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Show Explains Attitude of Agricultural Ag-ricultural Department in Florida Lands Washington, Feb. 10. George P. McCabe, solicitor of the department of agriculture, appeared before the houso committee on expenditures in that department today, to outline tho ! attitude of Secretary -Wilson and hlm-; hlm-; self "With relation to the Florida Evelglades land case, the charges of suppressed reports made by Representatives Repre-sentatives Clark and Bathrick and tho discharge of Chief Drainage Engineer C. G. Elliott and his assistant. A. A. Morehouse. Mr. McCabe was called to comnletn a statement ho becan be fore the committee early in tho week, preliminary to the inquiry which will begin next Tuesday. It has been charged before the committee com-mittee that a report of J. O. Wright, formerly a department engineer and now drainage engineer for tho state of Florida, was not printed In a senate document on the situation in the Everglades Ever-glades until Wright had revised the proofs to conform with his original notes. Senator FJetcher of Florida, who had tho Everglade papers printed print-ed as a document, declared today that the senate document "doe3 contain the full report made by J. O. Wright" and that it "appcarB in the document precisely as ordered set up and printed print-ed by tho proper officers of tho de partment. Why publication of he report was stopped originally in 1910, Senator Fletcher declared, was not known Another phase to bo Investigated by tho committee is why the circular on the Everglades, published by order of Engineer Elliott and afterwards suppressed, sup-pressed, it is said, by order of Secretary Sec-retary Wilson, was not printed in the senate document, "The Elliott circular," saU Sonator Fletcher, "was not put In senate document doc-ument No. 89 because it was never authorized by the socrotary but, on the contrary, as scon as he saw a typewritten copy of tho proposed circular, cir-cular, he condemned It and ordered that it ho not printed or distributed The reason, it is supposed, was that the circular expressed opinion or offered of-fered advice, and it did not purport to give data gathered in scientific research. re-search. That circular was never an official document and, therefore, had no place in any document -giving au thentic official records on the sud- Ject-" v t Mr McCabe took up two phases of the case, the suppressed reports and tho discharge of Elliott and Moro-house, Moro-house, and the suspension of F E Singleton, the auditor. He said that Engineer Wright of Florida first called call-ed the department's attention to the alleged iregularlties in accounts of the drainage division. "On January 20, 1912," he said, "Wright called at the department and said in substance that Chief Engineer Elliott was trving to injure him in his profession." Wilght said Eliott had placed men on tho payroll who had done no work, but who in 190& had advanced money for completion of drainage woik and had been placed on the payroll and reimbursed from the 1910 appropriation. He gave the name of J. A. Wilkinson of Belleha-ven, Belleha-ven, N, C, as one of the men and Wilkinson later admitted that he had advanced money for work in North Carolina." The amount invohed was ?120 'Elliott said that Dr. True, his superior, su-perior, had known all about it," continued con-tinued Mr. McCabe. "but Dr. Truo de. nled It." Representative Clark made public a letter he received last October from Secrotary Wilson, after tho Florida representative had asked at whoso In-stance In-stance tho circular on Everglades and the Wright reports had been suppressed. sup-pressed. "It is Impossible to furnish you with the names of all persons who advised tho suppression of the circular letter and the report," wrote Secrotary Wil-Bon. Wil-Bon. "We have no record of them and my recollection 1b that these persons made their request upon me voiballj." oo |