, and St. Petersburg. Many more have been built since then
to provide homes for workers in war plants, for migratory agricultural
workers, and for families of soldiers and sailors stationed in the State.
The problem of poor housing conditions in rural areas is more dif-
ficult to solve. The quality of farm homes is dependent to a great
extent upon the farm income. The map in Figure 47 shows those counties
above and below the state average in farm income. How does your
county rank in relation to the state average for farm income? Look
again at the map in Figure 24 and compare the number and location
of counties with no urban centers and the location of counties having
farm incomes below the state average. Do you not see that the counties
which rank below the state average in such things as the value of
homes, and the number of houses having certain conveniences, are for
the most part the same counties which have a rural population with
farm incomes below the state average? In the section on "Health" you
learned that a large percentage of the cases of malaria, hookworm, and
probably tuberculosis and influenza occurs in these same counties. The
improvement of farm houses in Florida is closely connected with im-

LEVELS OF LIVING

FIGURE 67

proved land use in rural areas. As you study the section on land use
try to find out how people living in non-urban areas can use their land
more profitably. Only by better land use can farm incomes be raised
and better housing conditions result.
In many parts of the United States the poorest living quarters are
found in densely settled urban centers, but in the Southeast most of
these are in the rural areas and include tenants' and sharecroppers' homes
and many non-farm rural homes of people working in neighboring urban
areas. It has been difficult for these working people to provide bet-
ter housing for themselves because their incomes do not allow them to
rent or buy better homes. As this land is neither urban nor farm land
it has seldom been included in public housing projects. This is one of
the principal housing problems facing many counties of Florida.
As you have read this section on "Housing" you probably have noticed
many instances where bad housing conditions have contributed to bad
health. Compare the map in Figure 49 showing the number of cases
of malaria with the map in Figure 60 showing the average value of
homes. Many of the homes in those counties below the state average
in value of houses are unscreened. Are these counties in the same sec-

60 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 68

tion of Florida where malaria is prevalent? The unsanitary toilet facili-
ties of the homes like those in Figures 54 and 55 cause many people to
have hookworm. Crowded living conditions, poor construction of build-
ings, and poor heating facilities are contributing factors in the spread
of such diseases as influenza and tuberculosis. Water supplies such as
those provided by shallow wells, streams, and ponds are almost always
polluted and aid in spreading such diseases as typhoid fever and dysen-
tery. While much has been done by groups previously mentioned to im-
prove housing conditions, much remains to be done, as you can see. The
main factor in improving housing conditions in Florida and thus im-
proving the health of Florida's people is to increase their income. This

FIGURE 69

LEVELS OF LIVING

can be accomplished only by improving the use they make of both hu-
man and natural resources. For rural farm housing this means par-
ticular emphasis on better land use, and for rural non-farm and urban
housing this means improved utilization of all resources.

RECREATION

Much has been said about the importance of conserving Florida's
human resources and the part that better housing and health can play
in helping to accomplish this. A well-developed recreational program
would also greatly benefit Florida's people.
Proper recreation, which means proper use of leisure time, has much
to do with people's physical and mental health and usefulness to society.
Since the use of leisure time is important to happiness, it can be seen
that a well-developed recreational program is vital to the well-being
of Florida's people.
What is meant by a well-balanced recreational program? What
would be included? A complete program of recreation would allow each
individual an opportunity to use his leisure time to rebuild his body and
to refresh his mind and spirit. It would help the individual to relax
and forget his personal and business worries for a while. It would con-
tribute to both physical and mental health, thus leaving him better fit-
ted for his work. It would give him an opportunity to develop whole-
some interests outside the usual narrow routine of his life. Such a pro-
gram should enable him to enjoy real comradeship-to be friendly and
natural. This program would certainly need to be adjusted to the age,
abilities, and work of the individual. A list of recreational activities
would include outdoor sports of all types, hobbies, social activities, in-
door games and amusements, entertainments, reading, and spectator sports.
For the office worker a lively game of tennis or a round of golf might
be ideal, while the manual laborer might prefer a game of cards with
friends or a quiet corner with a book. "Jitterbugging" might suit the
young, while elderly people might get equal enjoyment from the less
strenuous activity of shuffleboard.
The desired program outlined above cannot be left to chance. Many
of Florida's people, young and old, lack opportunities for proper recre-
ation. Others fail to take advantage of those they have because they
are unaware of the need for recreation. Since this is the case, local com-
munities and the State must assume responsibility for a recreational pro-
gram that will meet the needs of all the people.
Nature has provided Floridians with unusual opportunities for a
wholesome life out of doors all year. Florida's climate, pleasant in sum-
mer and winter; wide sandy beaches; breezes and ocean waters warmed
by the Gulf Stream; numerous lakes, streams, and marshes abounding
in animal life; and large areas of forest land and open plain give the
people of the state a wide variety of choice in outdoor pursuits. Choice
in angling, for instance, might range from the thrill of battling mon-
sters of the blue Gulf Stream to fishing for bream with a cane pole

62 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 70

in some secluded lake or stream. The beach might provide the social
gaiety of the cabanas, the excitement of riding the crests of huge breakers,
casting for sea bass in the surf, basking in the sun, leisurely strolling for
shells, or just watching the crowd go by. The nature lover can do his
hunting with camera, paint brush, or notebook, while the lover of more
excitement might prefer a tramp through the brush with his favorite
dog, alert for the exhilarating whirr of a covey of quail. Much more
will be told about Florida's outdoor recreational possibilities in the sec-
tion on the tourist industry.
While Florida has been intensely interested in the development of
recreation for tourists, it has not entirely forgotten its own people. Since
1935 the Forest and Park Service has established 13 state parks, 8 of
which are open to the public at the present time (Figure 70). Each
unit in this system of parks has been chosen because it is representative
of the particular charm of a certain area of the State (Figures 71 taken
in Highlands Hammock Park; 72 in Hillsborough River Park; 73 in

LEVELS OF LIVING

Torreya Park; 74a in Myakka River Park; and 74b in Caverns State
Park). These parks offer facilities where people of all ages may
enjoy hiking, fishing, swimming, camping, boating, or just plain loafing.
Some have cottages for family groups; others provide facilities for
trailers or for auto-tents. All provide opportunity for Florida's people
to get away from the usual rushed routine and enjoy some of the State's
unspoiled areas of magnificent natural beauty. In type, these beauty
spots vary from the limestone caves of Florida Caverns Park in northern
Florida to the dense semi-tropical jungles of Highlands Hammock Park
in south central Florida. Is one of these parks near your home? What
recreational opportunities does it offer? To what extent is it used?
Even though established recently and comparatively unknown to the
public, the facilities of these parks are being rapidly improved. They
have made available to the vacationing Floridian and his family an in-
expensive means of relaxing body and mind. While they may never
rival Florida's beaches as summer resorts, these parks can have a real
place in the recreation of Florida's own people. If your class wishes
to know more about them, the Forest and Park Service in Tallahassee
will be glad to send your teacher the latest information.
There are three National Forests in Florida which offer considerable
recreational opportunities. The Juniper Springs Recreation Area in the
Ocala National Forest is an outstanding example of what the federal
government has done for Florida's natives and visitors. The Everglades
National Park when it is developed will offer much that is new and

64 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

44j

t4
. ,

"-,. .... . ... , . ,t-:. i.l i~ ~

-.. Ys
i '- b~ ~LC~~
.~ .3~C~.
' ; "Gr
'6
i
.;,...
~ *"

~fr -..:f

VIw.F

FIGURE 73

*'^,

'; r;brr

LEVELS OF LIVING

unusual to its visitors, particularly as a wild-life refuge. These national
and state parks will further aid recreation by seeking to preserve Florida's
wealth of bird, animal, and plant life. The scientist, the nature lover,
the camper, the hunter, and the fisherman will all profit from these
efforts.
Florida has many privately owned beauty spots and places of great
recreational and educational importance to its people. One that might be
mentioned is Royal Palm State Park in extreme south Florida. This
park, sponsored and maintained by the Florida Federation of Women's
Clubs, is distinctly tropical both in vegetation and wild life. Other in-
teresting places are mentioned later in the chapter on the tourist in-
dustry.
From the description of Florida's vast outdoors it might seem that
the recreational standards of the State would be very high. There are
many indications that this is not the case. Not all Floridians know
about the State's wide recreational opportunities. Many families have

66 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

such a low income that even a short trip to a nearby beach or picnic
ground is impossible. There is a real need of educating the public to
the importance of recreation, to avail themselves of the facilities around
them, and to get them interested in the further development of Florida's
out-of-doors for recreational purposes.
It has been stated above that the out-of-doors cannot take care of
Florida's entire recreational program. People of all ages need and find some
form of social recreation indoors. At one time the home was the center
of social activity, but now this is less true. Authorities are agreed that
inadequate recreational facilities and improper supervision are a major
factor in our present high rate of juvenile delinquency. As mentioned be-
fore, it is more and more the responsibility of the community to provide
wholesome recreation for all of its people. If the church, the school, or
the community center do not provide desirable and properly supervised
recreational opportunities, such questionable centers as the roadside
"juke-joint", beer parlor, and night club will be patronized by people in
search of pleasure.
Here is a check list to help you rate your own community in regard
to its provisions for recreation.
I. Is your local community careful to provide recreational oppor-
tunities for its own people as well as for its visitors?
2. Is recreation provided in your homes for both adults and
children ?

LEVELS OF LIVING

3. Does your community have a well-equipped and generously sup-
ported library?
4. Do your churches and schools have definite year-round recrea-
tional programs?
5. Do the young people of your community have club-rooms or
places to meet and enjoy wholesome recreation outside of school
hours? In the summer? Are these places well-supervised?
6. Does any organization in your community sponsor soft-ball
leagues, tennis tournaments, or similar forms of competitive sports?
7. Do you have a healthful place to swim?
8. Are there adequate parks, picnic grounds, or playgrounds in
or near the community in which you live?
9. Does your community show interest in and back Boy Scouts,
4-H Clubs, Young Men's and Women's Christian Associations,
Girl Scouts, and other worthwhile organizations?
10. Are the people of your community willing to plan co-operatively
for a better recreational program?

EDUCATION

What does the word education mean to you? Does it mean a class-
room and books, the ringing of a bell and a rush to the playground?
Does it mean that, beginning when you were 6 years old, a certain num-
ber of years of your life was set aside for the pursuit of learning and
that within those years your education will be accomplished? In former
times this idea would have been largely correct, when mastery of the
"three R's" within the walls of the traditional little red school house
was the principal aim. Times changed and the field and aims of edu-
cation were broadened as it sought to prepare young people for living and
working in a changing world. Instead of making the passing on of ac-
cumulated knowledge an end in itself, an effort is made to use this knowl-
edge to develop in pupils an ability to participate in group living, a feel-
ing of civic responsibility, and an understanding of how people provide
themselves with goods and services. Present-day education still studies
the past, but seeks in its light to understand the present and plan more
wisely for the future. The necessity for such a program of education
for all a nation's people is shown in the experiences of other countries,
referred to in Chapter I. Similarly, the idea that education happens only
in school has been replaced by the realization that education goes on
continuously at home, in church, and in connection with all kinds of ac-
tivities. If you think of your own experiences you will realize why this
view can be taken. Before you ever attended school, you acquired
many habits, interests, and attitudes from your home life. Too, out-
side influences had already had a part in changing you. You had proba-
bly attended religious services, listened to the radio, seen motion pictures,
and enjoyed stories read from books. As you grew older, newspapers,
magazines, and lectures, as well as the ever-present influences of your
friends and acquaintances may have contributed to the progress of your

68 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

education. Within this space it is impossible to evaluate all the sources
of learning, so chief consideration will be given to the part played by
Florida's public school system.
What part should Florida's public school system play in helping you
to secure an education? How well are the public schools doing their
job? And in turn, what obligations have you, now and in future years, to
the community and state of which you are a citizen?
You are in school today as a part of Florida's army of young people,
some 396,000 strong, who are training for citizenship in the community,
State, and Nation. The taxpayers of your State are spending an aver-
age of $58 per year for the education of each one of you. They have also
invested $84,000,000 in school buildings, grounds, and equipment. That
means that in school plants there is an average investment of $212
per pupil. These figures mean little, however, unless we compare them
with others. Refer to the table in Figure 75 to see how this financial
investment in the future of Florida's boys and girls compares with that
of the Southeast and the United States.

PER PUPIL INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION
Expenditure Value of School
Per Pupil Plant Per Pupil

Florida ................. $58 Florida ................ $212
Southeast ............... 39 Southeast .............. 107
United States ............ 84 United States ........... 274

FIGURE 75

You have seen how Florida ranks in housing and health. Does the
State hold the same or different ranking, comparatively, in the amount
expended for education?
Since the figure given ($58) is the average amount spent by the
State, you would expect the expenditures to vary from county to county.
The map in Figure 76 shows which counties spend more than this amount
and which less. How much does your county spend? Compare this
map with the one showing income (Figure 46) and see whether the
parts of the State having higher incomes are spending more per pupil
on education. You have already learned that certain parts of the State
have much higher percentages of children than others. A comparison of
Figure 77 with the income map will show whether the same counties
which have the greatest number of children also have the highest in-
comes. What does this mean with reference to the educational advan-
tages available to the children of the less prosperous counties? As you
study, try to determine why these sections have so much difficulty in
financing their schools. To insure more equal educational opportunity,
the State is contributing increasingly to the support of county schools.

LEVELS OF LIVING

FIGURE 76

Within two decades (1920-1940) the amount of money derived from
state funds has increased from 8 per cent to 61 per cent.
Thus far, the schools of the State have been evaluated on the basis
of financial investment alone. This is, of course, a very important and
a readily determined measure. Another indication is the condition and
quality of buildings, grounds, and equipment. In Florida, as in other
states, buildings range from dilapidated one-room shacks to the most
modern school plants. In general, there is need for much greater ex-
penditure on Negro buildings and equipment. It is impossible to lay
down exact requirements for the school plant, as needs vary considerably
from one community to another. Some general characteristics of the ideal
school plant are listed in Figure 78, to help you in evaluating your own
school.
How does your school measure up to these standards? Are there
any ways in which you might help, such as in the maintenance of cleanli-
ness and order in the buildings and on the grounds? Do you take the
best possible care of textbooks and other materials provided by the public,
remembering that waste here decreases the amount of money which might

PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURES PER
PUPIL IN DAILY ATTENDANCE 1940
STATE AVERAGE $58 PER YEAR

[1Jll STATE AVERAGE OR ABOVE 51 "45
i BELOW STATE AVERAGE 47

oBd~

70 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

FIGURE 77

SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCHOOL
Site Building and Equipment
I. Should be large i. One-story building preferable
enough for adequate 2. Fire protection (construction, escapes, ex-
playgrounds tinguishers, drills, removal of hazards)
SSou h 3. Adequate provision for lighting, heating, and
2. Should have equip- vnian
ment for outdoor ventilating
4. Sanitary drinking fountains
games 5. Sanitary bathrooms
3. Should be clean 6. First-aid room and equipment
and attractive 7. Comfortable desks
8. Rooms not over-crowded
9. Adequate library
o1. Laboratory facilities
11. Assembly room large enough for all
12. Sanitary lunch room
13. Gymnasium, or equivalent
14. Adequate supply of good textbooks
15. Clean, neat building
FIGURE 78

LEVELS OF LIVING

be used to purchase new library books or other facilities for your use?
Are there ways in which the community might help?
Another important consideration is the length of the school term.
Naturally, the shorter the term, the less opportunity for learning. The
national average is 174 days and Florida's is 168 days. There is little
difference in length of term in the State's white and Negro schools.
The efficiency of the schools depends in large measure on how well

COLLEGE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS
College Years Florida Southeast
Completed White Negro White Negro
1-2 years ........ 47% 74% 32% 61%
3, 4, or more .... 53% 26% 68% 39%
FIGURE 79

teachers are educated. The State has set as a goal a four year college
degree for every teacher. Study Figure 79 to determine whether this
goal had been reached in 1940. How does Florida compare with the
Southeast in the education of its teachers?
Each pupil receives more individual attention if the teacher is not
responsible for too many pupils. In the Southeast in 1940 the average
number of pupils enrolled per teacher was 33. Florida's average of 29
(28 white, 32 Negro) compares very favorably with this figure, as it
does with the national average of 28.
Within this space it is not possible to describe in any detail the work
done in Florida's classrooms. There are many variations in the State
as regards courses taught and methods employed. There is, however,
as in other southeastern states, an increasing approval of the belief that
school work should be centered around life activities normally engaged
in by both the young people and adults of the community. These ac-
tivities include earning a living and enjoying leisure time. The'work of
a school can best be evaluated in terms of how well it is meeting the
needs of the particular community and fitting the pupils for worthy
living in any community. Part of this program consists of vocational
training in such fields as agriculture, home economics, stenography, and
shop work.
No matter how excellent the school program, how fine and well
equipped the school plant, or how well trained the teachers, children
cannot be educated unless they come to school. The table in Figure 80
shows the percentage of children of various ages who are enrolled in school.
Can you suggest some reason why the percentages of enrollment are so
much higher for children of 7 through 15 years of age than for those under
7 and those over 15? As you probably know, one of the main reasons
why many children leave school is that they go to work after 14, the
minimum legal age for full-time employment. Therefore, many citizens

72 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

receive little or no high school training. How do the percentages of en-
rollment for Negroes and whites compare (Figure 80) ? What can you
and your family, the school, and the community do to increase enrollment?
As important as the percentage of children enrolled, is how regularly
pupils attend school. In 1940 Florida's average attendance of 82 per
cent of total enrollment was slightly higher than that of the Southeast
(81 per cent) and lower than the national average (86 per cent). At-
tendance is affected by various factors, such as epidemics, weather con-
ditions, and the understanding by parents of the desirability of regular
attendance. What is the percentage of attendance in your school? Are
you doing your part in raising this rate, thereby taking full advantage of
your educational opportunities?
You might be interested in knowing how many years of school were
completed by the grownups in your State and Nation when they were
children. Find in the table in Figure 81 what percentage of the per-
sons over 25 years of age of the United States and of Florida completed

PER CENT OF CHILDREN OF VARIOUS AGE
GROUPS IN SCHOOL
Age United Florida Florida
Groups States Florida White Negro
5 years 18 7 5 Io
6 years 69 64 64 64
7-9 years 94 93 94 90
10-13 years 95 94 95 91
14 years 93 89 92 83
15 years 87 83 87 73
16-17 years 69 62 68 48
18-19 years 29 27 31 19
20 years 13 11 13 7
21-24 years 5 4 4 2
FIGURE 80

their education with the seventh and eighth grades. What percentages
have not completed any years of school? What percentages attended
high school and college? How do the percentages for whites and Ne-
groes compare with those for the State?
Does this table suggest one reason why many newspaper publishers,
motion picture producers, directors of radio programs, and like agencies
say that they are serving a public which has an eighth grade level of un-
derstanding? Does a comparison of the tables in Figures 80 and 81
suggest that your generation will be better or less well educated ?
The people of the United States have always believed in the value
of a free public school system and have generally agreed that the great-
est asset of a democracy is an informed citizenry. As a result of this

LEVELS OF LIVING

NUMBER OF SCHOOL YEARS COMPLETED BY
ALL PERSONS OVER 25 YEARS OF AGE
School Years United Florida Florida
Completed States Florida White Negro
None 4% 4% 1% 10%
Grade School
I-4 years 10 15 7 36
5-6 years II 14 Io 24
7-8 years 35 25 28 17
High school
1-3 years 15 15 18 6
4 years 14 15 20 2
College
1-3 years 5 6 8 I
4 years
or more 5 5 6 i
FIGURE 81

belief in education many improvements have been made in the schools.
Through the cooperative efforts of the school officials, the teachers,
and the community other needed changes can also be brought about.
School and community should be interested in one common goal-the
development of good citizens in a democracy. School administration
in Florida counties is in the hands of a superintendent of education and
a school board. District trustees serve in an advisory capacity and are
also concerned with certain aspects of administration. Are the mem-
bers of your school board elected or appointed? Paid or unpaid? The
trustees? How is the superintendent chosen? Since all these important
officials are either elected or appointed locally, and the district school
tax rates are determined in the same way, the community may have,
within the limits of its financial ability, the kind of public schools that it
considers best suited to its needs, and that it is willing to pay for.
Colleges, junior colleges, and universities in the State offer courses
of instruction for two, three, four, or more years and help to provide
well-educated citizens, many of whom are also specially trained as law-
yers, business men, farmers, and teachers. Study in most fields of knowl-
edge except theology and medicine is provided in one or more of these
institutions.
Many other agencies both public and private make valuable contri-
butions to education. Prominent among these are private and church
schools. The educational work of various departments of the state gov-
ernment should also be mentioned. Bulletins and other materials are
provided by these agencies. You probably have seen the moving pictures
on conservation brought to every part of the state by the Florida Forest
and Park Service. Public libraries, museums, and picture galleries, if
possessed by a community, are valuable educational aids.

74 FLORIDA: WEALTH OR WASTE?

Some attempts at adult education are made in most communities,
whether in the form of classes, lectures, or club-organized study groups.
More work along such lines would be desirable. Classes in fundamental
skills and instruction in trade schools help fill the definite need which
is indicated in Figure 81. The statistics in this table suggest that some
persons cannot read or write, and that many others have had too little
training to fit them for earning a good living. There are others who
wish further instruction in their particular trade, or wish to prepare to
enter different vocations. For those with other interests there may be
public forums, discussion groups, study of the arts, or book clubs spon-
sored by libraries, clubs, and similar agencies.
If all the agencies that contribute to education function as they
should, people acquire the attitudes and behavior traits needed for better
living in a democratic society, some of which are mentioned below. Add
to this list others which you and you teacher may suggest, then decide
how you rank individually in these respects.
Balance between time spent on Consideration for the opinions
work and play of others
Good work habits Ability both to lead and to fol-
Wisely chosen recreation low
Good sportsmanship Respect for and obedience to law
Willingness to help others

Suggested activities. I. Make a list of reasons why your genera-
tion needs more education than those that have gone before.
2. Make a list of the advantages that your generation has in get-
ting an education.
3. Discuss the responsibilities of a good citizen in the school com-
munity. Does a good citizen of the State and Nation assume similar
responsibilities ?
4. What are the causes of absence from your school? Develop a
program to improve school attendance.
5. Compare percentages of enrollment in the elementary and high
schools in your county. Can you explain the differences?
6. Suggest ways in which pupils might prevent waste of time, sup-
plies, classroom and playground equipment, water, and lights.
7. Suggest needed improvements in your school plant which (a)
might be made at little expense by pupils or adults of the community;
(b) would justify the expenditure of more money.
8. Find out what clubs, libraries, or other agencies contribute to
educational opportunities in your community. What services do they
render?
9. If there is a college, junior college, or university in your vicinity,
find out what kinds of training are offered. What other educational
opportunities are offered adults in your community?
Io. How fully are all of the educational opportunities of your com-
munity being used?