Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-02-23
of Florida Everglades
Would Result in COmpicatiOnS
Millions of Acres Sold "by Gal
lon' Brings Exposure of
Scandal.

JaCrNSO0s FllLEJ fid.. REQ. So'--lEt
Florida land scandal that has broker
In Washington has beer brewing II
Florida for many months.
Today In Florida there are million:
OF acres of swamp lands that are the
graveyard OF thousands of small "rainy
day" fortunes. In the "gator ponds
the muck lands the Cypress
swan1ps," the palmetto prairies" lie
buried the life-savings and old-agt
hopes of thousands of families.
The shame of all this is that the Uni
ted States government officials knew
what was going on and did not expose
1t. Secretary Wilson, Of President
Tabt's cabinet, did not raise a hand to
stop it.
Indeed, on the other hand, the land
men show a favorable report of sixteen
pages on the evergiade lands, where
the. swindie has been the greatest. pur-
porting to come from the government
The government mas never forced them
to withdraw it.
It is a significant fac that c. @. Eli
OFT, chief of drainage. under Wilson.
and A. d. Morehouse. assistant to ELI
OFT. who have been removed by Will
sons order, had lone all In their power
TO suppress a favorable report on the
everglade lands which has been made
by ]. o. Wright. q government sur
veyor, who, after his official task. was
completed, was hired by the leaders in
the everglades drainage project.
Postoffice inspectors, who have re-
Gently been put to work investigating
the Florida land bubble, declare that
in many land Offices they find men who
at other times they have found con
nected with stock mining fakes.
or course this doesn't mean that all
Florida land dealers are crooks or that
that thousands Of people are paying
for land" that should be sold by the
gallon.
When you go to Fort Lauderdale
and two or three other small towns on
the edge of the everglades, you find
the centres Of the chief argument in
favor OF everglade lands. These spots
are in the district that is reclaimed;
they are on the rim of the everglades,
the high shore line of the swamp, and
they are marvelously rich. To these
places come the delegates of the
FLORIDA Land club"
This land club business Is a clever
trick Of many of the everglade land
companies. In various cities the COM
panles merge their prospective GUS
toners into clubs and these clubs elect
one of their members to go to Florida
and look at the everglade lands.
When one Of these delegates reaches
Fort Lauderdale or the other centres
he is astonished by what Is shown him.
OF course, all the Fort Lauderdale and
other good river land is taken, but he
is shown over it nevertheless. Then he
is taken onto the roof Of a building and
given a view of the swamp. Before
him stretches the great morass of eight
or nine million acres, further than his
eye can see.
They're digging canals almost as
large as rivers out there says the
land man. 'The State is doing the
work and as soon as they are all dug,
which will be July l. 1919, we are going
to knock the dams out of them and
this whole stretch of swamp which
you see before you, seventy-seven
miles long and twenty-five miles wide,
will suddenly be converted into the
richest, blacklist farm land in the
world"
The delegate usually falls for It,"
But neither he nor the members Of the
Florida Land Club" back home buy
any land outright. Indeed, not. The
land men are too clever to do anything
in the grating line SO brash as that.
Most of the companies who have plots
In the everglades and who work at
different points along the edge of the
great graveyard of small fortunes, sell
only a contract to deliver Ian to the
customer as soon as the everglades
are drained.
If the State fails to drain the ever
glades the land men can say, well,
it's not our fault. 1t was the duty of
the State, not ours, to do the drain
ing" Ten dollars down and $40 a
month" is one of the commonest adj
vertisements broadcasted over ths
land. T~wenty-acre plots are said to be
the popular everglade farm"
Politics started the everglade deal.
In 1850 the United States government
turned the everglades over to the
State of Florida. In 1904 Napoleon
Bonaparte Broward, now deceased.
who was a filibusterer in the Cuban
war, ran for governor of Florida on
the issue of retaining the everglades
nj thereby e%nriching the State. He