The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1915-07-08
The Times Evades the Point


tackS" in its answer to The Her
n. AIDS editorial of last week, il
: which The Herald sought to de
n. fend the state officials from un
c. just reflections cast upon then
- by the Times in its discussions O.
:. the Everglades land transactions
Re The gist of the defence attempted
= was and is simply this: All parties
l. to the deals in Everglades lands
= were deceived purely and solely
= because of the unfortunate mis-
calculation Of the cost of draining
: the lands. This applies to the
!, state officials, the big land buyers
and the individual small purchas-
e ers.
e The Times admits that the state
t (officials) contracted to spend
,, for drainage the money received
from the sale of the lands" The
officials believed that this money
would be sufficient for the pur-
pose; the big land companies be-
lieved it, and they advertised and
sold the lands in good faith. The
money was used according to con-
tract, but it proved utterly insult
ficient. The cost had not been ac-
curately estimated, but now it is
known what the approximate cost
will be, bonds have been issued to
pay it, the drainage will be car
rled on to completion and all pur-
chasers will enjoy a fulfillment of
their contracts.
The Times blames the officials
for not prohibiting or preventing
the big buyers from advertising
and selling to small purchasers
with the assurance that the lands 1
would be drained, but how could I
the officials do this when both Il
they and the big buyers honestly {
believed that they would be drain Il
ed? Indeed, they were being r
drained; but the money gave out
drainage stopped, and then "the
devil was to pay" G
We hold to our faith in the hon C
esty and integrity of our state of. b
ficials, faith that is not influence IN
ed, as the Times intimates, by the il
fact that this editor holds an Of D
ice under the present administra- W
ion. h
The Times interjects into this il
discussion the alleged remissness a
II the state officials in connection
With the reform school horror and
he wrecking of the Florida Life ca
Insurance Company, the Florida tn
ire and Casualty Insurance and re
ne Commercial Bank of jackson ha
lille and demands to know wbv ex
he Herald does not join the state wi
ress III denouncing the officials re-
n not having taken measures to be
revent these great scandals and
lnish the perpetrators.
AS to the reform school disas- A.,
r, the legislature has fixed the h.,
sponsibility and that scandal is ~.
closed incident. The III
ny blame attaching to any state IN
officer is ex post 20
cto and consists in the charge
at Governor Trammell condoned 4.
lmlnal negligence in the reform
hool managers by refusing to re- -
I'VE them from office. NC
The great financial rescalities in ~
cksonville and the responsible c,,~
OF the state officials in connec-
N Herewith are matters about
lich The Herald candidly ac- /
owledges that it is not sufi- way
nifty informed to express an O. sect
hon; but, if the state officials roa
IN any wise to blame for these and
ngs and for failure to prose spec
tie the thieves, The Herald is
ldy to listen to any evidence of p
'lr culpability. Doubtless the and
NOR of the press will soon force tina,
facts to public view, and then edit
e Herald will be able to form, and
d express an opinion. ceiv
We will say this: that. from
observation of the course of /
flnn To Hast