St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-30
Pine Land Stealing May Be
Continued Along Custom
airy Lines.
State Auditor Biermann Ad-
mits the Joint Resolution
Is Not Good.
He Has an Idea the Next Leg
iSlatupe Would IndopSe
the Expenditure.
A Puzzle, Seemingly Impossi-
BILE to Solve, ConfrontS the
Investigators.

The possibility of the Investigate on
which was instituted with so much
gusto by the state legislature into the
pine lands and public lands frauds that
have been perpetrated by certain un-
scrupulous lumbermen during the past
thirty years in the state has excited no
little public comment. 1t is certainly
true that none of the state funds can be
drawn upon to pay the expenses of the
investigation. No money can be appro-
priated from the state treasury, save
upon bill, and the provisions made by
the legislature to meet the expenses of
prosecuting the investigation so auspi-
ciously begun was by concurrent reso-
luton only. This leaves the legislative
committee that was delegated to per-
form the work to meet the expenses as
best they can. This the commission is
just now endeavoring to solve.
State Auditor Bielman yesterday
stated that. in his judgment there is no
doubt that the next legislature will pass
bill to reimburse the legitimate ex-
pense of the investigation if some one
He says that the expenses will mount
UP to goodly sum. Each witness will
be entitled to per diem and mileage,
and it is probable that it will be found
Of the greatest Importance to bring a
great many witnesses from the pine
land regions of the state. If the patriot
ism of the citizens who are DESTROYS to
protect the interests Of the state and to
punish those who have stripped the
lands of the common wealth of innum-
cradle millions of timber is sufficiently
strong. the effort to prosecute the work
may not prove abortive because of a
blunder on the part of the legislative
investigating committee in not provid-
ing for the expense in the regular way
prescribed by the state constitution.
The question is, who can afford to adj
vance the money that will be needed,
and then wait two years 10 get it back
from the state.
Walsh Raisedthe Point.
Representative W alsh, of the commit
tee on coal combine investigation of the
legislature, states that he doubted the
method providing for the expenses of
the Minnesota delegation that is to at
tend the national antitrust conference
in Chicago, and at the time that the
joint resolution was adopted under a
suspension of the rules by both branches
or the legislature he suggested as much
to certain members of the committee,
but it was insisted that that very mode
OF procedure had several precedents.
Consequently, as he did not want to APP
pear captlouS nor unnecessarily pune
tlliOuS, he said no more upon the sub
ject.
This is referred TO because the in
stance is analogous to that of the pine
land investigation case. But in the
case of the coal combination it matters
nothing practically. The delegates
to the conference are going to Chi
cage, and they will perform the trust
just as though their expenses are to be
paid from the public treasury at once,
as was the intention of the legislature
when the resolution Was passed. The
delegates realize that they are running
no risk whatever in the premises. At
the assembling of the next legislature
all bills will be promptly liquidated.
In this connection. however, 1T may
be of interest to relate that the expenses
of the Chicago conference will be a
mere bagatelle i'll comparison to the
cost of investigating the pine land rob-
berries. This is particularly unfortunate,
for the committee that had the matter
under consideration during the session
of the legislature unearthed frauds
enough to show that the state has been
swindled out of millions of dollars by
pine land ana other sharks, and that
taxes have not been paid by the owners
of valuable properties.