The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-09-03

different funds of the State, as shown
by the foregoing report, give an aggre-
gate deficiency as follows:
Deficiency in LIST and I'd Lumber
Districts 49,. ... IS 1850. la
Amount received for stumpage on
L. S. g. M. R. r. land 1O,436.85
kandiyOhi Co. stumpage ........ 5le.o4
Hennepin Co. stumpage. 12,UOO.0O
Making total loss to the State. 800, OO5.O2
Your committee having ascertained
the foregoing facts the inquiry suggest
ed itself as to what remedy the State
had. if any, to indemnify itself for the
losses thus sustained, when the surpris-
ing fact was developed that Mr.. Nell
rath executed no official bond to the
State at the time of or since the COM
mencement of his last official term of
three years. His official oath was duly
filed and recorded in the Office of the
Secretary Of State, but no bond was
given. AS the law makes it the duty of
the Governor to approve the bond of the
State Auditor it is impossible for your
committee to explain why the then ex.
ecutive Hon. Horace Austin) should
have overlooked so important an official
duty. a.,
Your committee did not deem it a
part of the duty they were expected to
perform, to enter into an investigation
Of the sales of school lands Such an
| investigation would prove work Of
i TN kV~lA ho
4 able at this time to perform. We will
simply state in this connection that we
find that large amount Of the school
lands sold have reverted by
default to the State, detailed state
ment of which is being prepared by the
present State Auditor, Mr.. Whitcomb,
who will report it to the Legislature.
Your committee would say that while
they are opposed to the creation of new
offices except in cases where the public
welfare absolutely demand it, we are
clearly impressed with the pro-
priety and necessity Of separating
the offices of State Auditor
and State Land Commissioner, and
making them distinct departments Of
the State Government. In doing this,
each would operate as check upon
the other, instead of being, as now, a
means for enabling the incumbent, if he
is so disposed, to practice the ''irregu-
larities" which this investigation has
discovered.
Your committee feel it to be their
duty to criticisc in emphatic language,
the looseness and palpable negligence
which seems to have characterized Mr..
Mcllrath' S system Of accounts relating
to stumpage, &c. One of the most as
tonishing developments of this investi-
CATION has been the utter lack
of material in the Auditor S
Office from which your committee could
obtain information or even a clue re-
garding transactions involving thous-
onds of dollars. In place Of clear ex-
hibit upon the pages Of the books of the
office Of important transactions, we find
in some instances loose memoranda,
giving indefinite information of an am
bguous character; and in many cases
involving matters of great consequence,
nothing whatever can be found in the
Office in any manner referring to them.
The labors of your Committee would
have been greatly lessened if they could
have had access to any authentic
record Of the transactions referred to,
but the almost entire absence Of data
in the Auditors or Land Commission
er's Offices, upon which to base our in
vcstigations, has imposed upon us
vast amount of labor in obtaining the
information from other sources.
Your committee would call attention
to the practice that has prevailed in
apparent disregard of law, Of the State
Auditors receiving money for the sale
of stumpage which should be paid to
the Treasurer direct. 1t is not contem.
plated by the law, according to the I'M
Outstanding of your committee, that
any public money should pass through
the hands of the State Auditor or Land
Commissioner.
> Your committee cannot conclude this
report without giving expression to
their regret at being compelled to make
4 these disclosures. They do it sorrow-
fully, and only in obedience to the
stern demands Of the public duty and
responsibility lmPOSeu upon tnem ny
4 your body. No citizen of our young
State can learn Of the facts herein dis
closed without feeling Inundated and in
dignant at discovering that one Of the
most sacred trusts ever imposed
upon a public officer has been thus vio-
lated. Every citizen of Minnesota has
felt especial pride in the belief and as.
surance that our school fund secured to
his children and generations unborn the
means whereby they were to become
educated and worthy citizens of our
common country; and to now learn that
!: the State has been defrauded of any
) portion Of that fund, whsh all should
! guard with their lives if need be, will
arouse in him feeling akin to the des-
olation Of his hearth.
All Of which is respectfully submit.
; ted.
(Signed,) JOHN S. Macdonald.
Luc1us F. HUBBARD,
, WILLIAM McKus1cK.
!; THE TESTIMONY.