The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-10-19
THAT AMENDMENT
AND POWER SOUGHT
Hos. James Z. BFo6rAS On the Out-
RACES IN IL. Followed ~ what Is
Thought Of Il By the Editors
or the Sc. Lucie Tribune
and the Jasper News.
Quincy, Fla, Oct. 8, 1906

of the Gadsden Times upon the drain
age amendment to be voted on the 9Th
of next month. ask that you will per-
NIT me a limited space in your valuable
journal that may publicly enter my
disapproval of the adoption Of said
amendment.
IT'S said by the advocates Of drainage
that the railroads are opposed to the
State drainage Of the Everglades.
am not prepared to concur in this be-
lief. There is not an intelligent man
in the State but knows that the Louis
vile & Nashville railroad claims nearly
every acre of land owned by the State
within the Everglades under the grant
given in its charter, and that the road
has next to the oldest unsettled land
grant of and in the State, therefore is
It reasonable to presume that this road
would object to the State draining the
Everglades, especially when the rail
road would become the beneficiary OF
the drainage. The question of rightful
ownership as between the State and the
Louisville & Nashville road is now
pending in the courts, and if the United
States Supreme Court decides in favor
of the railroad, every dollar paid out by
the State will go to the railroad. BY
way of illustration let us suppose that
Smith holds q deed to a lot in Quincy,
and Jones holds deed for the same
lot, and the case is now in the court for
settlement. Do you think that either
Smith or Jones would erect on said lot
a five thousand dollar building during
the litigation; would they not await the
final decision of the court before erect
ing the building on said lot? Undoubt-
edly they would. Here is similar
case: The State of Florida claims the
land, the L. & N. road denies the
validity of the State claims, contending
that they own the land by grant OF
the Legislature. The case is now In
the courts for final settlement, there
fore the trustees of the internal i'm
-Brovement fund should await the final
decision of the court before spending
hundreds of thousands of the people 8
dollars for draining the Everglades and
for the further benefit of the railroad
company. Gov, Broward claims that
the land in its present condition is
worth fifty cents an acre, but If drained
will be worth fifty dollars an acre. II
this be true can you see any good rea-
son why the L. & N. road should object
to the State draining said lands, espe-
benefit from draining.
Fellow citizens, this amendment, II
carried, becomes a part OF the constitu-
ton of your State, and no Legislature
can revoke it except through an amend
ment to the constitution, which would
take two years or more to accomplish.
This amendment, If carried, will inaug-
urate a board Of drainage commission
ers with absolute power to levy tax
of 10 cents an acre on land within such
district as was originally decided to the
State as swamp and overlooked lands.
If this amendment is carried, it has
been truly said by another that, "should
the drainage board of commissioners at
any time be influenced by desire to
favor persons or localities, the amend
nnent vests the board with the power so
to do by including in district not inn
mediately affected by the work done,
and thereby compelling the owners of
such lands included in such districts to
pay large portion of the cost of the
work, thus compelling one taxpayer,
who may reap no benefit at all, to pay
a large proportion of the cost for the
benefit of others. The amendment does
not prescribe the boundaries of any
drainage district, but the board is en-
powered to locate and establish districts
when and where they may determine
and the amendment does not provide
for any hearing of the taxpayers before
the board as to whether or not these
lands are of the character upon which
the acreage tax should be levied"
Fellow citizens of Gadsden county,
when the Legislature of 1855 enacted
the Board of Internal Improvement
Fund, the Governor, Attorney-General,
Treasurer, Comptroller and Commits
sioner of Agriculture were appointed
trustees. At that time the work OF
these respective officers were so light
that they could well attend to the bust
ness of the Board of Internal Improve
ment Fund of it's trustees, but since
1855 the work in every cabinet office
has so increased that cabinet officers
cannot properly and successfully attend
TO their regular duties and at the same
time competently discharge the duties
of the Internal Improvement Fund and
commissioners Of drainage board in the
event of the amendment passing. The
most amusing feature of the whole mat
ter is that the Governor, Attorney
General, Comptroller, Treasurer and
Commissioner of Agriculture, who are
TO become the drainage board, " com
missioners in the event of the amend
ment passing, are all advocating its
passage, and yet there is not one cent
of salary attached to the Office.
Fellow citizens, in 1903 the Legisla-
ture pgssed an Act and approved by the
Z Governor, appropriating the monies In
tha TptoYnaI improvements Fund TO the