The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-10-23
That Internal ImprOveme emit
FMmn

| clear know ledge of the condition oil this fund,
and have therefore felt no little pleasure in pc
rusing this article There is one point in 1t, how
ever, which our esteemed brother will pardon
us for enquirng about, viz What is HE basis of
The Indebtedness cllimcd scverally, by HE suiis
| of the n. Y. Union Trust Company, ;. A Swami,
and the remaining claims to which he refers.
| Although the N y Union Trust Company have
| Withdrawn their suit, they doubtless had some
shadow of claim. We would like To know what
| it was.
We are among the number who endorse in the
main the State administration, including the
management of the Internal Improvement Fund.
Our queries, therefore, are not for argument, but
for intormation.-Fort Dads Messenger
The Union Trust Company appears to
have been the victim Of confidence
game played upon them to the amount of
a considerable figure which they sunk in
handling few of the worthless bonds of a
worthless corporation. We presume that
/ about the time their attorney entered
their suit in Jacksonville this year he dis
covered that it was a mere case of mis-
, placed confidence in the bond singers "
; who had asserted a franchise that was
! not back of them, and that consequently
a suit which promised nothing but the
expense of lawyers fees and costs Of
court was withdrawn. The timsiness of
their claim may be understood when we
| state that it was based upon" bonds
issued by the Southern Inland Naviga-
ton and Improvement Company us
sued upon the faith of the lands which
| the Reed Board of Trustees conveyed to
said 5. l. n. & l. Company in violation
of the injunction of the |. ). Court. A
re-conreydnce of these lands by said com
pany to the Trustees Of the Internal In
provement Fund was compelled by the
Federal courts. We should state that
this suit OF said Trust Company is dis
missed only as against the Trustees of
the Internal Improvement Fund, but is
still pending against the :. |. \. l.
Company. We trust that the "shadow
of claim in this case is satisfactorily cX-
planned to our good contemporary, and
that he will find it key to the eXplana
ton of various problems in connection
with the Internal Improvement Fund, in
the management OF which those who adj
minister it's trOublous affairs have to suffer
because of the embarrassments cntailcd
by the rascalites of the carpet bag period.
And in connection with the explanation
of this abandoned claim we would refer To-
the monstrous proceeding but the other
day instituted, being the suit of one
Mathew J. Shoecraft (sc y who files a
bill in the United States Circuit Court at
Jacksonville vs. The Trustees Of the IN
ternal Improvement Fund, Hamilton Dis>-
ton, Sir Edward Reed, and all the Rail
road, Canal and Internal Improvement
Companies Of the State, numbering over
fifty, and specified by title; and the bill
sets forth with imposing plausibility that
Mr. s., the complainant, represents eight
million dollars O. Of the bonds Of the
" Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Rail
road Company - and wants every acre Of
land represented by above individuals
and companies to float them. But this is
not astonishing, when one thinks about
ii. Nothing can be too absurd or pre-
posterous for fellows Of the Littlefeld
and Reed variety to undertake, nor any
thing too malicious for them to do Even
if they know, az they do, that the claim
Is not worth a cent, yet sore from having
been defeated in their former attempts to
steal more than they did. they can devise
this method to annoy and embarrass the
public interests of a State which has al
This, as the base impulse which prompts
who can't enjoy to destroy. We are sat
is6ed that they do not expect to gain
anything unless by forcing Mr.. Di>ston
E, and Sir Edward Reed to pay them to
withdraw a suit which, even ii a black
mail proceeding, must necessarily for a
time affect the sale of their lands by i'm
pairing with the credulous the validity Of
their titles to what they would transfer.
! The plot is big thing which impu-
IDENTIFY assails the property rights in many
| HllllOH acres Oh ldnU, anu III no Iualtrldl
profit comes to them Of it the potters
will have the malignant satisfaction OF
having done what they could to trouble
the administration, the owners of lands
and the holders of franchises They have
already accomplished part Of their work
by getting their claims prominently into
print in the columns of a daily paper, to
scare off, perhaps, some OF the uniformed
customers of Mr.. Disston, Sir Edward
Reed and the corporations having lands
in the market. We may refer to this re-
markable suit more in detail
Esteemed contemporary, we have d.
gressed, and now recur to the considcra-
ton of your queries. AS to the Swami
claim: that gentleman was empowered
by the administration of Governor Drew
to sell lands enough to raise All amount
sufficient to pay off the Indebtedness of
the Internal Improvement Fund, and his
commission was to be three cents per
acre. lie lost his time and the amount
OF a considerable expense account in Eu-
rope in Intellectual efforts to make "A sale