The Palatka news and advertiser., 1917-01-05
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
WITNESS INAUGURATION
Continued from Page No. ~

n Continued from Page No. ~
and Him, and make you the Governo
l desire to be, and like Solomon O
old | lift my voice to the Suprem
Architect of the universe today fo
}. these great gifts that l so much desir
and need, and as he said so say ]
: Master am only little child befor
Thee. l know not how to rule thi
great people, which is like the dus
of the earth in number Give me, O
q Lord God, l pray Thee, wisdom anc
: knowledge, that may Judge this Tn,
. people and rule them Alright"
Citizens of my beloved and adopted
State, there are many problems tc
confront US in the next four years, and
with your help and confidence, and
with the mutual respect and consider
alton for each other by the Legisla-
ture the senate and the chief execu-
tive, we hope to master many of these
perplexing conditions.
Drainage of Everglades.
The most important thing facing
Florida today is the drainage of the
Everglades, and if the incoming ad-
mlnlstration can succeed in doing this
in the next four years, an event of
as much moment will have transpired
in the history of Florida as the open
ing of the Panama Canal was to the
world. The first step in this direc-
ton, as see it, would be an awaken
ing of the people of Florida to the
greatness of the project I have re-
Gently returned from a trip through
the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee,
which showed me the immense rich
ness of the section to be drained. |
10 my mind, this is now the richest |
section undeveloped on earth today,
and so rich is the land, and so fertile
its quality, that the land itself might
be taken up and shipped just as it is
as fertilizer to the poorer sections
of the State and the Union. This
rich, black muck land runs six or
eight feet deep throughout nearly the
extent of the millions of acres. and
produces the greatest crops I have
seen anywhere in all my travels.
One trouble about the matter is. the
people living in other sections of the
State are not in sympathy with the
drainage of the Everglades as they
should be. This we desire to devel-
op by a speaking tour through the
State at no distant future, so that
spirit of cooperation and enlistment
may be awakened everywhere. The
first great project after this will he
the floating of the first (about) S3,-
100000 worth of bonds, and after that
81 100000 more, which should put the
whole section largely in a condition
IF cultivation. and after the first crop
IS made on this land you may look {
,or prices to soar until the fabulous
prices of California will be nothing /
to what this, the richest land on ,
Earth, will bring. | guess I had bet {
er stop before you call me a prophet {
Cutting Out Waste. {
The next thing that will claim our :
attention will be the cutting out. of
i'll waste in the administration of
State institutions and industries. 1t :
S an established fact that when the !
anne officers continue too long at !,
heir Jobs, that they let in extrava-
'ance here and there, until by and by :,
.reat methods of waste are establish Y
d, and the State loses many thous- l
nds of dollars per year because of :,
ack of system upon the part of those y
hose business it is to see after her II
fairs. Our idea will be to effect =
nanges in these matters by rotation =
| office and putting in new men as y
ar as we can do so practically; and ~ :,
case these men do not make good, -
ut them out and put others in until s =.
e find the right men. ~ y,
Giving Board of Equalization is
More Power. w
The next thing that will claim our
tention will be giving the Board of