FLORIDA. 



301 



nullity in parliamentary usage," had occurred, 

 , nt t'i lU-pmu the act of its legal force. 

 1 hiring this extraordinary session, the matter 

 :iv> stigatod by a committee of the Senate 

 appointed for that purpose. The result may 

 IK' briefly stated as follows: On February 17, 

 1870. a bill, entitled "An Act in relation to 

 \irricultural Land Scrip," passed both the 

 : o by a vote of yeas 14, nays none and 

 Assembly by a vote of yeas 25, nays 2. 

 This bill was not signed, not even enrolled 

 u fur \vard, it being yet in the hands of the 

 Committee on Enrolled Bills. A bill contain- 

 ing the same subject-matter, entitled "An Act 

 to authorize the Governor to ask for and re- 

 tho Agricultural Land Scrip from the 

 I'nited States," was enrolled and signed by the 

 proper officers of the two Houses as well as by 

 the Governor, and then filed at the office of 

 the Secretary of State. No bill under such a 

 title had ever passed either House of the Legis- 

 lature; so that the bill passed was not en- 

 rolled nor signed, and the bill enrolled and 

 signed was not passed. The Governor based 

 his action on the latter bill, and the Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction informed the 

 Secretary of the Interior at "Washington how 

 matters stood. 



In his message dated March. 3, 1870, tho 

 Governor touches on other matters of public 

 interest, recommending additional legislation 

 in regard to a school-tax, as the law author- 

 izing it had been repealed, and great confusion 

 ensued therefrom. He uges " the change from 

 a military government to a civil government 

 in control of the penitentiary," and recom- 

 mends " the passage of a law prohibiting any 

 further issue or indorsement of bonds for in- 

 ternal improvement," limiting the grant of 

 State aid " to lines of railroad from the Atlan- 

 tic ports of Florida, west to Pensacola, and 

 south to Tampa, Charlotte Harbor, and Key 

 West, * * * which," he says, " will give us all 

 necessary facilities for the rapid and profitable 

 development of the State, without regard to 

 our financial character, and without burden to 

 the people." His chief object, however, is to 

 free the State from her financial embarrassment 

 and to redeem her credit. 



During this short session the most impor- 

 tant act passed was the Funding Bill, entitled 

 "An Act relating to the Finances of the 

 State," intending apparently to execute the 

 plan suggested by the Governor in his mes- 

 sage. The bill authorized the issue of six per 

 cent. State bonds of various denominations, 

 dated July 1, 1870, payable at the capital of 

 the State, at the office of the Treasurer, the 

 principal within thirty years after date, the 

 interest somi-annually, both in gold; the 

 amount of the bonds to cover " the entire in- 

 debtedness of the State of every kind and char- 

 acter, whether bonded debt or otherwise, up 

 to and including the first day of July, A. D. 

 1870," according to an exhibit which the 

 Comptroller of the State was enjoined to make. 



This act was vetoed by the Governor. The 

 bill having reached him after tho Legislature 

 had adjourned, he embodied the veto in a 

 communication dated June 10, 1870, addressed 

 to the Secretary of State, with instruction to 

 lay it before tho Legislature at the next regular 

 session. His disapproval rests on several rea- 

 sons, all concurring to show that, far from 

 remedying the evils which the State is labor- 

 ing under, the bill, if its provisons were al- 

 lowed to take effect, would work injuriously to 

 tho State. He characterizes tho act as follows: 

 " This bill is of most extraordinary character, 

 and such as it seems to mo could not, under 

 existing circumstances, have passed an intelli- 

 gent deliberative body, with an understanding 

 of its provisions, and a full appreciation of its 

 effects. * * * The principle of the bill is ob- 

 viously at war with the purpose and intentions 

 of the Legislature in providing for funding tho 

 public debt, and reaching a cash basis." 



A Republican State Convention assembled at 

 Gainesville on the 17th of August, to nominate 

 a member of Congress, and a Lieutenat-Gov- 

 ernor of the State, to be candidates at the elec- 

 tion on November 8th. The nomination for 

 Congress was given to Josiah T. Walle, a col- 

 ored Senator in the State Legislature. For 

 Lieutenant-Governor S. T. Day was nominat- 

 ed, who is not a native of Florida. The fol- 

 lowing platform was prepared by the Execu- 

 tive Committee, and announced under the sig- 

 nature of its chairman as follows : 



Evolved, That tho Republican party of Florida 

 hereby reaffirms those sacred principles of equal jus- 

 tice for all men, regardless of race or color, upon 

 which the Republican party was founded, for which 

 it has labored, and by which it must stand or fall : 

 that it is opposed to all class distinctions, and to all 

 class legislation; that it recognizes, in its fullest 

 sense, the brotherhood of man, and aims to secure 

 for all men equality before the law, and an equal 

 opportunity for the quiet and unquestioned enjoy- 

 ment of all the rights, privileges, and honors of citi- 

 zenship. 



Resolved, That the children of the people arc the 

 wards of the State, and therefore the most liberal 

 provision for their education must be made ; the com- 

 mon-school system of the State, already so success- 

 fully inaugurated, must bo perfected and enforced, 

 and the school-tax, required by the constitution and 

 laws, must be promptly collected and faithfully ap- 

 plied to that purpose, and to that purpose alone. 



Resolved, That retrenchment and economy should 

 be rigidly practised in every department of the 

 government : that every State and county officer 

 should be held to a strict personal accountability for 

 the faithful performance of his duties, and for the 

 safety and proper application of the public property 

 and public moneys intrusted to his care ; thatomcers 

 and representatives, appointed or elected, should be 

 honest, intelligent, and competent men ; that tho 

 taxes should be made as light as the reasonable ex- 

 penses of the State will permit, and that they should 

 bo promptly and faithfully collected ; and, i'n all re- 

 spects, that the State government should be adminis- 

 tered honestly and uprightly, and with a sole regard 

 to the interests of the people. 



Resolved, That the proper development of the al- 

 most inexhaustible resources of this State, the settle- 

 ment of its now wild and unproductive lands, and 

 the increase of its producing and tax-paying popula- 

 tion, require a largo and immediate immigration ; 



