The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24
MANY FLORIDA LAND FRAUDS OPERATED Federal Government Com mencing to Take a Hand FLORIDA IS INVOLVED |
 Investigation Into What State of Florida Has Had to Do With
 Matter May Become of
 National Importance
FLORIDA IS INVOLVED
By RopERIcK CLIFFORD


 is easily separated from his money. AL most everybody has in some secret draw CT or box beautiful purple certificates ev- idenee of just how much his investments l will not be worth some day, and all or l this leads to the point where the great and good Department of Agriculture ana the omnipotent government of the couh- try take a hand in what some investors
 declare to be the most shiningly success
 full scheme for extracting money from
 the fraternity of the gullible and that
 scheme is Florida lands.
 From the time that sleek salesman with conversation and arguments conhned to the superlative in adjectives, hrst solo the farmer at Oshkoah shares in the 1 scheme for the propagation Of allSators 1 in the swamps of the EVerglades, to the 's launching of thousands of different lrult land and reclamation plans recently, IS
 a far cry and just how much money mas l heen reaped by promoters not overly con seientious can be approximated only Dy the universal desire in every man TOT 'tsomething for nothing.
 The United States postal authorities can l take care of plans like the alllgators prop- 1 agation scheme usually through fraud or | eovernnent to inquire into the pract-
 eabili+x, of such schemes as the draining l of tbe Florida Everglades and their trans
 6yuration into what Paradise was pelore | Milton wrote Lost @fter 1t. If this IS not feasible the public will be adequately I warned to put time lock on us coIiers at the mere mention of most or the flor- ida schemes. l., ,nsti- tuting an investigation of such schemes l,as is rise in a governmental state ot n,5nd closelv related to that indlvlduai i attitude which makes municipal lneorlass 1 o s,,l,,ms necessary, the establishment or 1 institutions for the weak mlhued iilcul.- hent. and which leads Andrew Carhesle 1 to give away libraries and Nathah strauss na,il. laboratories Sonse folks must be a,,arded against themselves and invest n,ants in luridly pictured stock certln- oatas are just as bad, statistics snow as Q craving for liquors or the idiosyncracles of the weak minded. ,,,.,,.,, Al,nost everything has an agricultural asnect and regulating the crops Of greens crown from the fertile soil or guihpiliSS, might we'll fall into the proVlnce ol ..Tama. linn Wilson, the government gentleman farmer. p,,t aeida from the general aspect of inc case the charge made to the Depart ment of Agriculture that the state or rlo,- ida has through the suppression or Iacts l ooncerning the Everglades loaned US name l to the victimizaton of more than oo,Vvv nersons throughout the united otates' has brought about a pending lnVes.lsd.
 tion bv the committee of the House or T, r,enresentatiyes having to do with the ex- nenditures of the Department of Asrlcul-
 ture ,,o
 The investigation, which promises to De-
 come one of national importance, was
 brought about by the recent action or 12.0o purchasers of EverSiade lands rom | inc Florida Fruit Land company Who pe- gan suit tos prevent that company uoIn | F;'.. ss-..;i,,,ting money obtained from buyers | until promised Improvements anu N' | of the land is made.
 l An infunction was obtained and hear
 inc on this order is expected to bring to light the whole Florida real estate move i ment which has figured so extensively Tn
 investments in the past few years.
 Just what will come of the matter IS en- tireIy beyond forecast at the present tune, 1 if is declared. however, to the committes
 of the House of Representatives that the l iand eonnanies in Florida have as yet | taken no real steps toward fulfilling their | oblgations to drain the swamp land
 TTpon their future action. of course, de- | nends whether or not the Florida land l deals will be the greatest investment or | greatest
 More than million acres of land arc connected with the activities of the pro-
 motors. There are several companies who
 are pushing the land on the market. There | is hardly a city of any size of the United States that has not in it's business district a show window filled with the 1olackest of loamy soil from which is sprouting young
 cocoanut trees, banana plar1ts, orange and lemon trees, while about them are piled stalks of sugar cane.
 I This is the visual evidence that the sori os Florida is perhaps the greatest fruit
 producing medium known. But the gov ernment experts and the men on the House committee who are interested in
 this matter declare that the burden of
 proof will rest with the land companies
 to show that they can, and have. re-
 claimed Everglade land to make 1t pro-
 suetive as the naturally arable soil of
 Florida
 Then too the committee of the House
 of Representatives wants to scrutinize the Z, part that the Department of Agriculture, : innocently or otherwise is playing in this
 land deal.
 , The land boomers and their agents
 charge the department with having SUD- pressed the report of Maj. J. O.. Wright engineer of the department, who was as signed to investigate the Everglade lands , This report the boomers claim. was gen orally favorable to drainage project, and to the eVerglade lands as investments
 The other side, that on which the invest
 ors who hold the beautiful stock certif-
 cates stand claim that the department , has suppressed information which would
 have been invaluable in warning invest
 OTIS and saving hundreds and thopsands of dollars.
 Senator Fletcher of Florida, during tht I last session, obtained the publication o f the Wright report as a public document
 but that did not stop the clamor from , both sides, each of which declared that . before publication the Department of Az ricunure people blue pencied lots of ma $ teral from the report. Just what was cu
 out, 1t is said. depends entirely on tn,
 point of view of the critic-whether he j investor or boomer It is also charged f that as soon as the document was. issue, D the entire output promptly disappeared
 and it is now next to impossible to obtail copy of if.
 o' The general temper of the congressoua investigators is that the real facts con
 cerning the Everglade lands must com'
 out. If the land no@ being sold to thou
 sands of investors is "saw grass mucl land" suspectibe to drouth, and requir { ing fertilization. as has been charged. th
 thousands of investors with the habit o 9 expecting quick returns must be warned , On the other hand, if the Everglad lands can be drained. and if the proposi
 lion is economically a sound one, then 1 should be vindicated
 n So the present session of Congress , going to open up the whole matter, am n l give both the investors and the land com 1 pany people a chance to make good