Live Oak daily Democrat., 1906-09-03
DRAINING THE EVERGLADES
fFrom the New Orleans Times DEM
ocrat. AUGUST I, 19O6.l

create a commission that VIII IN
yestigate the possibility and advis-
ability of draining the Everglades,
the great swamp in Southern Florida,
which covers millions Of acres OF
land. believed to be rich and fertile |
if the water can be drawn OF. 1t is
proposed to endow the commission
with great latitude of action. 1t may
drain or not, as it sees ut; it may
begin the work 1t onee-o or defer it
indefinitely; it may drain what por-
tions it pleases and leave the rest
unreeIaimed; it may impose
special tax of ten cents an acre on
such persons as will be benefited;
it may sell any and all reclaimed
land at private sale; collect taxes;
carry on irrigation work after drain
age is completed, and perform many
other duties. In other words, it has
the great powers granted to levee
and drainage boards in Louisiana
and Mississippi, and which have been
found necessary TO enable them to
do any effective work.
The proposition has the strong
support of Governor Broward, but
We are hearing the usual objections
to the improvement; and the Opposi-
ton to the proposed drainage has
tried to create diversion by asking
the following questions:
Will the drainage of the Ever
glades cause climatic changes that
will do harm of more cost than the
land to be reclaimed viii be worth?
To whom will the land belong after
it is reclaimed? Does the State now
need the land, or would it be better
to wait until there is a larger popula-
ton? Would the placing of so much
land on the market depreciate the
value of the other land owned by
the people? Have any thorough
surveys been made showing the best
places for the location of drainage
works? Would the land sell for
more if put on the market ten, twen-
ty or thirty years hence than if Of
, fered within a year or two?
There have been joint debates on
this subject between Governor Bro
ward and the opponents of the inn
provement. 1t is needless to say in
Louisiana, where much work of this
+ kind has already been done, that the
/ objections contained in the questions
}. asked are not worth a moments con-
: sideration. The idea that the drain
| age of small section of Florida will
S change climatic conditions is too pre-
). posterous for a moments considera-
ton, and it is a wonder that those
who suggested this did not pretend
r that it would unfaVorably AFFECT the
= moon. We have drained twenty
Y times as much land along the Mis-
: sissippi river in the same condition
t as the Everglades without the faint
e est suspicion of any climatic effect
Il The proposition that the recovery
n of so much swamp land may have I
n tendency to depreciate the value O
land already drained probably ex
eTts more influence in organizing al
= opposition. 1t is probably feared tha
o the Florida land market will be over
supplied and that this may cause
r. depreciation in values. Here also W,
1t can safely tell our friends of Floridi
Je that they have nothing to fear. Tn
y great work of draining and reclaim
3" ing lands on the Mississippi and tn
IN Gulf coast of Louisiana, in the Yazo
10 delta, the Tensas bottoms and tn
ID swamps of Cameron, Vermilion an
ID TerrebOnne has not only not sen
is down values, but actually advance
h them, and this is the experience tn
t. world over. Immigrants do not car
Of TO come into section which consist
Id mainly of swamps- The more in
proved land there is in any State O
district, the higher the value of tha
Ia land ranges.
IL The problem of draining the Ever
he glades has never been either as diff
ch cult or as expensive as the drainag
It's Of the lands on the Mississippi. Their
IN is no mighty river TO contend will
ly no levees 20 be built. 1t is onl
-e' necessary to provide the drains an
e. Keep them open. Twenty years az
OF IN Times-Democrat sent an exped
at ton through the Everglades. which