The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-07-20
MANUFACTURING
CAMPAIGN LIE MATERIAL

Reliable information has been re-
ceired in Gainesville that a movement /
[ is on foot to construct a canal from .
/ the city Of Ocala to Silver Springs, in +.
/ Marion county. This is intended to /
/ give q navigable waterway from the I
lefty Of CcaIa to connect with the st. 7.
Johns river to Jacksonville. Only F.
eleven miles Of canal viii be neces- (
/ sary, according to persons from that .
] city who were here Friday.
4 It is proposed to have Marion coun-
!. ty and the city Of Ocala join together
/ In paying the cost Of the canal, issu-
ing bonds to provide funds.
Silver Springs is one Of the most
wonderful water courses OF the state,
being navigable for many miles and
being the source of the Oklawaha
river connecting with the St. Johns
river. A canal connecting Ocala with
the springs would mean year round
! transportation from that city by wa
ter, since the Oklawaha and st.
Johns are open every month in the
Iyear.
Prominent business men in Ocala
are said to be enthusiastic over the
proposed canal and efforts win be
made to have the proposition taken
up at an early date.-Gainesville Sun.
| When we saw the foregoing in the
Sun, we thought nothing Of it, except
that some reporter had picked up
what he believed to be a good item.
We noted the paragraph which said,
ct is proposed to have Marion coun-
ty and the city of Ocala join together
in paying the cost Of the canal, issu-
ing bonds to provide funds" but sup
: posed it was kin to the other mis-
statement, which said it was eleven
miles from the Springs to Ocala. We
thought the whole thing was only an
instance Of a rather i'll informed but
? enthusiastic reporter trying to write
l a piece of boost stuff for a neighbor
t town, and passed up the errors in
/ consideration Of the evident good
r will.
I However, Monday, an astute friend
called our attention to the fact that
the same story appeared in the Jack
D sonville Metropolis and Tampa Trib-
: une under the Gainesville date line;
t he also called to our attention the ac-
E tivities of a certain "Bloxham county"
: politician; and straightway the whole
E scheme became obvious.
Z. The said Bloxham county politician
!. went to Gainesville, interviewed the
S Sun reporter and under the pretense
:. of giving him good item, and one
e kindly meant for Marion county and
= Ocala, induced him to print the story
y in the Sun and also sent it to the
Jacksonville and Tampa papers. This
"B7oxham" man has gone back to his
: town bailiwick, and taking his own
story, manufactured by himself, is
circulating it among the voters as
campaign material, alleging that
Ocala is planning a scheme to tax all
Marion county to cut a canal from
the city to Silver Springs. Of'course,
in making and circulating this state
ment, he has the approval and active
cooperation of the men who expect
to benefit by the construction of the
'ncw county"
The Star will ask the honest and
truthful voters of Marion and Levy
counties, what do they think of a
man, or a bunch of men, who will
manufacture and circulate such lie
How MUCH confidence can they put in
any statement made by such an un-
scrupulous coterie?
1t is well known in Ocala, has beer
published in the Ocala papers many
times, that there is in this city 3
small but earnest organization Oh
business men who are promoting the
plan of cutting a canal from Silver
Springs to Ocala. There is very lit
tie chance this plan will succeed al
any time in this generation. A large
majority of the business men anC
citizens generally view the undertake
ing with Indifference, and some thinl
it chimerical. Since the war started
this scheme, like several other plan:
for improvement, has been laid aside
realizing that it is impossible to dc
anything with it now.
The gentlemen who desire to GU
the Silver Springs canal have spoker
of trying to induce the city to issue
bonds for the enterprise, but the!
know, and everybody else knows, tha
there is no possible chance that the
city viii do anything of the sort a
present, or for years to come.
AS for Marion county bonding il
combination with the city, nobody
has proposed anything of the sort
Marion county wouldn't do anything
of the sort, if for no other reason
because it couldn't. Issuing bonds by
county for such a purpose would b,
against the law.
Again, we ask our old friends O.
Northwest Marion: Do they feel lik,
intrusting their public affairs to meI
who viii use such dishonorable tao
ties as manufacturing 4 lie ont al