“To-day Mr. Plant might be called an international developer. Of this, however, the story of his life will be the best witness. To-morrow he will have completed his seventy-sixth year, forty-one of which have been spent in the South, during which time the twin powers of steam and electricity have wrought wonders in the conditions of life. To-day he is the president of a railway system which embraces twelve different corporations, and whose mileage extends to 1941, with a list of employees numbering 5506. He is also president of the Plant steamship and steamboat lines, the one covering the coasts of the Gulf and going to Cuba and Jamaica, the other skirting the coasts of the North, running from Boston and along Nova Scotia to Cape Breton and the maritime provinces of Canada. In addition to these interests, he is still president of the Southern and the Texas Express Companies, which do a business as express forwarders over 24,412 miles of railway; have lines in fifteen States, employing 6,808 men, and using 1,463 horses and 886 wagons. As a complement to the handling of railroads, and the sailing of ships, and the expressing of freightage, Mr. Plant has erected four winter resort hotels in Florida, one of which, the great Tampa Bay Hotel, is probably the largest winter resort hotel of its kind on the continent. It will thus be seen that this great man, who is to be the toast at the Exposition to-morrow, does service under three flags, those of America, England, and Spain. “Such developments as these are enough to make his life history of interest to the old and of profit to the young, as showing the vast possibilities which our country affords, and the immense rewards which come to industry, tact, and intelligence. * * * * * “The coming of Mr. Plant to the Southern States really marked the opening of Florida to the people of this country as a winter resort. It was in 1853, the year of Mr. Plant’s arrival, that he visited Florida for the sake of his invalid wife, when access could only be had by steamboat, by the St. John’s River. The mild climate of that State prolonged Mrs. Plant’s life for years. He saw the necessity of railroads in the State, and it was in this way that he began buying stock in various Florida and Georgia railroads, though he did not engage in any railroad enterprise as a manager until 1879. In that year Mr. Plant purchased the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad of Georgia, and subsequently reorganized the company as the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railway, of which he is still the head. The Savannah and Charleston Railway was next purchased in 1880, and the story of the completion of the Plant System--now extending to Charleston on the one side, to Montgomery, Alabama, on the other, covering Florida and forming a perfect network--would be to repeat the story of railroad development in that entire section.