The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1911-12-09
Park TrammeII'S Reply
to Gibbons, on Ever
GLADE Matter.

gave out the following interview in
reply to Hon. Cromwell Gibbons in
teryiew appearing in Tuesdays
jacksonville Metropolis. upon the
Everglades drainage project. MIR.
rrammell. said: Il think such un-
warranted attack upon the PROPOSE
ton. if allowed to so unchallcnged,
Will do inralculablc injury to the
project as we'll as to the entire state.
Ii will create false impressions OF
Florida. 1t will deceive and mis-
lead as the success of the drainage
operations and tend TO break down
the general confidence in the we'll
known fertility, prOducti>eness and
value of land in the Everglades ter
.i;J.,. ~. ,.obons while he
a,,e,d tilat ilc drainage and recia-
nation ii properly carried on, was
.,uod thing, went on to say amOns
other Things the tOllowing Il al
% agree that Governor BroWard s
piupUsition 10 reclaim the Everglades
hv drainage and reclamation, in order
that The same might be saved to the
people AID made inhabitablc and till
able. was a meritOrous enterprise. |
believe the plan now being carried
our. in the ostensible purpose of this
comlncndable design. is being frus-
trated by he methods employed.
While The drainage vi the Ever
aladcs is undoubtedly Il practical
project, still the methods employed
do not in my opinion come within
the limits Of success, practically or
scientifically. From my own obser-
walton ana from information which
has come to me and which cannot
put aside. | am satisfied the course
adopted and the plan now being pur-
sued looking to the drainage OF the
Everglades. and through private en-
terprises connected Herewith or
growing out of the same, ur not con-
Quoted on scientific or practical
lines; that large sums of money are
being wasted; that lands in the
IL al, Il h.t l.
Ion. And following the above ut
icranccs from Mr.. Gibbons, he fur
Their says: THE day of settlement
must soon arrive when the State will
be called upon to make good its rep
RESERVATIONS which have enabled
land companies to make sales of land
covered by water" When We sum
up what Mr. Gibbons has said in the
foregoing. it means that in his Opin-
ion. up to the present time. the
drainage project is failure. that it
has been IA Him liam game of
swindling to which the state has
been a party. 4 srcat piece of adj
vcrtising. is this. broad cast over
the country, to the dttrimcnt of the
greatest State in the Union and to
the injury of the greatest enterprise
now in progress in the State. take
issue with him upon such views.
The plan of drainage and reclama-
ton as inaugurated by the lamentcd
Governor Iroward and which was
well under Roadway at the time of
his death. is the plan in a general
way which has been followed and
is today being pushed to completion
with every reasonable dispatch
The work as far as il has progressed
is not failure. as he states. but
unquestionably a success. Large
! sums of money are not being wasted,
as Mr.. Gibbons states, but on the
contrary the expenditures upon the
project are safe guarded by strict
business methods and economy.
This great property is not being
) destroyed as he charges but is in
, stead being developed and conserved.
The drainage operations are being
conducted upon practical and scicnti-
Tic lines. his assertion to the contrary
Notwithstanding refutc Mr.. Glib
bons' intimation tina, the State,
either during Governor Broward's
administration or during the present
administration. has been a party to
any alleged Everglades land frauds.
believed the drainage OF the Ever
glades practicable and feasible from
the time Informed myself upon the
subject shortly after Governor Brow
ard advanced the issue in 1904, and
as the work has advanced | am still
Of that opinion.
For three years have been one OF
those under whose supervision the
drainage work has been carried on
and from a personal knowledge of the
territory. the operations and the de.