The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-16
TWO FLORIDA QUESTIONS.
ONE RELATES no c&vIcTs, THE
OTHER TO INDIAN WAR WAR
RANTS.

The Amount Which the state Is Now
Getting for Her convicts-VnstIy
More Than, Was Received Under
the Old Leases-Facts About the
Indian War Warrantr-An Inter-
esfiDG Bit of Florida History.
Tallahassee, Fla. June 15.-The de-
cision of the State Supreme Court in
the case of Camp & West VS.. the
state having been in favor of the
state, it is probable that the firm
whose members are extensive opera
/ tors in lumber, turpentine and phos-
phate--will carry the case to the Unit
ed States Supreme Court.
This controversy involves the dis
position of the state convicts, and is
one of the most celebrated in the le-
gal annals OF Florida. For many
years these prisoners were leased at
$21 per capita per annum, at which
figure spectators were, by system
of sub-leasing, enabled to make
handsome profit from their contract.
Among these sub-lessees was the firm
of Camp & West which last year
made an offer for 300 convicts at 800
was purely provisional in character,
was made with the Hon. B. f. Nc
Lin, Commissioner of Agriculture
Hardly had the papers been drawn,
when, by a curious coincidence, an
other sub-lessee who happened to be
in the Capitol at the time, remarked
to Commissioner McLin he had given
that much for convict labor himself
and was then prepared to give more.
IL . &c
sioner, and as the contract made with
Camp and West was not binding until
ratified by the Board of State Institu-
tons, the administration very wisely
concluded to look into the matter more
closely before definitely committing it.
self in any way.
The result of this investigation was
that in June of last year the state con-
victs-some 900 in number were leased
TO the Florida Naval Stores and Com
mission Company, Of Jacksonville, for
a term of four years, at the very sat
isfactory price of s157.50 per capita for
each year.
No act of Gov. Jennings administra-
ton has given rise to more comment,
pro and con, than this, and his polit-
ical enemies have not hesitated to hint
at corruption, pull and Influence"
Nevertheless. the people seem very
we'll satisfied, and that they have good
reason TO be is indicated by the. fol-
lowing figures.
Under the old regime, the state con-
victs were leased for a term of eight
years for $4,000 a year-a total
for the term of $16S000. Under the
new dispensation the same convicts
will yield the state an annual revenue
of about $4,000, or $685. for the
entire term. Should the lease be re-
newed for another four years, making
eight in all, the account would stand
81, 900 under the new arrange
ments, as against $16S000 under the
old. Comment is superhuous.
Whatever else may be said of Gov.
Jennings administration. it has, at
least, succeeded in materially increas-
ing the revenues of the state. The
latest achievement in this direction is
the successful adjustment of the old
Indian war claim of the state against
the general government, with which
one Congress after another has strug
| gled in vain. t
Unfortunately, however, a general
Misrepresentation seems to exist as to
the manner in which the 100000 or
more involved in this claim is to be
disposed of; and the newspaper fra
ternity all over the state is now busily
engaged in devising ways and means
for the disposition of the pro-
| ceeds of the claim. Among the
suggestions thus far made are
an executive mansion : here in
| Tallahassee and an adequate exhibit
at the st. Louis exposition, and many
of those who hold old Indian war war
rants labor under the delusion that a
portion of the proceeds may be en-
! ployed in liquidating their individual
! claims against the state.
AS a matter of fact the proceeds of
this Indian war ',laim will go into the
! general fund of the state, subject to
the acticn of the Legislature; but the
| old Indian war warrants in question
! were long since outlawed, as may be
seen by the following outline of their
history and origin:
Floridas Indian war claim was based
directly upon the money expended by
the state in the suppression of hostili-
ties in lS56-5S, while the Indian war
warrants referred to were not issued
until 1861.
In 1891 those warrants were made
the subject of an exhaustive inquiry by
a special commission, composed of Hon
George u. Walker and Hon. John G
Reardon, whose report was duly trans
| nitted to the Legislature in message
| by Gov. Francis P. Fleming That re-
port conclusively showed that the peo-
pie in convention assembled
mad in 1862 declared thai
Ito separate the just from the
unjust claims allowed by Commissioner
r. c.. Williams, under the act of 1851
(was) a work almost impossi-
bic of performance"
The commissioners continued by say
ing that nearly twenty years after
the Legislature again provided for ar
investigation of these claims that il
is obvious had been repudiated by the
said constitutional convention" An
| other question that arose was "wheth-
er or not the constitutional conven.
tons ordinance repudiating those
claims could be set aside by the act
of 1879 And another point directly
affecting the validity of the act of 1877
was that the statute embodied two sep
arate and distinct subjects of legisla-
ton, namely, the appointment of q
commission to examine the controller
warrants issued under the act of 1861
and the appointment of a commission
to visit Washington to adjust the gen
eral government, all of which, in tho
judgment of Gov. Fleming's commits
sion, rendered the act of 20 unconsti-
| tutional.
1t was Furthermore held by that
commission that the ordinance adopted
| nv rhe constitutional convention of 80