The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-11-07
MILLIONS A YEAR!
The Timber Thieves Of This State
Appear to Dodge 100000
Taxes Year.
8,434, 691 ACRES ESCAPE TAXATION.
Untaxed Land Amounting to $780,
100000 are Held by the Men
Who Desire Nelson's Election.
THERE IS A REMEDY FOR THIS.

With Owen in the State House the
Law Providing for Re-Assess-
ments Would be Enforced.
During the closing hours of the last
senate bill was passed that became
law, and was known as Senate File No.
563 providing for taxing certain prop
erty. John II. Burke drafted most of it's
provisions and Town Talk has had re-
course to him for the facts here given.
1t provided for taxing all railroad and
other property which had hitherto been
omitted from the roll or under assessed
for any year or years, and that whenever
it shall be made to appear to the gov
ernor from a complaint in writing or
under oath, or from the finding of any
court or legislative committee, that any
considerable amount of property has
been omitted or under assessed he shall
appoint some person not a resident of
the county to prepare list and to assess
said county, etc.
1t cannot be denied that committee
OF the last senate found such state of
facts to exist in Itasca county, and made
report that was published in the Sem
ate Journal Of April 10, 1893, and the
daily press, hence these facts were made
to appear to the governor by the report
of a committee.
1t was testified that T. B. Walker,
John s. Pillsbury, Juson Marston, Wey.
erhauser, Hall & Ducey and others, had
land that was not assessed, while one as.
SCISSOR was an employe of the Hail &
Ducey Lumber Co., and had assessed
Plllsbury, Weyerhauser and others with
out seeing the land; also that Walker,
Pillsbury and the Ackley Lumber Co.
land has been assessed at terms very
low.
The annual cut of timber upon which
no tax was collected on logs was as fol-
lows. Cut by:
Pillsbury, q, 100000 feet.
Walker, 25 900 feet
Ackley Lumber Co., 25 co., 600 feet.
Hall Ducey, 100000 feet.
Lopez Rumley, 12,0O0 600 feet.
Winston & Sanders. 5000 900 feet
Theo. Randolph. 3 900. LOO feet.
Despite these facts, Kuute Nelson
seemed to be 80 under the domination of
the timber land ring that he made no
appointment as by law directed, and was
only forced finally to act by some one
filing an affidavit, hence while that as.
sessment has since been made Knute
Nelson can claim no credit for the same
because he is said to have acted only af-
ter compulsion.
10 this connection we desire to call at
tention to the magnitude of these frauds.
The following facts taken from the
New York World Almanac gives some
interesting data concerning the lands of
Minnesota
Total area So ass, $40 acres.
Surveyed area, 1853 .595 acres.
Cnsurveyed area, 1864. 16l acres.
Vacant public lands surveyed, 27g9,O22 acres.
Vacant public lands unsurveyed, 3,107 $3.50
acres.
Vacant public lands total, 1906 ZIP acres
From which it thus appears that ST.
TT 449 acres of land have been disposed
of by the United States, or reduced to
private ownership, and it appears from
statements of the state auditor that in
1891 but 29,342,75S acres we're asse ss ed
and leaving 8,434, l91 acres not assessed.
It has been shown that the timber
lands of this state comprise about three
fifths of the area, hence of timber lands
about %, 666 ,467 acres should have been
assessed, and being valued at $50 per
acre. as shown by official documents, the
valuation therein should have nbee
S679, 994,0l0 whereas the total ASSESS
ment of all real estate and improvements
exclusive of city property was but $2l3,-
842C4S or less than one-third the value
of timber lands alone.
It is not unfair to assume that the tim
Der land and railroad thieves, who seek
to elect Knute Nelson, claim to hold no
less than $5OO,0OO,O00 of untaxed prop
erty on which they escape to the tune of
Sl0OOO,OO0 year, computing the tax at
the average rate paid by others.
With Henry F. Brown, S. s. Brown,
c. E. Brown, John S. Pillsbury and the
other borrowers Of state timber not pay
ing taxes on land or timber borrowed.
the farmer and poor man can bear the
burden, while Nelson can ask the pals to
put up for the campaign.