The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-05-27
ADKINS COMES
TO DEFENSE OF
INSTITUTIONS
TAKES ISSUE WITH REPRESENTA-
TIVE L. S. LIGHT WHO FOUGHT
BILL APPRoPRIATING~ s4so,ooo
FOR STATE COLLEGES. =.
BY FRANK |. HuFFAkER.

BY FRANK L. HUFFAKER.
Tallahassee, May 26-Representativ
,. c. Adkins, of Gainesville. and
natural champion of FIorida's grea
state university, takes issue with Rep
resentatiye L. S. Light, of Marion, VIII
fought the appropriation bill of S42S.
900 for state colleges, and issued a
my request the following interestin;
defense of the state institutions:
My attention has been directed t.
an article in the Tampa Morning Trib
une, issue of May %, entitled Ligh
showing up some hard facts In writ
ing this reply to Mr.. Lights article,
as chairman of the committee on gov
ernor's message and administrative re
ports, did obtain permission of tn
members of the house to make spec
ial order of all appropriation bill
making appropriations for the Univer
sity of Florida, the Florida state col
also for the Boys Corn Clubs and tn
Girls Canning Clubs; all of which
passed the house and senate withou
being reduced. 1 am glad that 1 as
sisted in securing the passage of thost
bills, and do not wish to say one wore
in explanation of my vote.
MIR. Light must not have noticed
the bills that the above committee has
placed on the calendar. The above
committee has placed on the calendar
twenty-four bills exclusive of the
above appropriation bills. 1t is my in
tention to request the house to make
a special order of all bills embraced
in the governors message, and the
several administrative reports. I might
say further that several members OF
the house have introduced bills en-
bracing parts of the governors mes
sage.
All Short Bills.
THE appropriation bills were all
very short and before the passage,
there was placed on the desk of every
member a copy of the board of con-
trolls report, in which was contained
an itemized statement of every dollar
included in the appropriation bills,
furthermore, l delivered to Mr.. Light,
in person, a typewriter sheet show
ing for what each dollar would be eX-
pended, and every member was famil-
lar with the recommendations of the
board. No one, not even Mr.. Light,
requested that those bills be printed
before their passage. have been, and
am still prepared to furnish any one
with an itemized statement of the en-
tire budget. Strange it is to me- that
any one should ask for these bills to
be printed now. Why should the use
less expense of having these short bills
printed be forced upon the taxpayers.
My committee has introduced twenty
six bills, other than these appropria-
ton bills, and Mr.. Light seems to
think it strange that the committee
the governors message. Strange it is
to be- that Mr.. Light could only find
appropriation bills on the calander. l
would like to ask Mr.. Light if he has
ever requested that any appropriation
bill be printed? If not why did he
not? Why did he not ask that the ap-
preparation bills be printed? His right
and responsibility is the same as any
other member of this house.
When the appropriation bill for the
state institutions of higher learning
was under consideration, Mr.. Light Of
fered an amendment striking out the
appropriation for the law building and
reducing several other items at the
university. l opposed these amend
ments, and with the assistance of
other members succeeded in defeating
all amendments.
THE board of control is composed
of FIVE of the leading citizens of our
state who have made success of
their own business. They have been
appointed from all sections of the
state other than any county in which
one of the state institutions is locat-
ed. They are serving the state faith
fully and well without any compensa-
tion whatever for their time. They are
men of business and ability, and with
the same thoughtfulnesS that they
would conduct their own affairs. For
the success of the institutions they
deemed it necessary to ask this legis-
lature for the appropriation mentioned
in Mr.. Lights article. The board of
control did not ask for one cent more
than they considered absolutely nee
essary for the success of the institu-
tions.
Lights Misstatements.
II quote from Mr.. Lights article as
follows: THE total appropriation for
the board of control for the eight years
it has been in existence, was $780,
622.37, out of which $3.50, 41S.94 was for
buildings and improvements for the
same time; and for public schools in
the state was $1,514,S5770.' Quoting
again: We therefore get only $3.50
for the common school scholar, and al
most 100000 for a college student
This is only another one of the many
instances where Mr.. Light has got
ten his figures badly mixed up. -
IT will grant that he is correct in
saying that the student in the public
schools costs only $3.50 per head for
the salaries of teachers and admins
tration. The total school population
in the state of Florida is 233 365: and
the average daily attendance of all pu-
pills in the public schools is 10S 956
Basing it upon the school population
the public schools get each year $4-
664, $685.; or basing the calculation
upon the average attendance there is
$2,07S.0S0.44 spent annually upon the
public schools: therefore. for the past
eight years, taking Mr.. Lights figures
1t will be found that a greatly larger
sum has been expended upon the pub
lie schools than he has represented
am reliably informed that the state
of Florida during the year of 1912
spent something over $2,00o,o 600 for
teachers salaries and administration;
and when you add to this the improve
ments and new buildings erected, the
gross error of Mr.. Lights article can
readily be seen. / can mention sew
eral counties in which during the past