St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-09

TO hold down an office with no RESPONSE
bilitv attached TO it. .s
Your opinion on these somewhat diI-
ferrnt versions of the same subject Is
respectfully solicited. Yours truly,
A. BIERMANN, Auditor.
Attorney Generals Office, 81. Paul.
Oct. s. 1891. - Hon. A. Biermann.
Sir: Your favor of the 5th inst. at
hand. AS to the lands in question. only
eyeu-numbered sections being included
in the grant for state institutions, see
no reason why, if the company desire
to do so, they might not be allowed 10
make selections in odd-numoereu sec
tlons. Whether they should be allowed
at this time 10 make any selections from
even-nunbered sections would depend
upon whether such selections II al
lowed would leave sufficient In
good character TO fill the grant
for state institutions, and. i'll passing
upon that question, it ought TO appear
beyond any question that the state can-
not lose any,hing by allowing such Sc
lections. If there is any doubt whatever
upon this subject ii should be resolved
in favor of the state, as no action should
be taken which can in any manner I'M
pair the value of the giant to the state
institutions. Upon this point II Is
enough to say that the grant to state
institutions was prior grant subject 10
| which the other was taken.
As to your responSiDilIty,it 1T might per-
haps be said that your duty as TO patents
| that were issued was limited to the act
| of recording the same. But when it
| comes to matters affecting the welfare
of the state. or more strictly the pubic,
| you as public officer have RESPONSE
| bllty resting upon you commensurate
with the importance and powers OF your
office, and while this applies to all
matters pertaining to public interests,
it bears with special force upon the dis
position of public CT state lands owing
10 the relation you bear to that subject
by virtue of your office. l am, very
truly, MOSES E. CLAPP.
Here originated all my troubles and
tribulationS. Considering myself the
servant of the state. and not of the
Great Northern Railway company, l
deemed it my duty to guard the Interests
OF the state regardless OF consequences,
In this it appears l made serious poiit-
ical mistake, one of which results was
| the loss, however brought about.
of the confidence of my friends. in the
| Alliance, and another of which may ap-,
| pear in the convention of my own party
| if the influences that worked success
fully among the POpulstS are equally
influential there. but mistake which l
do not regret. but. on the contrary, one
which would repeat under the same
| circumstances. regardless of personal
| sacrifices, made as il was in defense of
your interests. Subsequently, think
! in the month of May, 1892, was asked
| into Gov. Merriam's Office, where | met
the governor, Attorney General ChlldS,
| MIR. Samuel Hill, son-in-law Of j. j..
| Hill. president of the Great Northern
Railway company. and Mr.. Grover.
attorney Tor that company. Once more
| the selection of land from even and odd
numbered sections was fully canyaSsed.
| The Governor
was appealed to, but he frankly stated
| that his duties in the premises were
| simply perfunctory, and that the matter
was entirely i'll charge OF myself az the
state land commissioner. l need not
narrate all the conversation, but the net
result was that / maintained that the
state, under the decisions of the su-
| preme court and under the law, had a
right to first choice among the even
| numbered sections, and that, as the land
| varied in value from nothing UP to $40
| per acre, the state should exercise Its
right to select the most valuable lands
! for state institutions before the rail-
| IOduS iuduG IileII duu I uIldlly
said that if the Great Northern brought
in any list containing one single acre of
even-numbered sections l would re-
| pudiate the entire selection. Attorney
| Grover remarked, "That settles it," and
the conference ended.
After this meeting l received note
stating that Mr.. Doran, member of the
! Democratic national committee, wished
to see me. l may here state that tor
many years my relations with Mr..
DOran had been very intimate; that he
placed Inc under great obligations to
him for many favOrs, and for assistance
in the political campaigns in which
Was "a Candidate.
There was no man III the state to whom
was under such obligations as TO him.
and no oDe whom l would do more to
accommodate. visited Mr.. Doran and
| he asked me what was the trouble be-
tween myself and the Great Northern.
| | explained to him that the interest of
the state obliged me to refuse the re-
quest of the company. Mr.. Doran ap-
ptared very much displeased with me,
and closed the conversation with the
remark: "What is the good of having
friends in office when they are unwilling
to do anything for you."
Matters remained in this condition
until the assembling OF the legislature
of 1898. of which asked an appropria-
tiOn sufficient to permit Inc to employ
cruisers to go out and examine the even
numbered sections of land to which the
state was confined in its choice, and re-
port their condition apd value so that l
might make the first selection from
them for the state, and be enabled to
certify to the land grant companies
from the remainder the tracts to which
fhpv wpul6 hp lntItlpd iOo
ton of sale by me of one tract of pine
"a sale made in manner established
by the custom of the Office under
my predecessors, and its legality
confirmed by the written opin
ion of Attorney General Childs-
was begun by the legislature, and !
learned that bill was prepared and
made ready for introduction, and suita-
ble arrangements were being made for
its passage, separating the land COM
miSsioner's Office from that of the state
auditor in order to secure the appoint
ment of
Land Commissioners
who would be less strenuous for the In
terest of the state. The bill was after
wards introduced by Representative A.
t. Koerner. now Republican candidate
for state treasurer. AT this juhcture
Robert Jamison, then chairman OF the
Republican state central committee,
with whom L was on quite friendly
terms, came to see me and requested
a private interview. He told ME that
he came as attorney for the Great
Northern Railway company, to see il
the difficulties over the roads land
grant could not be adjusted. L told Mr..
Jamlson that if the legislature gave me
the appropriation asked for would i'm.
mediately set to work to select the lands
for state institutions. and that could
see no objection to certifying to what.
ever selections the company might
make FROM the remaining lands. Mr..
Jamison thought this would be satis-
factory, and left. The division bill was
immediately dropped, very much, am
told. to the disappointment Of some oi
| tha honorable memhers rEhn annrn.