The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-04-27
THE GOVERNOR
AT LIVE OAK.
He Delivers a Speech In that City in
Defense Of Everglades scheme.

UeIenSe Of HVeEBAAueS SShSnS'
From the Daily Demoerat.l
Governor Broward is man of ability,
force of character, courage and strong
convictions, but he is not an orator.
His speech in this city Saturday after
noon was an earnest and sincere effort
to defend his Everglades drainage en-
terprise, to demonstrate Its practicable
character, and to show that it would
be a very profitable investment for the
people of Florida. But his argument
would have been more convincing 1t it
had been more consecutive and coherent
and if he hadn't switched his train Of
thought so frequently and abruptly
from the main line onto blind sidinRs
from which he would have to back out,
to The material arrangement OF his plan
of argument and corresponding loss OF
effect on the audience. But It was q
speech of force. with strong man back
of il, clear enough in parts, but taken
as whole, disjointed and disappointing,
not so much for its matter as for it's
manner. We believe the Governor
makes no pretensions to the sOnorous
periods and rhetorical frills of polished
oratory, nor is anything of that kind
necessary in presenting this Everglades
problem to a popular audience; but IN
no critical or unkindly spirit we are inn
PEELED to say that we missed the orderly
arrangement of statements and logical
sequence of argument necessary to a
thorough understanding of the subject
on the part of the audience, and in the
absence of a stenographic report we
retain but a confused and unsatisfying
recollection of the points presented.
For that reason il would not be fair to
attempt any elaborate criticism of what
the Governor said What we wanted
most to hear was all about that vague,
mysterious, sinister agency supposed
| to be back of the opposition TO the
drainage scheme-the railroad octopus,
| in SHORTCUT while the Governor was
emphatic enough in arraigning the
Times Union and the Metropolis as
working in the Flagler interest to de-
feat the drainage scheme, we still fail
to understand how that enterprise can
affect the titles TO lands claimed by the
railroads and now in litigation, and
which must be determined by the decis-
ion Of the Supreme Court of the United
States. We understood the Governor
to say that "all the rumpus" was caused
by the unwillingness of the roads to pay
the taxes assessed by the Drainage
Board pending the settlement Of the
titles. but that hardly seems an ade-
uuate motive for setting In motion such
a heavy enginery of corruption and
other forms Of Influence" as is charged
against the roads, for the "subsidizing"
would apparently come to more than the
taxes. One point the Governor made
clear, and that is that he doesn't charge
all the newspapers Of Florida with hav-
ing been subsidized to oppose his drain
age scheme. He confines that charge
- ITv,tne, anA MnkRnFAnlia oRH
SAWS that the rest Of US are in opposl-
ton, not because we have been bought,
, but because we have been misled by
those two papers, which have doc
= tored" the news for their country cous-
ins TO suit their side of the case. This
all is very we'll as an appeal to the pea
? nut gallery and the people who don't
] read, but in all seriousness we suggest
TO the Governor that IL his drainage
scheme is strong enough TO win on its
own merits he would better make his
! campaign on those merits and cease tC
~ divert or weaken his forces by assailinG
e papers hostile TO his measure and i'm
J. pugning the honesty Of their motives
II Such a consideration has nothing what
i ever to do with the real and only issue
= which is whether or not it is a good In
n vestment for the people Of Florida u
,. tax themselves 10 the eNtSub NSquhS
4 TO make the experiment Of draining tn
4 Everglades. II the Governor coul'
d prove that every paper IN the State ha'
a been hired TO oppose his scheme h
e would still be as far as ever from proV
l. ing TO the people that draining tn
?, Everglades was a practicable enter
, prise and worth 10 the tax payers o
e Florida what il would cost them. Tha
r is the only question TO discuss,
IL
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