COVER Most of Florida’s 1891 legislative session was consumed by the U.S. senatorial elec- tion in which Wilkinson Call was seeking a third term. When it appeared likely that he would prevail, 17 anti-Call senators left town, hoping to prevent a quorum and thus a valid vote. When the sergeant-at-arms failed to find them, the Florida Times- Union reported that they had gone to Georgia to escape his jurisdiction. In the same article the newspaper dubbed the absent senators “The Babes in the Woods.” Shown here are 15 of the 17 absent senators who have since been known by that appella- tion. Photograph courtesy of Florida State Archives. The Florida Historical Quarterly Volume LXXV, Number 2 Fall 1996 The Florida Historical Quarterly (ISSN 0015-4113) is published quarterly by the Flor- ida Historical Society, 1320 Highland Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935, and is printed by E.O. Painter Printing Co., DeLeon Springs, FL. Second-class postage paid at Tampa, FL, and at additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Florida Historical Quarterly, 1320 Highland Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935. Copyright 1996 by the Florida Historical Society, Melbourne, Florida. THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Kari Frederickson, Editor Samuel Proctor, Editor Emeritus Nancy Rauscher, Editorial Assistant EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Raymond O. Arsenault, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg William S. Coker, University of West Florida David R. Colburn, University of Florida James B. Crooks, University of North Florida Kathleen Deagan, University of Florida Wayne Flynt, Auburn University Michael V. Gannon, University of Florida Maxine D. Jones, Florida State University Harry A. Kersey, Jr., Florida Atlantic University Jane Landers, Vanderbilt University Eugene Lyon, Flagler College John K. Mahon, University of Florida Raymond A. Mohl, University of Alabama at Birmingham Gary R. Mormino, University of South Florida Theda Perdue, University of Kentucky Gerald E. Poyo, St. Mary’s University Joe M. Richardson, Florida State University William W. Rogers, Florida State University Daniel L. Schafer, University of North Florida Correspondence concerning contribution, books for review, and all editorial matters should be addressed to the Editor, Florida Historical Quarterly, Department of History, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-1350. The Quarterly is interested in articles and documents pertaining to the history of Florida. Sources, style, footnote form, originality of material and interpretation, clarity of thought, and interest of readers are considered. All copy, including foot- notes, should be double spaced. Footnotes are to be numbered consecutively in the text and assembled at the end of the article. Particular attention should be given to following the footnote style of the Quarterly. THE AUTHOR SHOULD SUBMIT AN ORIGINAL AND A PHOTOCOPY, RETAINING A COPY FOR SECURITY. Authors are asked to submit articles in IBM WordPerfect 5.0 or 5.1; please include both a hardcopy and a diskette. The Florida Historical Society and the editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly accept no responsibility for statements made or opinions held by authors. The Quarterly reviews books dealing with all aspects of Florida history. Books to be reviewed should be sent to the editor together with price and information on how they may be ordered. Table of Contents COMPANY TOWNS AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE NORTH FLORIDA TIMBER INDUSTRY, 1880-1930 Jeffrey A. Drobney 121 RAILROADS, FARMERS AND SENATORIAL POLITICS: THE FLORIDA COMMISSION IN THE 1890S Tracey E. Danese 146 “WE COULD HAVE SENT THE OLD BARBARIAN BACK TO THE HERMITAGE": JOSEPH M. WHITE AND ANTI-JACKSONIANISM IN TERRITORIAL FLORIDA, 1821-1839 Ernest F. Dibble 167 SKILLED SLAVE LABOR IN FLORIDA: 1850-1860 Christopher E. Linsin 183 BOOK REVIEWS . 197 BOOK NOTES . 233 HISTORY NEWS . 237 ANNUAL MEETING . 243 BOOK REVIEWS JOSE MARTI IN THE UNITED STATES: THE FLORIDA EXPERIENCE, by Louis A. Perez, Jr. reviewed by Leland Hawes FLORIDA’S PIONEER NATURALIST: THE LIFE OF CHARLES TORREY SIMPSON, by Eliza- beth Ogren Rothra reviewed by Dennis L. Scarnecchia PANIC IN PARADISE: FLORIDA’S BANKING CRASH OF 1926, by Raymond B. Vickers reviewed by John J. Guthrie, Jr. THE FLORIDA LAND BOOM: SPECULATION, MONEY AND THE BANKS, by William Frazer and John J. Guthrie, Jr. reviewed by Raymond B. Vickers FEMINA PERFECTA: THE GENESIS OF FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, by Robin Jeanne Sell- ers reviewed by Tracey J. Revels THE NAKED WARRIORS: THE STORY OF THE U.S. NAVY’S FROGMEN, by Francis Douglas Fane and Don Moore reviewed by Robert A. Taylor LYNCHINGS AND EXTRALEGAL VIOLENCE IN FLORIDA, by Walter T. Howard reviewed by William Warren Rogers, Jr. FLORIDA PLACE NAMES, by Allen Morris reviewed by Charles Douglass EVERY TUB MUST SIT ON ITS OWN BOTTOM: THE PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICS OF ZORA NEALE HURSTON, by Deborah G. Plant reviewed by Darden Asbury Pyron CHANGING TIDES: TWILIGHT AND DAWN IN THE SPANISH SEA, 1763-1803, by Robert S. Weddle reviewed by Robin F. A. Fabel THE FRENCH EXPERIENCE IN LOUISIANA, edited by Glenn R. Conrad reviewed by Light Townsend Cummins THE CARIBBEAN LEGION: PATRIOTS, POLITICIANS, SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE, 1946-1950, by Charles D. Ameringer reviewed by Jose B. Fernandez PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE 1950s by Nora Sayre reviewed by Harry Smith THE SOUTH AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM, edited by Larry J. Griffin and Don H. Doyle reviewed by William F. Mugleston SLAVERY AND THE FOUNDERS: RACE AND LIBERTY IN THE AGE OF JEFFERSON, by Paul Finkelman reviewed by Patricia Farless DAVIS AND LEE AT WAR, by Steven E. Woodworth reviewed by James I. Robertson, Jr. SOUTHERN WOMEN’S WRITINGS: COLONIAL TO CONTEMPORARY, edited by Mary Louise Weaks and Carolyn Perry reviewed by Bess Beatty LEANDER PEREZ: Boss OF THE DELTA, by Glen Jeansonne reviewed by James B. Crooks CITIES OF LIGHT AND HEAT: DOMESTICATING GAS AND ELECTRICITY IN URBAN AMERI- CA, by Mark H. Rose reviewed by W. David Lewis THE AGE OF THE GUNFIGHTER: MEN AND WEAPONS ON THE FRONTIER, 1840-1900, by Joseph B. Rosa reviewed by Stuart B. McIver Company Towns and Social Transformation in the North Florida Timber Industry, 1880-1930 by JEFFREY A. DROBNEY HE history of industry and labor in the Post-Civil War South for T many historians is a story of coal mining and textile manufac- turing. Both industries have generated hundreds of historical monographs and represent a very visible part of Southern labor history, when the South’s largest industry, lumbering, has been vir- tually ignored. Historian Edward Ayers has reminded us, however, that the lumber industry “captures the full scope of economic change in the New South, its limitations as well as its impact.“1 A few monographs, such as Nollie Hickman’s study of Mississippi and Robert Maxwell and Robert Baker, and Ruth Allen’s work on East Texas, have examined the lumber industry in the South, but for the most part historians have neglected the industry in the region. This is especially true for Florida despite its extraordinary impact on the state and the South. The history of lumbering in Florida reaches far back in time to the small water-powered sawmills operated in Spanish Florida, and stretches forward to the paper and pulp mills of the present day. No period captures the imagination more than the heyday of Flor- ida’s lumbering boom between 1880 and 1930. During this period, thousands of loggers toiled in the piney woods and cypress swamps of the state on any given day to supply the hundreds of mills with raw logs for finished lumber. By 1930, lumbermen had virtually razed the virgin forest, the same dense growth which originally cov- ered an estimated twenty-seven million acres. After only a few de- cades of frenzied cutting, it was estimated that only six million acres of virgin forest remained. A significant part of the history of the South’s lumber industry between 1880 and 1930 is the displacement of agrarian people, be- ginning with men and young boys who turned to seasonal work for modest wages, and culminating in families leaving the farm alto- Jeffrey Drobney is assistant professor of history at Youngstown State University. 1. Edward Ayers, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (New York, 1992), 123. [121] 122 FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY gether and moving into the company town. Workers who alter- nated between the family farm and seasonal work in sawmills or logging camps, gradually disappeared over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, replaced by men who became totally dependent upon the industry for their survival. This process, the move from family farm to company town, took place in steps, over two or three generations.2 This article is about the lives of the men and women who lived in the lumber towns of North Florida between 1900 and 1940. It fo- cuses on the use of “paternalistic” devices, such as company-con- trolled housing and company stores, by lumbermen in their efforts to create a stable and loyal workforce. In addition, it shows that the culture that developed in com- pany towns reflected a merging of both company and worker ideas and attitudes. Despite the sometimes negative and controlling mechanisms of paternalism, this article challenges the traditional perception of company towns. Oral histories conducted with former residents sometimes differ sharply with standard portraits of company towns. Lumber workers accepted paternalism as part of their working environment and used it to their advantage to bet- ter their lives. The development of large sawmill towns in North Florida be- gan after 1900 with the movement of large lumber corporations into the state. The company town in North Florida was not born out of any desire to control the lives of the workers, although this did come to play a role in the industry.