The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-04-04
WHY WAS sMooT IN 1T?

mousse, GraN L. ieeiP, ana rank T.
Singleton. in connection with the so
called Everglades frauds in Florida
The charge against them is presenting
false vouchers against the Govern.
ment.
Mr.. Elliott was head of the drainage
investigation of the Department of
Agriculture. What he did. in fact, was
this. Without his knowledge. funds APP
propriated for the service of which Mr..
Elliott was the head and Mr.. More
house was his assistant. had been re-
| duced through the use of the Depart.
ment moneys for other purposes. The
accountant in charge suggested to them
that they 6ud someone willing to ad-
vance the money necessary to pay the
! bills which had already been legiti-
mately contracted, and that this person
should be reimbursed by appointing
him with an official salary under the
department, allowing him to continue
in Office long enough to recover the
amount Of money necessary to reim'
| burse him for what he had advanced
This had been done upon the sugges-
tion OF the accountant, and In that way
payment which should have been
made ont Of the appropriation of the
given year was made out of that of
the succeeding year. The same device
had been resorted to in the department
for years past, There was abundant
precedent for this device, as claimed by
Golfers Weekly, from which we give
this statement Of the facts, and which
devotes two pages TO an account of the
Everglades matter and Secretary Will
son s connection with it.
From this, it appears that Mr.. j, o.
in the Government employ iuvestigat
ing the drainage OF the Everglades.
Early in 1910, he resigned to go into
the employ of the Florida Internal I'm
provement Board, which was undertali.
ing to do the actual work of reclaim
ing the lands Of the Everglades. Wright
made report, which was not approved
by Mr.. Elliott, the head of the lnves-.
tigatiop. who made changes In 1t TO
bring it, as he claimed, to the standard
Of accuracy. AS changed, it was sub
mitted to Secretary Wilson and its
publication authorized, Prior TO its Is
sue, however, objection was made to 1t
by some one, and Mr.. Elliott undertook
contained statements unfavorable TO
the prospects Of the drainage compan
les. but it was found impossible to get
it printed in time, and so a circular,
also unfavorable to the interests Of the
drainage promoters, was issued. But
the promoters objected TO the circelar,
and Secretary Wilson ordered it cup
pressed
Then there began contest about a
bulletin which the Agricultural Depart.
ment was 10 issue on the Everglades
question. The Florida promoters had
the backing of the Governor of that
State. and its Senator'S; but Represent
ative Clark of Florida claimed that the
matter was premature, and ought not
to be sprung as a practical proposition
on the people of the country, or the
lands offered for sale until the water |
was drained from them. He called |
upon Secretary Wilson, and Wilson is |
quoted by Mr.. Clark as saying that he
was not running his department for the |
protection of fools who bought stuff |
all over the country without seeing it. y
The promoters OF the land-selling in the
Everglades persisted in their efforts to
get the reports from the Department |
Of Agriculture the way they wanted |
them. The Wright report, said to be
misleading, was printed IN its original
and inaccurate form without regard to |
Mr. Elliott IS revision. The supervising
Office in the department undertook a
new revision of that report, and this |
revision was sent to the Joint printing
committee of Congress. Secretary VIII
son had been informed that the report
was misleading. even in this form. He
made no protest, but allowed it to be
for publication. But the land
sellers were still not satisfied, and Sen
ator Fletcher directed Mr.. Wright to
restore the report TO his original and
inaccurate form. Wright complied, and
the Government printing office issued
the bulletin as disapproved by the De-
partmept, the first copy reaching Sec
retary Wilson in December. The ex-
perts of the Department found that ali
Of the old false and misleading state
nents with reference to the drainage Of
the Everglades had been restored. Sec
retary Wilson knew OF that fact, "but
he neither made protest against the
publication of the document in its de-
ceptive and erroneous form, nor did he,
so far as the public is informed, utter
one word of complaint OF suggest the
OF the publication. y The
report, therefore, as printed. is salts
factory to tho everglade "boomers,
and all efforts by the critical en-