The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-12-28

"AA''o oAAoJ "oio WOiGu III CQ6 Doom,
etc. OF course, this was part of their
duties. The State hires appraisers for
that purpose. Mr.. Mailman even
counted the trees, yet he was only on
the section one day and the ground
was buried under several feet of snow.
Mr.. Mailman is an exceedingly val
liable man. He could easily estimate
and appraise correctly every section of
school pine land in the State several
times a year. He should go up to
ltasca county and give Senator Dedon
pointers on scaling.
THE GOss LETTER,
In order to discredit Mr.. John Goss,
a letter that he had written Mr.. Matt
Clark, the white-souled clerk of the
land commissioner, has been Injected
into Mr.. Biermann's manifesto. How
shocked Mr.. Clark must have been
when he opened and read such letter
as this:
ANoKA, Sept. "a, 1892.
AA'' OCN' ~. A1h luu dlludVlU OF
Leonard Pratt or copy of the same. I
want the matter fixed up or we see that
Smith don't haul the timber this VIM
ter. Twelve thousand is too much to
take from the school fund and give to
one man. The NW4 will do me and if
ne does not want to give it to me on
the same terms that he gets it then all
right. J. Goss.
Mr. Clark and Mr.. Biermann. in
their eager haste to place Mr.. Goss in
a false position have overreached them
selves. What does the letter prove?
One does not have to read between
the lines to discover that Mr..
Goss had had some under
standing with Messrs. Clark and
Biermann prior to writing the letter.
II want the matter fixed up" What
matter does Mr.. Goss refer to? We
will explain. Mr.. Goss in company
with half a dozen outside lumbermen
came to Princeton in May, 1892, to at
tend the land sale which was adver-
tised to take place, and was prepared to
bid as high as 1926 per thousand for
the stumpage on section 36-42-26, he
having had it previously estimated
and appraised that he might bid INTEL
llgently on the same. But the sale did
not take place as advertised. Mr..
Biermann discovered that there was
pine timber on school lands in the
Mile Laos reservation, and the
lands could not be sold the same as
other school lands. That wonderful
sales record book was before his eyes,
and the eyes of his vigilant clerk, and
yet those pine lands were advertised to
be sold the same as other school lands
The sale Was declared off only when it
was found there would be active COM
petition. A short time afterwards Mr.
Goss called at the State Auditors Of
tice IN st. Paul, and was surprised to
learn that 36-42-26 had been sold to c..
A. Smith & Co. several months pre-
vious. Is it any wonder that the sale
did not come off as advertised? Mr..
Goss made big kick. Mr.. Clark, in
order to smooth matters over,
promised to get Mr.. Goss the
NW4 at the same price G. A.
Smith & Co. paid, viz: 50 per M.
But Mr.. Clark reckoned. without his
host. Mr.. Smith refused to relinquish
a fraction of his bargain. Mr.. Smith
knew he had a good thing and hung to
it. These are the facts as related to
us by Mr.. Goss. We believe him. His
letter proves that he had had an un-
! Outstanding with Mr.. Clark. It was
in July or August, a month or six
weeks before writing the letter, that
Mr.. Goss had had the talk with Mr..
Clark and also with Mr.. Biermann.
Here was Mr.. Biermann's golden op-
portunity to cancel the contract, then
he would shave knocked the bottom
out of the investigation proceedings"
At that time Smith & Co. had made no
preparations to haul the tim
Der, had expended no enor-
nous sums on roads-roads
that had been hauled over for more
than 10 years,-then was the time to
cancel the contract. Now, Messrs.
Clark and Biermann, you are welcome
to all the consolation you can obtain
from the publication of Mr.. Goss' let
ter. We will add that Mr.. Goss is an
honored resident of Anoka, and in that
city of 5000 people there is not man,
woman or child that will doubt Mr..
Goss' word.
! Was Mr.. Goss blamable, when he
found he could not get an opportunity
to bid for the timber at fair open
sale, for trying to secure slice at the
same price the wealthy and respectable
firm of G. A. Smith & Co. had paid for
it? In this connection Mr.. Biermann
asserts: "The NW4 is worth nearly
as much as the other three quarters
together" AS usual Mr.. Biermann
lob @%r, = 80 -