The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-04
CARRYING THE WAR
into CARTHAGE
Proposed Activities of One r. A.
Wood of Peerless
Pinellas
Claude L'Engle)

you please, and wherever you please,
about all matters pending and pro-
posed; to- discuss clearly and forci-
bly,, on the floor of the house, every
measure up for consideration, with
out regard to anything whatsoever ex-
to vote on every question absolutely
on its merits, without regard to how
il might affect the interests of any
person, section or association; and
then to get through two or three i'm
portant measures of general scope.
besides looking after local measures,
and, at the same time retain the good
will of everybody, and to be acknowl-
edged as one of the half dozen lead.
ers of the house. is going some" for
an amateur serving his first term in
the legislature. This, however, is the
batting average of F. A. Wood. of Pi-
nellas county, Florida.
| have been more or less intimate
ly acquainted with some fifteen legis-
latures of this and other states,
which 1 have attended in the capacity
OF reporter, in which il was my bus
iness to observe closely and carefully
have some acquaintance with the
house OF representatives OF the United
States congress, where / had to pay
close attention to what was going on.
and / have never met nor known Of
man who came nearer making his
Legislative action register his absolute
conviction of what the right legisla-
tive action for the good OF the whole
state, and all the people in it, than
this same F. A. Wood
/ do not mean by this to say that
he was stubborn or headstrong, and
so in love with his own opinion that
he would listen to nobody who didn't
talk in line with it. What do mean
to say is. that after listening to every
body, and discussing some himeslf
both inside and outside the house, this
Wood person would let no tales of ex-
pediency-or being good fellow" or
this does not affect your county, so
you help me out with this, and will
help you out with one of your bills"
or this is a popular measure, and you
had better get on il for a nice Joy
ride"-keep .him from opposing on the
floor, and voting against. any bill, ev-
cry bill that he thought was a bad
bill, nor from advocating and voting
for every bill that he thought was a
good bill, considering the state Of
Florida as a whole, and all OF the
people in IL as the lowest possible
unit, in his view of every question
submitted And, when a man who
acts like this is never absent from the
house, never misses a roll call or a
committee meeting. and is. therefore,
always ready to express his views
and to cast his vote. it is not a per-
functory expression. but an expression
OF plain fact, to say that he had much
influence on legislation. and that in
fiuence on the side of good.
do not just now recall how many
bills introduced by Wood OF Pinellas.
became laws. / do know. however.
that he prepared. introduced and
worked for until final passage. the bill
creating a state highway commission,
and the bill creating repositories for
county funds when the county treas
urers go out of office. both of which
are now on the statute books. There
may have been more Wood bills that
became laws, but these two / am sure
of, and both OF them are general bills
of real merit. / also know that he
worked hard for the passage OF the
bill for the conservation OF the FISH
and game that belong to the state OF
Florida, and while giving everybody
an opportunity to take advantage OF
these great natural resources. would
have protected the rights OF every
body else in these same natural re
sources, by making everybody who
used them for his own private pur-
poses pay a reasonable amount into
the state treasury for the privilege,
adding largely to the states income,
which everybody in the state has a
share of.
This man Wood sat at the same Ia.
BILE at which Senator Hardee and
sat, in the hotel dining room. during
the whole OF the session Both OF us
were pretty fairly regular attendants
of the sessions of the Kind Words
Club" held every night in the Leon
lobby. was a regular attendant at
the sessions OF the house, and in all
three places / listened to what Mr..
Wood had to say on matters pending
and proposed-and he talked just the
same to all persons. at all times
!. One OF the things that / have been
foolish about for many years is the
''open door" when public business is
being considered l preached it as