St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-14
THE LUMBERMBN's DEFENSE.

The lumbermen touched so roughly
by the report of the senate com mittee
have been interviewed and their eXplana-
ton and defense given. 1t seems to the
GLoRE that they plead to something not
in the indictment. All they say may be
true and will not constitute defense, eX-
cept, of course, so far as they lnterpoSe
a specific or general denial.
The graYamen of the report is that
they, the lumbermen. have eolluded
with the surveyor of logs to underScale
the logs cut by them on purchases
made from the state; that they have
have stood i'm with the states cruisers
to have the timber underestimated;
that they have combined among them
selves to prevent competition at the
sales, thus securing the timber at much
less than its value, and that they have
made fraudulent prescriptions of gov
eminent lands.
1t does not follow that, as Mr.. SMITH
says, ''as all our logs are scaled by the
surveyor general, there is no chance for
fraud" The land commissioners Ollie e
i'll one year collected and turned into
the treasury 81, 900 collected from lum-
bermen whose logs haG not been cor
rectly sealed by the surveyor of logs.
Ii the Willow river case some $500
was paid for the difference between the
surveyors scale and that of the states
cruisers. If the surveyors scale was
right. why were these compromise sums
paid? Mr.. AKELEY must also have
been mistaken in saying that nothing
of the kind had been done since he was
in business" for it was the logs cut on
theWilloW tract, and which his firm
bought of WEIGH. for which the $4,000
was collected. So large a sum could
not have been collected in matter in
which he was interested without his
knowledge.
Nor is Mr.. BACKUS any more explicit
Large tracts Oh pine land are valuable
only for the timber, and are worthless
when that is removed. The pine and
not the land is what is wanted, and i'll
such cases the lumbermen let the land
go for the taxes after they have taken
The pine off. Mr.. BACKUS goes OF Oh a
side and immaterial issue.
Mr.. WALKER also puts far-aWay look
into his eyes when the matter OF getting
title to pine lands through bogus pre-
empuonS is mentioned, but returns to
an interest in matters not touched by
the report or of minor Importance II
mentioned. 1t may be true, and the
GLOBE hopes it is, that more is paid for
the pine ON the school lands than it is
worth; and it may be true that Mr..
WALKERS cut is largely on his own
lands, bought from the state or the na-
ton; but that does not meet the charge
OF collision with either the cruisers or
the surveyor of logs. nor does 1t meet OF
deny the charge Of combinations OF
lumbermen to get pine at less than its
worth, nor does it meet the charge OF
obtaining title through collision with
the pre-emptors.
On the whole, these interyle VS. do no
meet the serious portions of the report.
1t is true that this is not as spec ific as
| it should be. 1t is a mistaken tender
ness that Omits the names of the parties
implicated 1t is mistake, too. for an
Investigating committee to consider
itself a grand jury to investigate but one
side Of ID story. 1t is its proper junction
10 examine all sides, to notify parties
implicated, and give them chance to
be heard in explanation or defense. 1t
should get all the facts. Its conclusions
would then be stronger. AS it is, there
will be a suspension of judgment-a
doubt of the authenticity of the state
ments. But that there have been frauds,
and plenty of them, is a very &c neral
belief, and the investigation should go
on until this conviction is established OF
| refuted by proofs.