1899, the product in 1899 (1,125,600 ℔) being more than twice that of 1889 (470,443 ℔), which in turn was more than twenty times that for 1880 (21,182 ℔)—the smallest production recorded for many decades. In 1907 the average farm price of tobacco was 45 cents per ℔ higher than that of any other state. In 1899, 84% of the product was raised in Gadsden county. The sweet potato and pea-nut crops have also become very valuable; on the other hand the Census of 1900 showed a decline in acreage and production of cotton. In 1907 the acreage (265,000 acres) was less than in any cotton-growing state except Missouri and Virginia; the crop for 1907–1908 was 49,794 bales. Sea-island cotton of very high grade is grown in Alachua county. The production of sugar, begun by the early Spanish settlers, declined, but that of syrup increased. Pecan nuts are a promising crop, and many groves were planted after 1905. In 1900 there were more than 1,900,000 acres of land in the state unoccupied. The low lands of the South are being drained partly by the state and partly by private companies. Irrigation, introduced in 1888 by the orange growers, has been adopted by other farmers, especially the tobacco-growers of Gadsden county, and so the evil effects of the droughts, so common from February to June, are avoided. The value of farm property in the southern counties, which have been developed very recently, shows a steady increase, that of Hillsboro county surpassing the other counties of the state. In 1907–8, according to the state Department of Agriculture, the total value of all field crops (cotton, cereals, sugar-cane, hay and forage, sweet potatoes, &c.) was $11,856,340, and the total value of all farm products (including live stock, $20,817,804, poultry and products, $1,688,433, and dairy products, $1,728,642) was $46,371,320.
The manufactures of Florida, as compared with those of other states, are unimportant. Their product in 1900 was more than twice the product in 1890, and the product in 1905 (from establishments under the factory system only) was $50,298,290, i.e. 47.1% greater than in 1900. The most important industries were those that depended upon the forests, their product amounting to nearly 45% of the entire manufactured product of the state. The lumber and timber products were valued in 1905 at $10,901,650, almost twice their valuation in 1890, and an increase of 1.2% over the product of 1900. The manufacture of turpentine and rosin, material for which is obtained from the pine forests, had increased greatly in importance between 1890 and 1900, the product in 1890 being valued at only $191,859, that of 1900 at $6,469,605, and from the latter sum it increased in 1905 to $9,901,905, an increase of more than one-half. In 1900 the state ranked second and in 1905 first of all the states of the country in the value of this product; in 1905 the state’s product amounted to 41.4% of that of the entire country. The manufacture of cigars and cigarettes (almost entirely of cigars, few cigarettes being manufactured), carried on chiefly by Cubans at Key West and Tampa, also increased in importance between 1890 and 1900, the products in the latter year being valued at $10,735,826, or more than one-quarter more than in 1890, and in 1905 there was a further increase of 56.2%, the gross value being $16,764,276, or nearly one-third of the total factory product of the state. In 1900 Florida ranked fourth in the manufacture of tobacco among the states of the Union, being surpassed by New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio; in 1905 it ranked third (after New York and Pennsylvania). Most of the tobacco used is imported from Cuba, though, as has been indicated, the production of the state has greatly increased since 1880. In the manufacture of fertilizers, the raw material for which is derived from the phosphate beds, Florida’s aggregate product in 1900 was valued at $500,239, and in 1905 at $1,590,371, an increase of 217.9% in five years.
Florida’s industrial progress has been mainly since the Civil War, for before that conflict a large part of the state was practically undeveloped. An important influence has been the railways. In 1880 the total railway mileage was 518 m.; in 1890 it was 2489 m.; in 1900, 3255 m., and in January 1909, 4,004.92 m. The largest system is the Atlantic Coast Line, the lines of which in Florida were built or consolidated by H. B. Plant (1819–1899) and once formed a part of the so-called “Plant System” of railways. The Florida East Coast Railway is also the product of one man’s faith in the country, that of Henry M. Flagler (b. 1830). The Seaboard Air Line, the Louisville & Nashville, and the Georgia Southern & Florida are the other important railways. The Southern railway penetrates the state as far as Jacksonville, over the tracks of the Atlantic Coast Line. A state railway commission, whose members are elected by the people, has power to enforce its schedule of freight rates except when such rates would not pay the operating expenses of the railway. In 1882 the Florida East Coast Line Canal and Transportation Co. was organized to develop a waterway from Jacksonville to Biscayne Bay by connecting with canals the St Johns, Matanzas, and Halifax rivers, Mosquito Lagoon, Indian river, Lake Worth, Hillsboro river, New river, and Snake Creek; in 1908 this vast undertaking was completed. The development of marine commerce has been retarded by unimproved harbours, but Fernandina and Pensacola harbours have always been good. Since 1890 much has been done by the national Government, aided in many cases by the local authorities and by private enterprise, to improve the harbours and to extend the limits of river navigation. With the increase of trade between the United States and the West Indies following the Spanish-American War (1898), the business of the principal ports, notably of Fernandina, Tampa and Pensacola, greatly increased.
Population.—The population of Florida in 1880 was 269,493; in 1890, 391,422, an increase of 45.2%; and in 1900, 528,542, or a further increase of 35%; and in 1905, by a state census, 614,845; and in 1910, 752,619. In 1900, 95.5% were native born, 43.7% were coloured (including 479 Chinese, Japanese and Indians), and in 1905 the percentages were little altered. The Seminole Indians, whose number is not definitely known, live in and near the Everglades. The urban population on the basis of places having a population of 4000 or more was 16.6% of the total in 1900 and 22.7% in 1905, the percentage for Florida, as for other Southern States, being small as compared with the percentage for most of the other states of the Union. In 1900 there were 92, and, in 1905, 125 incorporated cities, towns and villages; but only 14 (in 1905, 22) of these had a population of over 2000, and only 4 (in 1905, 8) a population of more than 5000. The four in 1900 were: Jacksonville (28,429); Pensacola (17,747); Key West (17,114); and Tampa (15,839). The eight in 1905 were Jacksonville (35,301), Tampa (22,823), Pensacola (21,505), Key West (20,498), Live Oak (7200), Lake City (6409), Gainesville (5413), and St Augustine (5121). Tallahassee is the capital of the state. In 1906 the Baptists were the strongest religious denomination; the Methodists ranked second, while the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Protestant Episcopal churches were of relatively minor importance.
Government.—The present constitution was framed in 1885 and was ratified by the people in 1886. Its most important feature, when compared with the previous constitution of 1868, is its provision for the choice of state officials other than the governor (who was previously chosen by election) by elections instead of by the governor’s appointment, but the governor, who serves for four years and is not eligible for the next succeeding term, still appoints the circuit judges, the state attorneys for each judicial circuit and the county commissioners; he may fill certain vacancies and may suspend, and with the Senate remove officers not liable to impeachment. The governor is a member of the Board of Pardons, the other members being the attorney-general, the secretary of state, the comptroller and the commissioner of agriculture; he and the secretary of state, attorney-general, comptroller, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, and commissioner of agriculture comprise a Board of Commissioners of State Institutions; he is also a member of the Board of Education. The office of lieutenant-governor was abolished by the present constitution. The legislature meets biennially, the senators being chosen for four, the representatives for two years. By an amendment of 1896 the Senate consists of not more than 32, and the House of Representatives of not more than 68 members; by a two-thirds vote of members present the legislature may pass a bill over the governor’s veto. The three judges of the Supreme Court and the seven of the circuit court serve for six years, those of the county courts for four years, and justices of the peace (one for each justice district, of which the county commissioners must form at least two in each county) hold office for four years. The constitutional qualifications for suffrage are: the age of twenty-one years, citizenship in the United States or presentation of naturalization
