The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-09-05
aNEYER saw THE wooDPILEr'

The CIcala Star uses full column
and half in a laudable defense of
DR.. McClane, the deposited superin-
tendent of the boys Industrial school
at Mariana. It almost justifes ey-
erything the doctor is removed for
st.ve one, and that one it never even
mentions, much less admits is there.
That is the buying of those tracts of
land, selling the wood to the state,
taking the money for the wood and
using III to pay for the land and take
title in his name and that of his
ssistant-partner in the deal.
The Star says it ''has known for a
long time, a year at least, that DIR.
McClane was in a bad condition phys
ically, due to over work" 1t admits he
is mot good business man." and it
declares, "the boys at Mariana have
been used before to work farms in the
vicinity of the school. and nothing
was done about it." Referring to the
boys crushed in the clay-pit and the
one drowned, it says, "He showed no
signs Of being callous or Indifferent to
suffering while he lived here" and it
then iulstifies the dismissal on the
ground that LACK of harmony with
the board of commissioners is suffi-
Gent reason for the dismissal of any
appointed official"
But the Star entirely overlooks the
fact that the deposed superintendent
and his assistant sold to the state
$3,32O.33 worth of wood cut by the
boys without pay from lands bought
by the two officials in their own name
within sixteen months, and the said
wood was charged at SO much pei
"cord' when it was only estimated
by the wagon, or truck load; and the
said 9.32O.33 was applied to the pur-
chase price of the said lands for the
superintendent and his assistant
Tampa Tribune.
We beg the Tribune's pardon.
We did not mention the woodpil'
because we did not know the Tribun,
wanted it mentioned.
When it criticised our article, it die
not mention several things we shoul'
have liked to have mentioned.
AS Rupert Hughes says in one o
his recent masses of sugarcoate'
nastiness, ave can't have every
thing"
We presume the gentleman VIII
wrote the Tribune's article is a train
cd newspaper man. If he is, he mus
know that no journalist in writing a
article based on a news story is eS
pected to reproduce said story entire
The Tribune doesn't do it.
The Star doesn't do it.
And no other big newspaper does i
Why should the Star have reprinte
that particular item, any more tina
any other item in the story?
The Star received from the Asse
ciated Press Wednesday and publishe
the charges in toto of the board agains
DIR. McClane. They covered tn
ground. If the Star had received
copy of the charges in seriatim earl
Wednesday morning. it would hay
printed them in full But with fou
of the biggest papers in the stat
pouring their news into the town &
the rate of seven or eight hundre
copies day, the Star would be foo
ish il it reprinted what they had a
ready told.
We have been in the newspap'
business nearly forty years, and v
have never yet seen any paper spres
itself on a story already published.
Our readers being already famiiii
with the story. and a pressure of,
them, more important local news I
our columns. we didn't reprint
Thursday the Mariana story.
I'm the article criticised by the Il
bune, we didn't so much defend [
McClane as call attention to matte
not mentioned and probably n
known except to his neighbors, one
whom the Star is. Why shouldn't t
Star tell of the good that it kno'
is in man who was its neighbor a.
friend for a dozen years
The Star did not attack the boa