The Pensacola journal., 1908-12-20

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senting the state. or as member OF
the state board of pardons; or wheth.
er 1t is the state treasurer, working
In the regular routine or his office, or
on the state board OF education. or on
the board Of commissioners of state
institutions, or the state board of par
dons, OF all of which boards he Is a
member, or whether 1t be the secre
tary of state attending to the many
and varied duties OF that once, or as
member of one of the boards: or
whether it is the superintendent OF
public instruction, who has the re-
sponsibility OF caring for the educa
tional matters of the state. as well as
being a member of several boards; or
whether as the governor, making ap
pointments, signing commissions, or
acting as chairman at cabinet meet.
lnGs, or any other of the many duties
mat deYolye upon the encumbenI eoi
that office, they are not making any
money, or creating any wealth for the
people of the state; they are only
seeking TO enforce the law and protect
the people, so far as their tax money
is concerned, that they have already
paid, or enforce the collection OF
taxes. They make no money, but they
draw their pay for their services.
The service that the trustees have
been abused and criticized for. is the
only work that is being done, or that
can be done, under the laws OF the
state, that can make a dollar, or add
a dollars value to the property of the
State-for which service they receive
no pay-that of reclaiming a wilder
ness and putting 1t in reach of the
people, who have borne me burden
of the battle in the heat of the day,
but which people have had taken
away from them and donated to for
eign corporations an empire.
Further, not one dollar of the money
that has been paid for taxes has
been, or can be, used for draining
lands, and our critics know it. Not a
dollar of the taxes that was levied
for the purpose of defraying the ex
penses Of drainage, and which was
levied entirely within the Everglades
and no one pays a drainage tax, un-
less he lives in the edge of the Ever
glades, or very near it,
Furthermore, every dollar that has
been expended in draining the Ever
glades has been brought, into the
hands of the trustees by the sale of
some of the very lands that are being
drained, which lands were given away
many times over and even the resi-
due, if there was a dollar and a halt
left in the treasury, after drainage
operations were complete, would have
gone to the railroads, under the laws
upon the statute books today, had II
not been for the work of the trustees
of the present administration, and the
only work, as I see it, that is being
- <k,@
can be done by future trustees, thai
can directly benefit the people of Flor
ida, and inure to them as a public as
set, is the work that they are doing In |
reclaiming the Everglades. BY this
making a territory that was
worth nothing, worth many dollars
per acre, and making territory, even
outside of that owned by the public, |
worth millions of dollars, and go |
upon the tax books as such.
Abused Tor Persistent Work. |
In other words. we have been
abused for the persistent work OF the
trustees. who are the attorney general.
Hon. W. H. Ellis; the comptroller
Hon. A. C. Groom; the commissioned
of agriculture, Hon B. E. McLin: the
Hon. N. B. Broward. For
to make valuable this
great asset of the people, one-fourth
of it going monthly to the school fund
and the remainder of it to go there
when the expense of reclamation is |
completed, has the whole state ad-
been denounced.
Though this article may appear to
have a tinge of regret that we have
been criticized, the trustees realize
that no great work was ever entered
upon, or attempted. but that in the
outset, those who attempted it, were
either swallowed by whales, or nib
bled to death by minnows.
We are glad to report to the SOW I
ereign people. whose servants we are
that the dredges are going ahead al
a good rate, and the people are tillins
the ground. The sugar men of the
great northwest are investing their
preparing to produce the sugar
needed for the markets of the United
States, and to supply the home mar
ket, it will he necessary that there
be produced in Florida $15,0000, ,000I
on 4