Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-04
AMES TO THE FORE. j
Echoes Of the Battle in the Fourth
District.
WASHBURN PROVEN A LIAR
The Gigantic Plot to Steal Pine Lands
Worth $4O,0OO,OOO.
EXTRACT FROM ORIGINAL BILL.

DIR. A. A. Ames, Democratic candidate
speech at Music hall in Saltwater last
evening gave Mr.. Washburn, his opponent,
blow below the belt which he will not be
apt to recover from until after election.
When DR.. Ames referred to Mr.. Weshburn's
bill whereby it was contemplated to place
the valuable pine lands of the north within
stealing distance of the pine land thieves
he said:
Ever since was nominated as the Dem
ocratic candidate for congress from this
district have done my utmost to secure a
copy of Mr.. Washburn's bill to remove
certain bands of Indians upon the White
Earth reservation. When have asked Mr..
Washburn's friends where could get a
copy of it, they have told me he had the
only copy of it there was in the state; that
he gave true version of its provisions in
little speech he made recently in the city
of Minneapolis. tried Washington, but
was unsuccessful. In the mail received by
me since arriving in your city to-day, I
found copy of the Grand Forks Herald,
Dakota, of March 3, 1882, which contains
copy Of tho bill. have Pc
rused this document carefully, and have no
hesitancy in pronouncing it as bare-faced
attempt to organize forty -million-dollar
steal. When I first took the stump in this
campaign from the general information I
had of the bill characterized it in mild
language as scheme by which scheming
land grabbers might get in their work. 1
now say after reading the original bill
that it was plot to steal $4O,OOO,OOO worth
of pine lands, which ought to consign its
originator to a secluded home in his
$125, 900 house for the balance of his life,
there to enjoy miserable existence upon
the quarter of a million dollars obtained
under false pretences from the city of
Minneapolis. Mr.. Washburn denied the
charge I made that the bill was to allow
the pine lands in the Red lake reservation
to be sold to the highest bidder in
lots to suit the purchaser. He said this
in speech and it was reiterated in his
subsidized press throughout the district
with the evident intent of creating the
impression that lied. Here is the clause
as it appears in the original bill as intro
duced by Mr.. Washburn. If it has been
amended since it was not his fault. This
is as he intended it should be at first:
Sec. 3. That after the said lands en-
braced in any of said reservations have
been appraised as herein provided, the
secretary of the interior shall be, and here
by is, authorized to offer the same at pub
lie sale, through the United States land
Office for the district where the land is sit
uated, to the highest bidder, for cash only,
for not less than the appraised
value of the same, which shall in
no case be less than $1,25 per acre,
in tracts not exceeding 16O acres
to any one person where the lands are
chiefly valuable for agricultural purposes;
and where the lands are chiefly valuable
for their pine or other valuable timber,
| the character of the land in all cases to be
determined by the report of the appraisers.
the same shall be sold for cash to the
highest bidder, as herein provided, in
tracts of not more than 16O acres: Pro
vIDED, That NO LIMIT SHALL BE FIXED AS TO
LAND TO BE PURCHASED By ANY ONE INDIvID-
| UAL."
Now, this is exactly what'I charged, and
Mr.. Washburn denied it emphatically.
throw the lie back into the teeth of Mr..
Washburn and his subsidized press. Mr..
Washburn may intend to amend his bill
I give the "thieving clause" as he intended
it should go through when he introduced
it. An earnest protest to the bill, from the
chamber of commerce of Grand Forks,
Dakota, dated March 4, 1882, against the
bill stayed it from passage, and as the game
is large do not wonder at Mr.. Washburn's
anxiety to be returned to congress that he
may try and get this gigant;" steal consum-
ated that he may realize pin-money suf-
fcient to meet current and campaign ex-
penses.
The lands comprised within the terms Of
the bill are those of the Red lake, Leech
lake, Cass lake, Mile Laos, Fond du Lac,
Grand Portage, Bots Fort, Lake Winneba-
goshish and White Oak in Minnesota; also
lands occupied by the Chippewa Indians
in Otter Tail and Todd counties of this
state, also the lands occupied by the Turtle
Mountain bands of Pembina Chippewas in
Dakota territory.
The objections urged by the Grand
Forks chamber of commerce were:
First-It puts it within the power
of rings" or combinations of capitalists
and spectators, to purchase from
the government vast areas of pine TIM
Der lands at one-tenth of their market
value.
Second-It virtually abrogatss the
homestead and presumption acts over
nearly one-half of northern Dakota, in
Guiding the finest portions of the territory,
and throws the land open to nonresident
spectators and 'sbonanza farmers"
The protest then goes on to give the
following statement of facts.
The pine land included within
the limits of these reservations
in Minnesota is estimated by
experts at four billions 1000, 900 OOO) of
feet, board measure worth on an average
SIC. per 1000 feet as it stands on the land
worth, in other words, forty million
(84O OO0 OOO) dollars Thia hill amhodias