The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-11-29
UP TO OCALA
Continued from First Page

suits as are to be obtained by the dig
ging of a canal" enquired Mr.. Fine
ran. would a canal be a better
proposition, from a financial point of
view, than five or six-mile haul from
Silver Springs over hard-surfaced
road? Will the canal be of any bene-
fit if Congress does not improve the
Oklawaha river? | am not making an
argument against the project, but |
am presenting to you questions that
the engineers and Congress want an
swered. The engineers act upon the
actual facts in the case"
Mr.. Fineran said that one of the
main reasons why Major Ladue rec
commended against the canal was that
the Oklawaha river was not improved.
He called attention to the fact that
the engineers had already recommend
ed the improvement of the Oklawaha.
Mr.. Fineran will be here several
days gathering data. He made it
plain that any information given him
by merchants and others would be
kept private by him. He said that no
private information would be made
public, pointing out that sometimes
business men hesitate to give infor-
nation lest it be made public prop
erty.
Mayor Robertson was present. He
did not make a talk. He is in favor
of the canal, however. w. D. earn,
chairman of the board of county COM
r1issioners, said that the board favor
ed the project.
81 want to pledge Congressman
Clark the heartiest support of the
county commissioners in this work, .
said Mr.. earn.
Mr.. earn said that as an individual
he was heartily in favor of the canal
being dug. He said he thought it
would pay the city and county to is
sue bonds if necessary to get the
canal. Whether or not the city and
county favored bond issue for the
purpose, Mr.. earn said he did not
know.
President Rogers, in opening the
meeting, explained that Congressman
Clark did not wish to force anything
on his constituents, but wanted tc
know whether or not the people OF
Ocala and Marion county wanted the
canal.
eff the people want the canal, ther
they must get behind it" said Presi
dent Rogers.
Editor Frank Harris, of the Ban
ner, asked whether or not the con
struction of the canal would injurt
Silver Springs in any way. Engineer
Fineran stated that he would have tx
go into the details of the sitautiol
before answering this question defin
itely. He said, however, that it was
almost certain that the building of thu
canal would not injure the springs
Mr.. Harris explained that he asked
the question to make clear this poin
with regard to the project.
w. T. Gary, strong puller for thu
canal, said that ne favored the cana
as a means to obtaining lower freigh
rates, Ocala's greatest need.
President Rogers pointed out tina
Congressman Sparkman was chair
man of the rivers and harbors com
mittee of the House, that Mr.. Spark
man would leave the House mex
March, and that, therefore, now il
the time to act.
Editor Harris thought that the get
ting of the canal would not depend en-
tirely on the volume of traffic nov
coming into and going out of the city
He thought that ultimate results tt
be obtained should be considered BY
the government, and he called atten
ton to Flagler's building the Florida
East Coast Railway into undevelopet
territory.
NJ. Fishel told the meeting thai
when he first came to Ocala, about 81
years ago, Ocala had the larges
wholesale house in the state This
Mr.. Fishel said, was because the
freight rates were favorable, the rail
roads at that time giving rebates
Now the freight rates are crushing
the life out of the city, he said. The
city must have an outlet, he said, anc
he expressed the hope that Congress
man Clark and Congressman Spark
man would be able to obtain relief fol
the merchants of this city.
j. M. Thomas favored concentrating
all effort on the obtaining of the Ok
lawaha river improvements. He
thought that with the river improved
there would be no difficulty about get
ting freight and passengers from Sill
yer Springs to Ocala. Mr.. Thomas
was told that the canal would be z
lever with which to obtain the river
developments. He voted for the
canal, when the approval of the pro-
ject was asked for.
Mr.. Carmichael opposed the canal