St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-22

VI SCNSldl M6ShS tlC 0l-ODE
been aware that there was serious
trouble brewing in the office of the
chief executive of Minnesota, and that
this trouble in some way involved the
Great Northern road and the state land
department. For the past ten days
representative of the paper has been
devoting himself to the task of ferret
ing out the mystery, with the usual
success which attends faithful devotion
TO the object in hand. 1t now tram
spires that the strained relations be.
tween the governors office and that of
the land commissioner involves no less
serious matter than the final filling of
the land grant of the Great Northern
road. aud in this matter the two officials
play star part in which the taxpayers
will take deep and lasting interest.
The whole controversy rests upon the
answer to simple auestion-Which
shall have the right of first selection,
the state or the railroad company?
Very few persons will appreciate the
magnitude of the interests involved in
this matter. The Great Northern road
requires. to complete its grant, 273, ,565
acres, and the state has the right to Sc
lect 225, GOO acres to fill its grant for the
support of its public schools and public
institutions. There remains of the
Public Domain
Pom which these selections are to be
made about 100000 acres. OF this ter
ritory itsis estimated by the best author
tiles that about 100000 acres are covered
with valuable pine timber, and about
100000 are tlllable or, valuable as n eadow
lands. The heavily timbered lands will
range in value from $50 to SIS per acre,
the agricultural and meadow lands from
IS to IS per acre, and the remainder is
practically of no value whatever. 1t
will thus be readily seen that it 273,0
acres are selected by the railroad COM
pany, which will. of course, choose the
very best of it before the state has an
opportunity to make selections for the
support of public institutions, there
will be no land of value to which the
state can lay title for the exigencies of
the future.
But that the full magnitude of the
transaction may appear. let it be sup
posed that the land commissioner
has accepted the position of Gov.
Nelson and the Great Aorthern
as the proper one. and certified to the
company the selections it has already
made, without any warrant of law what
ever. The result would be that the
company would own 100000 acres of the
most valuable timber lands on earth,
lands that would sell in the open mar
ket for from $50 to s75 per acre. a very
low estimate, and the total is So. .O0O, 900.
In addition to this it will have
Seventy-Three Thousand Acres
of agricultural and meadow lands,
worth, on an average, SIS an acre, or
1866. 200. grand total of 1886, 900. And
what would the state have left? Only
about $4,000 acres of fairly good agricul-
tural and meadow lands and 100000
acres of absolutely worthless sand bar
fens and tamarack swamps.
AS has already been made public,
various influences were exerted upon
the state auditor to induce him to per-
init the company to 90 ahead and make
It's selections, following the precedent
OF former administrations. but he held
out firmly and took the position that the
state should go ahead and make its Sc
iections first, leaving to the company
whatever lands were not chosen for the
state. He cited the fact that if the COM
paDy selected its lands first, the state
might as we'll not file its own grant at
all, as there would be nothing of value
left to select from. The attorney of the
road
Showed MIR. Eiermann
that 1t was entirely within his province
to certify these lands to the company.
as the statute left the matter entirely to
MS discretion, but instead OF Welding.
MIR. Blermanr took still more advanced
ground, and resolved to 20 ahead and
fill the Great Northern grant by select.
Ing land Tor that company which was
not desirable for the state.
This was indeed a deathblow to the
company, for it was obvious that this
was possible under the statute, and il
the state, in the person of Auditor
Biermann, made the selections for the
Great Northern the company would re.
ceive only such lands as were left after
the state had chosen the best, completely
reversing the order of things which ha(
been mapped out.
When the determination of Biermanr
was made known the officials did thu
only thing that was left for them to do
Instead of taking the documents, Sc.
lectioDs, ETC., back to their office anC
storing them in the vaults of the Grea
Northern offices, these selections were