| Show REPLY TO J 0 KNUDSON ON FLORIDA to the editor we find an article published lu in your pa paper per regarding the report of 0 john C knudson who went to palm beach florida as a representative of a club ot of contract holders in the palm beach farms company the moral this article appears to point is stay at home in utah and dont so go to florida we certainly agree that a person who is prosperous and contented in utah or elsewhere had better stay there and it is only natural that a local newspaper should make the most of an argument against leaving utah but that has no bearing on the question whether an in estment in palm beach land is a good ono one or not nol sir knudson was sent to florida to report on florida and not oa istah we do not blame mr air knudson for being a good booster for utah but it appears to us that he is so wrapped up in utah that it la Is impossible for him to see anything that looks good to him in another state we do not base this on what ho be says about our land but will pass on to his statements in regard to the everglades the drainage of the everglades Is being undertaken by the state of florida under the direction of the united states government lin in tact fact one might say it is a government project you people out west know what this means I 1 uncle sam does not start on any irrigation project unless he knows in the first place that there Is sufficient water and that there is good soil A thorough investigation is first made by the government engineers and it is just the same with a drainage project the government first sent down major J 0 wright assistant chief engineer of the drainage department at washington who made tion ar 07 two years ile he reported the drainage to be a simple matter prof wilsy wiley investigated the soli soil conditions and bubli published shed in his report that this land when drained would be the richest land in the world mr knudson who stays down in florida a few days comes back and reports that the land when drained will bo be wair worthless be cause it will burn up and that there will be stagnant water two and one half feet below the ground and that no tree will live we do not think any comments are necessary anyone who has any can decide for himself which of these men is best fitted to pass opinion on the drainage and soil of the everglades major wright and prof wiley who have been in the government service for over twenty years and are experts on the one side or mr knudson who was in florida for rl a few days only As aa regards our palm beach tract trac wo we are afraid that in sir air Knud sona sons eyes wo we are in the same fame boat with undo uncle sam secretary ecret ary of agriculture wilson too who ts Is generally acknowledged as the greatest alln erity in badly with mr knudson for he be makes the following statement there is but one east coast coart of at florida in the world there are no other portions portion of the united states where the mItIc conditions are arc as near perfect we cannot belove believe thit that sir mr knudson ever made the rals statements about our land credited to him in your interview over has already been spent on good roads to our land and a largo force of men are now at work on this bottomless sand mr knudson was driven at about thirty miles an hour in an automobile in fact the character of the soil on our tract Is such that an automobile can be driven practically anywhere it la 13 true that for about a couple of mills west from the florida east coant railroad there Is heavy sand and that the roads across this have to be and are rock surfaced but on the land owned by the palm beach farms company the soil As as a mixture of sandy loam and muck mr knudson states that the flie sample of soil which he dug from under a hill of tomatoes was pure seashore sand which Is not a fact but he forgets to add that this tomato patch had already shipped over crates of tomate tomatoes cs per aero acre with more to follow results aro are what count the use nse of fertilizer la Is a business proposition thirty dollars worth of fertilizer to 0 o make a crop of 00 an acre looks good to us mr knudson says the balmy climate combined with fertilizer will grow anything this Is the truest statement he makes but some credit must also be given to the soll eoll the statements in our literature are arc conservative we stand back of every word in it wo have a standing offer of a thousand dollars and all expenses if our property Is not just as we represent it mr knudson went down for the purpose ot of making a report for the contract holders at brigham city that our proposition was or was not as represented this offer still holds good yours truly BRYANT GREENWOOD chicago III |
