The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-04-05
GOV. HARDEE'S MESSAGE
TO THE LEGISLATURE
Continued from Page Twol

) these acts on such ownership.
: AS a geenraI proposition, the beds
: lof all navigable waters, including the
!: place between ordinary high and low
;: water marks, are what as known as
: sovereignty lands and are held by the
, Estate for the benefit of all its citizens.
This principle has come down to Us
; from the early common law and the
|: Icivil law, and, as | understand, is the
I: prevailing rule of this country.
I: The trust with which these lands
: and water bottoms are held being
; governmental in it's nature. in that
they are for the common use and in
: heritance of all, should not be dis
/: tributed or any way impaired. L
:. would, however, recommend the pas
: sage of an act, or acts, that would
; clarity the situation and put the pub
; lie and riparian owners on notice as
; TO what constitutes the legal right of
/: each and all in the premises.
!: Education
: / assume that it will be very read
: lily agreed that the education of the
) children of the state is our most i'm
Portant activity. The achievements
/: of today had their foundation laid in
{: the past We are moulding and
: building today the kind of citizenship
we will have in the future, and this
; process of citizenship-making must
) be largely left to the schools. Every
: child in the state of Florida should re-
!: fceive a good common school educa-
I: Ition.
We have in our educational institu-
lions of higher learning a most va1u-
!: able asset. They must be adequately
supported, and / trust you will give
: them the needed financial assistance.
!: Our greatest problem, however, is
I: with our elementary schools. 1t Is
Z the common schools where the great
, bulk of our future citizenship is be-
) ing trained for the duties of life.
: These common schools, many of them
s situated far out in the country, are
|: playing a large part in building up
|: the social life of the community. The
z elevation of farm life to the highest
y standard it deserves will come only
= through proper education, and / be-
* speak for our common schools your
I: very serious consideration. ] would
I: like to see our schools, as far as pos
z sible, divorced from politics. School
v officials should be chosen not because
D of political pull" but because of
$ their ability to deal sufficiently with
* educational problems.
K: The fathers who framed our con-
W stituion thought enough of the i'm
= Iportance of education to create a de-
partment of education, and place at
its head cabinet officer, the state
SUPERINTENDENT of schools. / am leav-
ing to him the specific recommended
tions. and / trust you will carefully
consider such recommendations as he
may make to you looking to adoption
of forward looking policies along edu-
cational lines.
Anportionment of the Legislative
Membership
The constitution limits the mem
bership of the Senate to 80. and that
Of the House to SO members. 1t re-
uuires a reapportionment of the mem
Ihership at ten-year intervals. The
trainers of our constitution, looking
down the years, saw the probability
of more rapid growth of resources and
increase of population in different Sec
tons of the state, and they wisely
provided that those sections showing
increase of populations should DC
equitablv represented in the legisla'
ture.
We have in one senatorial district
as MANY as six counties, with large
aggregate resources and a population
of nearly 100000. which is rapidly In
creasing. This particular territor!
comprising six counties has but on
senator. and each of the counties on
representative in the lower house
There are other instances which Nigh
be called to the attention of the leg
islature. almost as striking. wherea
there are many other counties IN IN
state. with relatively small popula
tions and resources, which now nav
one senator and two representative:
Apart from the plain mandate OF tn
constitution, requiring reapportlon
ment every ten years, it is just an
fair that the membership Of the leg
islature should be more justly an
eouitablv distributed. / recommen
that the legislature pass a reappol
tionment measure, giving to the va
rious counties of the state just al
portionment of its membership in tn
law-making body.
Agriculture and Live Stock
We have about thirty-five millic
acres of land with only very sma
percentage of it under cultivation
There is no state in the Union whie
can grow proftably so large varle'
Of crops as Florida. We are especla
" adapted to the development OF Il
live stock industry. Our climate
this respect is ideal, and nutrition
grasses for pasturage grow abundar
Iv. The real need of the farmer Is
he found in marketing facilities. '
can grow the crops, but not alwa
5isnose of them to the best advantaf
:: L,+ o,,a SuereSSful method