The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-03
AN EXTRA MESSAGE
BROWARD DEPENDS THE IMPROVE
 MENT TRUSTEES.
Florida Governor Asks Legislature Not to Believe Charges Made by Newspapers-Wants the
 Reporters Summoned.

n Tallahassee, Fla, April 2.--(SpeciaL) "A sensation was sprung today in the form of a special message from the Governor which followed the conven- ing of the Assembly. It was filed be- hind ...e regular message.
 The Broward administration has been the most energetic in many years and the oppcsl..on to him has been fierce, .- not malignant. The subject which has been the cause of the strife has arisen from the Governors determina- ton to drain the Everglades, saving this area to the State and devctipg the funds of the internal improve ment trustees to this purpose. Money deducted from the sale of certain pub lie lands has been devoted to the. purr pose of drainage as coh tempIated by the act which created the board of internal improvement trustees fifty years ago. These trustees had in trust from the Federal government 20,- 900, 900 acres of land to begin with, but through legislative grant more than the entire areas has been given to the railroads as subsidy for construction, the trustees hitherto granting deeds to the land as fast as the Legislature made them.
 The consequence is that the rail- roads have suits against the trustees for the remaining 100000 acres by prior legislative grant, which the Broward administration has refused to recognize.
 The railroad newspapers have been aligned against the administration, and in his regular message today the gov ernor devotes considerable space to this subject. These papers have been suggesting during the past few weeks that the Legislature should investigate the actions of the board particularly tLa ok that they had been illegal and unwar- ranted
 The special message anticipated the resolution already drawn to have an investigation. In the fight to follow the Governor will have the satisfaction of having scored first.
 The special message had hardly been read before a resolution was adopted in the Senate offered by Senator Beard of Escambit county, calling for the ap- pointment of such a committee. The special message says In part:
 "Ccrtsip persons have. through news plrers and other publications, circu- lated many falsehoods against the pres ent trustees of the internal improve ment fund which may deceive the peo- pie as to the honor, integrity and abil- ity of those State officials. By inuen- do and otherwise they have attempted to traduce not only your trustees but to create in the minds of the people even beyond their own confines of the State a belief that the trustees were guilty of mismanagelnent of the inter- nal improvement fund.
 These officials are composed. as you know, of the Governor. Comptrol- Ter, Attorney General. Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. It is charged by these individuals that the trustees have violated the laws, which laws they have sworn to uphold by diverting public funds charging that your present trustees have used school funds to build dredges and do drain age work; that they have used mon ey appro riated to the purpose of good roads from that purpose to the pur- pose of building dredges and drain- age lands: that they have also divert ed money from the State T, easury, derived from taxation. to the purpose of dreL ging and reclaimlng lands and paying unwarranted attorneys fees.
 It is safe to assume that these pa- pers and this literature bearing these charges have reached you and 1t would be a miracle if one hundred men can be gathered here whose confidence has not been affected more or less harm fully by the charges against the pres ent trustees who are composed of the highest State officers, and feeling that nothing should estrange the relation ship that should exist between the Legislature and te trustees as ser wants and representatives of the peo- pie.
 Therefore, I earnestly recommend that a numerically strong committee, equipped with sufficient technical knowledge to make searching inves- ugation be appointed at once com posed of members of each House to investigate the charges and inuendos intended to reflect upon the present trustees and make report of their findings at the earliest possible date, and I ask that the committee be given power to summon persons and administer oaths in swearing witness es and to require them also to bring books and accounts, newspapers, cir cuY.rs, literature and handbooks bear ing upon this matter in any way that the committee may deem best and necessary.
 The Governor states that he has the fullest confidence in- the trustees.