The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1893-04-20
LEGISLATIVE NOTES.
Itsans Resarding the Doinss q Legaaln1ess
5. ot the Copitol. 8 za35

LEGISLATIVE NOTES.
ltems Regarding the Doanss q LeslalnAaen
sf the Capitsl.
The pine land investigating commit
tee made its report to the senate. Is
says:
Tho results Of it, investigation win 10 8
source Of establishment to the senate and 6 tho
people Of the whole state It Il not too Huch
70 say that no committee ever appointed 81 any
legislative body in this country has for tho
length Of dime It has been able TO give to the
subject, exhumed such mass Of startling syi-
dence. This evidence establishes In the tuds-
ment Of our COMMITTEES, the conviction that tho
state OF Minnesota has been robbed Of millions
Of dollars worth Of it, property during the past
fifteen years, and that the most gigantic frauds
have been practiced upon the school fund. We
lind the laws for the collection OF taxes In
vast area Of the state made q farce and lanRh.
ing stock. 49, r..
The evidence before your committee shows
that In many, II not majority Of cases. tho
state received but . little over one.quarter Of
the amount Justly its due. This great fraud II
accomplished by false returns Of the amount OF
timber cut and by low prices put upon the same,
as Is abundantly shown by the evidence before
the committee. - -
According to the testimony OF one witness
section 80 town S. range a. school section, the
scaler for the attorney general returned only
about $50, 600 feet of timber while the witness
found by actual scaling thst it had produced
about $780, 600 feet Of timber aad the school fund
was out the difference, or about $1,000 ON this
section alone. -
On section SO, township 133, range "a, there
were 600 600 feet of pine and 400 600 feet Of oak
and one witness testified that he would have
been willing to have given 5000 for the section,
Dut the records of the state auditors ohaco
show that the state received but el76, which
was for the COX, nothing showing that ANYTHING
was paid for the pine. On section Is, township
81, range Is, 1t appeared that the state received
less than 1900, while 600 feet Of logs were
cut from the section 1t is estimated that the
school fund lost over q 500 on this section. It
was sold IL or 10 years ago.
Other evidence would make it appear that
certain lumbrrman, whose name is tn the DOS.
session OF the committee cut 80 600 feet Of tim.
Der from 40 acres Of internal improvement land,
Tor which tho state never received dollar
Section SO, township 42, range Is, according to
the testimony, was bought by q lumber com.
pany at u per thousand upon fraudulent esti-
mate that il contained only O,0O0 feet while it
really contained nearly 5,0OO,OOO feet worth s.
per thousand.
the timber on section 16, township 1873, range S.
was $685., while the state received simply q
credit Of S3O7.l4 the amount never having been
paid. Three Of the torties in this section have
been sold as agricultural land.
Your committee would also report that the
evidence before them shows that the surveyor
general of logs and lumber for the Second dis
tr1ct employed as one Of his deputies . certain
party whose duty 1t was to scale on the river
bank In 1891 the amount Of pine cut by J. T..
Welsh, on the Willow river, to sell to the Akely
Lumber company. A very small amount of the
whole of the logs hauled was reported to him as
being hauled from school section, to-wit:
Section sixteen Q6), township one hundred and
forty-two Q42), range twenty five (25), and the
rest from land owned by private parties; but
the witness learned from the teamsters who
hauled the logs that the whole of them were be.
ing taken from the said school section. When
the surveyor general visited the place. the wit
ness told him that he had learned that the
school land was being robbed of its timber
1t appears from the testimony OF the deputy
that he kept a record Of the amount of timber
SO taken; and that while but 35923O feet were
ostensibly taken from the school land the
amount really taken therefrom was g. 305, $50 feet
The witness notified the state auditor OF the
| facts, and the clerk Of the land department
afterward sent for him and said to him that he
had rescaled the land and found his statements
correct and that he had collected IS 600 from
the lumber company for pine so taken; and he
paid said witness 800 as q present from the
state for his valuable information.
The books in the auditors office were found
to be inextricably mixed up, but the figures for
the two sections mixed up, according to evi.
dence Of witness, leave balance of a. 73s which
was paid to the land commissioner and not the
state. A draft for 500 on the man who cut the
logs would corroborate the present Of 800. The
committee then states that for years back the
state auditors looks are badly confused In
regard to the state officers the report says:
1--WE will not 60 so far as to say that the state
officers were direct party to these frauds and
shared In the plumber, although some Of the
vnyf<v {aAl
hold them responsible for great neglect of duty;
nor do these wrongs seem to have been confined
to any one year or any one state officer. They
extend back as far as our investigation has
penetrated" IL >
The report of the committee on pine
land sale says: "Your committee is fully
convinced, and the evidence conclusive.
| ly shows, that the pine timber was we'll
worth 81 per thousand feet, and would
easily have brought that amount had it
been offered ut public sale, as provided
| by law The committee then quotes
the law, declares that it has not been
| complied with and that the pretended
sale is illegal and void, and if permit
ted to stand the state school fund will
suffer loss of at least $11, ZOO.
A queer matter came before the leg.
islature recently. 1t is nothing less
than a resolution requesting the Mime
sofa legislature to petition congress to
make a song entitled lin God We
Trust" the national anthem. The song
was composed by Mr.. Chapple. a mu-
stefan of st. Paul, and inasmuch as it's
title is the same as the motto on the
silver dollar, it is expected to appeal to
every heart.
Mr.. Turrell. in presenting the bill for
the tax levy for the next two years,
made the statement that the sum levied
was 81, 100, 900 for each of the coming
two years, 1894-5, the rate for which
was IL mills, which was a reduction of
$40 mill over the levy of two years
ago. The statement was enthusiasts
tically applauded.
On motion of Senator Donnelly, the
sergeant-at-arms of the house was di-
| rected to turn over Mr.. Rhodes letter
book to the attorney general to be used
in evidence in the prosecution of the
| coal combine.
When the house reached the Red
river drainage it was passed with only
five negative votes.
Governor Nelson sent to the senate q
veto of Senate File 1877, the bill chang
ing the methods of the election of mem
bers of the state board of health. He
made numerous objections to the bill.
1t changes the terms of Office from four
to seven years and is somewhat vague
as to how long the present incumbent
shall serve. Another objection is that
no governor can ann0inf more thor, x,un