CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN,
 'CHICAGO.


 Chicago, Ill., May 3, 1912.


Mr. W. L. Larkin,
 Chicago.
My Dear Sir:
 The practicability of the Everglades drainage plans is
 now conceded by all who have observed the progress of the work
 of the engineers and the remarkable results already
 accomplished. The admission is made by even the most
 pessimistic of doubters, to which class I must confess
 having myself belonged. I had made several trips to the
 'glades previous to my visit to attend the official opening,
 but had never seen this country in all its tropical beauty
 or had explained and demonstrated to me its productive
 possibilities until my trip of last week through the
 Caloosahatchie river and the drainage canals from Fort Myers
 to Fort Lauderdale as a member of Governor Gilchrist's
 party that participated in the official opening program.
 If the facts concerning the Everglades were generally
 known there would be a rush of settlers to Florida and the
 land of the Everglades that would see this marvelously
 rich area thickly populated with thriving farmers from the
 North within a few months. Native Floridans are meeting
 with remarkable success in raising garden truck along with
 citrus fruits and this Everglades soil will produce more
 than eighty per cent of all the kinds and varieties of
 vegetables, fruits and cereals grown in the middle
 western states.
 I found the greater part of the land comprising the
'Everglades composed of muck. On this land, formed by
*the decomposed vegetation of centuries, I saw larger and
finer crops of garden truck than are grown on some of the
best farm lands in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
 Yours very truly,
 W. H. MURPHY,
 Manager, Land Department.


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