The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-05-18
THE FAIRFIELD PICN1C

of the various candidates and to en-
joy the un-Hooverized and bountiful
dinner. 1t was the biggest gathering
thus far in the itinerary of the can
didates, and the lovely weather, the
delightful ride over one of the best
roads in the county, and the large
number of ladies present made. it a
very enjoyable affair indeed.
In the absence of Mr.. NJ. L. Payne,
the duties of chairman were attended
to by Mr.. Jones, and none Of the
candidates had any kick to make over
the graceful manner in which he in
PRODUCED them to the audience, or his
generosity or hberality in the matter
of time.
The first victim, or, / should say,
speaker, was Mr.. n. A. Fort, candi-
date for seat in the legislature. He
commenced by giving short history
of the work done by the board of
county commissioners in the fourteen
years he has been member of that
body; how the tax had been reduced
half mill, only to be raised again by
the state another two mills. He told
how taxes were levied and how the
money was spent, paid his respects to
various commissions which were
species of graft; hotel inspectors,
drawing down large salaries and Civ.
ing little or nothing in return; the
market bureau run at cost of $15,-
900 per year was another leak at the
bunghole of the barrel of taxes the
people of Marion are called upon to
furnish, and here he gave Brother
Light nudge by declaring him the
author of the bill 1egalizing the bu>
reau. The state road commission re-
ceived some little attention, as Mr..
Fort declared he had tried for three
years to get the members to visit
Ocala and even tho they had set a
time more than once to be here, they
have always faile dto show up, and
he was at loss to find any excuse
for the existence of the commission.
In speaking of the railroad commits
sion, he declared that the most ardu-
Gus part of their duties was to draw
their salaries. He was in favor of
abolishing the commission during the
war, as the railroads are now under
federal jurisdiction. The tax commits
sion he said was now six years old
and might be good thing if it would
only do something. In speaking of
taxes on land, he said the highest
valuation was $21 per acre and the
lowest 81 cents, and that if taxes
L.
law, there would be no need of the
county commissioners having to bor-
row money to tide them over, and
that all laws become pernicious and
dangerous if not enforced.
Mr.. S. j. McCully was the next
speaker. He spoke along the same
lines as Mr.. Fort as to the uselessness
of the various commissioners, and
said that $4,000 paid annually to each
member of the railroad commission
should be saved for the taxpayers. He
also declared that a county the size
of Marion should have whole sena-
tor of its own instead of only half a
senator, as at present.
Mr.. w. j. Folks had a platform
built of lumber from the western side
of the county, which he declared had
had no representative in the legisla-
ture for the fifty years he had lived
there, and while they paid their share
of every mile of road, crossroad, lane
or junction on the east side of the
county, there had never been one
mile of hard road built on his side,
so he wanted to go to the legislature
to see that the west side got a square
deal.
L. S. Light as usual gave a startling
array of facts and figures. also the
things that had been accomplished in
the three terms that he has had the
honor of representing Marion county
at Tallahassee. And while he was
as fit as ever to hold up the rights of
old Marion. he wished to impress on
the voters present that if they could
find better man for the job it was
up to the voters to get him.
Ben Raysor declared he had al
ways stood for everything in the way
of progress, even including woman
suffrage. He wanted the primary law
either abolished or reconstructed, and
told how much money was spent to
protect cattle and hogs but nothing
for orphans, and placed higher
value on the orphans than on the cat
tie.
Mr.. Crosby made very interesting
speech on work done by him in the
various offices he has filled, and de-
Tended his action in bringing in a
bill to add $3.50 per month to the
pensions paid to Confederate vete-
rams, and gave the inside facts in re-
gard to raising money for the eradi-
cation of the citrus canker evel. He
wound up his speech by paying a
splendid tribute to his opponent.
Mr.. c. B. Howell called the citrus
canker bill species of class legisla-
ton, and therefore unjust.
Messrs. Scofeld and Stringer, can
didates for the office of state attor-
ney, hvened things up considerably
after dinner and Mr.. L. w. Duval
dc ccIz1 c~oooL