The Princeton union., 1893-04-20
,REEKING WITE FRAUD.
THE STATE ROBBED OF MIL.
LIONS OF DOLLARS.
Astounding Revelations Made by
the Senate lnvestig eating Com
mittee--The Timber Wealth
XII of the State Ruthless @
t gsf.4 ly Looted. #ti

rne Senate investigating Com
mittee--The Timber Wealth
of the State Ruthless
ly Looted.
The following is a synopsis of the report
of the senate committee to investigate
alleged Irregularities in the sale taxation,
etc, of school and other state lands as pre-
sented to the senate:
The Report.
The results of the committees investiga
ton will be a source Of astonishment to
state. 1t IS not too much to say that no
committee. ever appointed by any legis
saFtb 6d 6f & in This has Gnaty has 70 for the
the subject, exhumed such mass of start
ling evidence This evidence establishes, in
viction that the Stat State Of Minnesota has
been robbed Of millions Of dollars worth
ss apG ptha ns naHt fras
have been practiced upon the school fund,
fund which every good citizen has hoped
1T of the present generation and posterity
We find the laws for the collection Of taxes
& in vast area Of the state made farce
and u laughing stock '..f. rgE' -,..
r. School Lands. ~'G$T.
We will first turn to the consideration
of the frauds upon the school fund. This
seems to be a boundless sea Of inquiry.
It is impossible to tell how many million
dollars have been stolen from the school
fund. for we have not had the time to
Se With our ~ either tn, the
the whole scope Of the state, The .evi.
dence before your committee shows that
state received but a little over one-quarter
fraud is accomplished by 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 com
It annears nv the Testimony of one wit
section Sc, town &C. range 24-a school
erai had returned about 10000 feet Of
timber, or 1850 logs, as the amount cut
oPer It the cxrs ass fCnnd f Sy aeta" sds sG
that it had produced about 3,1o0 logs or
80 22o feet of timber TIL The school fund INC
tween the amount returned by the scaler
for the surveyor, general and the amount
that aa aeta taken from the sectna na
loss to the school fund Of about 81. .oOo;
It APPEARS By The q. I testimony Of one me wit,
section sc, town 1873. range "a, there were
100000 feet Of pine and 400, 900 feet Of oak;
5asn Tns Wns S ae Tt 9at As 5000 SSS hfSs Ss
section. and he further testified that the
whole timber on, this section has been cut;
to % the s' evidence IA and 1 marked ssExhibit B"
shows that from that section the state de-
oG GGy the so sum Of Sa which was fH
mate of 5000 feet of oak upon the whole
section It does not appear 9Th that IT. the ea state %
pine upon the section.
Lost Over $4,000.
The evidence before your committee shows
the o
from section 16, town "a, "a age 25, while
the the books Of the state auditor show that that
school. fund has .a therefore been defrauded
or or thirteen ne years Gu ago. Willie VII Mr. Whitcom6
,nony will be found the letter of the state
auditor in reference to this section, marked
''Exhbit c."
The same, witness testifes that it was
hey could Ec ory or
money out of it and their stumpage would
whose name is m in oof the possession 81 of the the
forty acres Of internal improvement land,
forrwhich the state never RECEIVED a dollar:
Section &C. town AZ, range 26: was bought
by another lumber company at 81 per 1000
upon n fraudulent estimate that it contained
only 25O.OO0 feet, while the testimony taken
V the line % along the edge Of It and earefully ex:
ap.-ned the sdjoning sections goes to show
ht it cGntainsa ID nearly five million feet
tifed tv another witness that section 16
Wn 1ss 81 had been entirely mt
forty acre tracts therein. containing pine.
has been sold as agricultural land; Another
hs es s that "aa there 1@s %ss st aast e.
Of pine timber upon the 5; section and dod that hat
there was fully 100000 feet of oak timber:
lake so that the logs cosNl easily be RATED
to mill close at hand and within forty 2G1y
Wits wtness 81 was s s5ss willie III the state az auater
sny usSTs ah @ mig nHhSf g. to aed ed
5th, 1898, and addressed to the chairman OF
this committee, that the whole amount de-
timber for, the school fund amounted to
sG9 ss9a14' and that amount has not yet been
The Mass of Fraud.
1t must not be forgotten that we are
dipping in here and there into the mass OF
fraud, and that these witnesses, few il
accident or by voluntary statements made
q by citizens who had knowledge Of the facts
fraud as this, iny9lvhg a robbery of ove1
$1,000 on one section is true: it must have
Rn OF ere IS no
mind Of your committee that school lands
as well as other. lands belonging to the
years past, of combination between the buy
ers for .: the express purpose Of p2rreventinl
the sats %e It
that So per thousand has been the rulin.
price for stumpage in the state at large
in q great many cases the school fund ha
received but 81 to $1.50 per thousand feet
1t appears in this connection that section
SO, town 81 iange %, was estimated by til
state cruisers to contain SOC; 600 feet, valued
at 81 per thousand while the real value o
the same was at least $3.50 per thousan
(see page 17O Of testimony. We have no
been able to ascertain whether the cstimat
of the quantity of pine upon land was a
far out Of the way as the estimate Of tn
price. We would also call the attention o
the senate to the letter of the state audito
to the chair man of the committee, date
April 5, 1898, marked exhibit E., and az
pended to the testimony, in which he refer
to the amount OF. pine sold upon the sam
n section. 1t shows how grossly inaccurat
were the estimates Of the parties employe
by the state to estimate the amount Of tin
Der upon state lands. It seems to our con
mfttee that such errors must have bee
committed purposely, and in the interest 9
Your committee would also report thu
the evidence before them shows that I'll
surveyor general Of logs and lumber fl
Atf the Second district, emDlOyed as one of n