St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-12
SENATE COMMITTEE COR
RECTED.

The senate committees report on the
pine frauds contains an Incorrect state
ment, which reflects on the present land
COMMISSIONERS Office. This is in regard
to the fraud committed on sections 16
and SO, town 142, range .. The COM
mittee says that ''if its witness is to be
believed, " ''a balance of 81. 73S was paid
in to the land commissioner and not
accounted for to the state" A repre-
sentative of the GLOBE called at the
land commissioner office to get at the
facts in the case, and it is but fair to
that Office to say that the committee has
been both mistaken and imposed on,
The facts, as the GLOBE ascertains.
them from the records in that Office, are
as follows:
PETER LAvALLEE, who is the witness
who appeared before the committee
was deputy Of Surveyor of Logs S. S
BROWN, and as such scaled the logs cut
on these two sections by one WEIGH,
who had bought the pine of the state.
LAVAILEE's report made to the land
commissioner shows that there was cut
on section Sc 4,414 logs, scaling 400
feet. and on section l6 3,O7O logs, scaling
4O1, 400 feet. The timber on the latter
section had been struck off to WEIGH
OF 81. % per thousand, and on section Sc
at $3.50 per thousand. Drafts were
drawn on WEIGH, in accordance with
Deputy Surveyor LAvALLEE'S report,
for S9O3.35 for the pine on l6 and
81, 423. 46 for that cut on Sc.
Meantime Attorney General CLAPP
called the attention of the land clerk to
letter from Minneapolis firm of law
yerS relative to some information given
them by LAvALLEE. Following the
matter uD. the land clerk sent for La
vALLEE. who came down and stated
that WEIGH had largely understated
the number and the scaling OF logs cut
on these sections. Two expert cruisers
we're sent by the commissioner to re-
scale the timber from the stumpS and
tops, the logs having been taken away.
They found and reported that there had
been cut on section 16 IL, $50 logs, seal
ing 1,450,OOO feet, which this witness
had scaled at 44O,63O, and on section Sc
5,I2O logs scaling 640,00O feet. To make
allowance for errors unavoidable in
scaling from tops and stumps, a deduc-
ton of 10 per cent was made from these
amounts.
The Akeley Lumber company had
become the assignee of WEIGH, and
the Office at once notified them of the
shortage and demanded payment of the
difference. After some negotiations,
and acting on the advice of Attorney
General CLAPP, the Office settled for
$4,000. This sum covered the claim for
logs, the expense of the resealing, $3.50,
| and 500 paid the witness LAVALLEE.
This latter sum was not paid, as the
committe reports its witness as stating,
by draft on the lumberman, but by a
warrant on the state treasurer. 1t wa S
paid on the advice of Attorney General
CLAPP, on the ground that the state
could not expect the help of these in
formers unless it paid them for their
services. All the money paid by the
Akeley Lumber company in settlement
OF the claim of the state was paid into
the state treasury. A draft was made
on the lumberman for the 1920, and
when it was paid it was turned
over to the state treasury. Every cent
was accounted for, as the committee