1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Florida

FLORIDA (see ). The pop. of the state in 1920 was 968,470 as compared with 752,619 in 1910, a gain of 215,851 or 28.7% for the decade. There were 17 cities with a pop. of over 5,000; those exceeding 10,000 with their proportional gain for the decade were:&mdash;

Despite a comparatively rapid growth of its cities and towns the pop. of the state was still predominantly rural. The urban pop. (those living in cities and towns of over 2,500 inhabitants) numbered 355,825 in 1920, 36.7% of the whole, as contrasted with 219,080 or 29.1% in 1910. This gave Florida the largest proportion of urban population of any southern state. During the winter months the population was each year largely augmented by thousands of tourists and winter residents. The E.-coast and Gulf-coast resorts were the chief objectives, but many of the inland towns and cities were beginning to attract visitors. In 1916 the Baptists were numerically the strongest denomination, with a membership of 131,107; the Methodists second, with 114,821; followed by the Roman Catholics, 24,650; Episcopalians, 10,399; Presbyterians, 10,170; and Congregationalists, 2,878.

History.&mdash;The outbreak of the World War in 1914 interrupted two of Florida's more important exports to Europe, naval stores and phosphates, thus creating a temporary business depression. In the naval stores industry the recovery was comparatively rapid, owing to the high prices of and increased domestic demand for the products during the period of the war, with the exception of its early months. The phosphate industry was more seriously affected, as Germany had been a large purchaser of Florida phosphates. Many of the Florida phosphate mines closed down, to resume operation only after the signing of the Armistice.

The political history of the state during the decade 1910-20 was uneventful. The question of prohibition played a large part in state politics until the ratification of the Eighteenth (Prohibition) Amendment to the Federal Constitution by the Florida

Legislature Dec. 14 1918. Since 1876 Florida has been uniformly democratic and, except in 1916, when a contested primary election in the democratic party resulted in the nomination of Sidney J. Catts as a prohibitionist and in his election as governor, all of the state's executives have been democrats. The governors after 1910 were: Albert W. Gilchrist, 1909-13; Park Trammell, 1913-7; Sidney J. Catts, 1917-21; and Gary A. Hardee from 1921.

(J. M. L.)