The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-09-02

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! mountable obstacle to railroad building Nnuid
have still existed. All these questloas haGt beeu
thoroughly examined by two sdministrati0;is be
fore the present, the best inieec,s Of the sState
had endeavored To secure q remedy-and D Wss
| the conclusion Of all that . sale was thS only
means to escape utter ruin. When the edSrts of
| Governor Stearns' and Governor Drews xhusin-
| stratons in the same direction were well kaDwn u,
why did not some OF the wise critics 0f tsl-sf2y
come forward and call . halt and present b bet
ter remedy Why did not the successive fsess-
| atures that had met In the meantime ofjen 4
diffeien avenue of escape, il ose weru posiseio
Why sit still in the impending danger, with moi
| single suggestion or single protest against
the policy that had been tried for ysarJ, and
after its accomplishment and the dAnger had
passed, commence to criicse? ::
| THE PRICE :.
| The Board OF Trustees had for large taptaies
in blocks Of ten thousand acres, made . sehad,
| ule prices of 40 cents per acre for one n4.la,u
acres, 80 cents per acre for three million ACRES,
| and Is cents per acre for four million $cSes.
Governor .Stearns had long offered three million
! acres at IS cents per acre to relieve the fund,
without securing purchaser. Governor HrEW
| had offered three million acres at 81 cents per
| acre for the same purpose, without accomplish
| ing the object. The fund was seeking purihns-
| ers at these prices, and had been for yearS: be.
| fore the sale was accomplished.
or similar character is the oft-sepeatee. As-
| sertisn that Mr. Disson bought up the indetaed
ness at greatly reduced figures, and made pay
ment OF the same thus reducing the price, he
paid to very small sum. As the trustees we're
compelled to take the coupons representing the
Indebtedness at their face value it wxa nsi In
jury to the fund if he had paid in the adjuiEc4
ted obligations OF the same. Bot the fact y. ne
made all his payments in cash. except S3me
$14, 900 of coupon Indebtedness, which COST hiu
80 cents the dollar. As to the charge that
the sale was kept secret tor the benefit Of spec-
uators, or kept secret at all and the insiliua-
ton that unworthy motives controlled the sac-
ton of the board for base purposes, they ans un-
worthy calumnies. brought forward for political
effect
1t is charged that nullifisd Law of the last
Legislature, providing homes for actual sestIers
at twenty five cents per acre. This, like other
charges, is without foundation. Ii was well
known that the United States Court had charge
OF the fund when the act passed, and the Itue-
tees had TO act in conformity with its ortsirs.
We could not sell actual settlers selected pieces
OF land at twenty five cents per acre as long rs
the fund controlled 10y the court for llle 0rt-
lection of the creditors. As so IN. howeveei ss
we were released from the control ut the t1iun
by practical payment 0t lAs d, w and the ,lis
missa OF the suit the law was at once com. lied
with and no application for lands sui lect to xaIe
made IN accordance with The San e, has been re
fused. The law complied W tn just MS ssi0h
as We had the power to do so. il could nos be
carried out as long as tue fund was hampeted
with the debt. There was law IMsscd in fS32
over twelve years ago. allowing actual settlers
land for less than twenty-1 cent, per acres IL
has been upon the statute book fOl n period f9n-
hing through Governor Stearns' and GovelatU
Drew's administrations. Why Wa; it not cStn.
piled with! Why has there been no complSint
of It's not being carried out! The court WAiaid
not have allowed u compliance as long as the
debt existed, and sensible men knew it, The
same reason that preventeda compliance with the
act of the l,s' Legislature, until the lands wore
out of the control Ot the COURT prevented n cnm
plance with the act Of 1872
Objections aud criticism, only be an-
swered they are brought to our attention. II
is impossible to anticipate what every one may
think, but do not hesitate To say that there csu
not be any objections raised 10 the sale, or any
transaction connected with it. that is not suscep-
tlhle of the cearest vindi, alton.
1t has been asserted that the sale 10 Mr. Diss-
ton Was kept secret 10 enable few favored par
sHs 10 the cnans ed kv
Floridians The records IN The Trensurers ONCE
shsw that only about two and 0ne-halt per cent.
changed hands after the sale, aud the larger por-
ton of these after the publication of the CONTRACT.
Indeed, the fac, of the sale given To the pub
lie before the contract was signed by both of the
contracting parties.
1 undertake to say that member of the
Board of Trustees, or any person connected with
the administration OF the fund in any way, either
directly or indirectly was Interested directly or
indirectly in the sale or purchase OF any portion
of the Indebtedness. / challenge proof to the
contrary.
A NECESSITY AND NOT PLEASURE.
Many persons discuss this sale as if there had
been no overriding pressure to render il neces-
sarv rs if it were a voluntary act upon the part
of the Trustees without any absolute necessity.
OF course this is SIMPLY begging the question
No man is more thoroughly opposed to the COB
troll of large landed estates by iudividusls, nor
none who appreciates more fully that population
and the settlement Of the country by sturdy agri-
cuhuris,s, constitutes its ehiaf needs and ellidF
wealth. But this growing capeer in the shape
of a rapidly accommodating debt had to be Ar
rested. However painful the remedy the eperA-
tion had to be performed, or the disease would
soon have been fatal TO the entire body And Il
is satisfaction to know that the intelligent
minds of the State familiar with the condition Of
the fund give it their endorsement.
1t was substantially sale by the United States
Court as the Trustees were but agents ofthe court,
and the sale was confirmed by that tribunal
Judge Settle, who thoroughly understood tue
necessities of the fund, gave it his approval ana
when the debt practically relieved and tfe
suit dismissed by his order, he remarked that hk
had seen much in the action Of the Board iii
Trustees to commend aud nothing to condemh
1t was the only possible remedy, and the re-
expectations Hf s. .s
LOOK AT 1HE REsULrs.
No Floridian can contemplate, without feel.
ings of pride, the unprecedented progress maas
by our State 10 the last four years. Pner to ihas
time she had almost stood sagnant, as is demon-
strated from the fact that her taxable RESOURCES
had averaged for years about thirty or thirty-onh
million dollars. West Florida and South Flor
ida were suffering for the want nf Transportation
facilities, and the people were restless oper thu
long delay. Many of the best citizens of WeA
Florida locked to annexation to Alabama as tlk
having no prospects of railroads. Our developf
ment from internal improvements was staenant.
idle and motionless, and no CLEAN oflight seemed
to penetrate the gloom. We had the same clt
mate, the same soil aud the same generous petl
pie, but our transportation lines stood still not
withstanding the fact they had large legislative
land grants. When this great ipcQbpsOf incum-
brance upon our Internal mpHN ehent Funti
was lifted, Florida rose up and II once .bou ntaa
forward more rapidly than any State in the Union
No State can show a development that about
doubled her resources in the last four yeara
Few States can show as many miles OF railroads
built in the same period; and if YOU take f,,rr
population and wealth and Calculate the percenG
age, no State can equal us. /,
The increase of land sales in small ouantitiea
(outside Of the swamp and overflowed lsudSA
gives an approximate idea Of the -deveioprnont II
our State from the impetus given by the wdveys
tisements, etc., resulting largely from the Disston
sale.
SCHOOL AND SEMINARY LANDS.
The sale of these lands during former admin.
istratiOns was rs follows: ... 80 ! j,