The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-06-14
EAION,S "A MINUS.

candidates for the Republican nom
ination for senator in the 38th dis
trict which is composed Of the
counties Of Sherburne and Wright.
Mr.. Oakley's friends had major.
ity Of the Wright county delegates
when the convention assembled,
but in the interests Of harmony be
withdrew from the race and his
friends united with the Sherburne
county delegates and nominated
Hon. w. ii. Houlton, Of Elk River,
a gallant ex-soldier and man that
had served two terms previously
as State senator. Eaton bolted
and formed a combination with the
Democrats. The UNION has a
large circulation in Sherburne
county and we have many personal
friends there; naturally enough,
we espoused the cause of our friend
and neighbor the regular Repubh-
can nominee Hon. w. III. Houl-
ton. For the part we took in that
fight Eaton has never forgiven us.
He hates us with a cordial hatred
and the feeling is heartily recipro-
Gated on the part of the writer.
This by way Of preface to show
the motives that actuate Senator
Eaton.
For months past, since our
name has been mentioned in con-
nection with the State authorship.
his paper has teemed with vile per-
sonal abuse of us. In the last two
issues of his paper he attempts to
belittle our efforts in the pine land
investigation, and brazenly asserts
that we had little or nothing to do
with it. We want it distinctly
understood that we are not now
claiming nor never have claimed
that we were entitled to any es-
pecial credit for our action in that
matter we simply performed our
sworn duty without hope or
expectation of reward. But
we do claim that that
duty was discharged honestly and
fearlessly. We do claim that we
we're the first person to call the at
tention of the people of the State
to the shameful manner in which
the school fund was being robbed
by the pine barons through the
connivance Of State officers. We
do claim that the State has been
robbed of hundreds of thousands
Of dollars and that our investiga-
ton has put stop to the robbery.
We do claim that the investigation
which was conducted by US was
the cheapest and most successful
in the history Of the State in fact
it was the only investigation that
ever put a dollar into the State
treasury. We do claim that we
drove the entering wedge that split
the gang of plunderers wide open
and paved the way for other in
vestigations to follow.
Now for the facts. AS far back
as 1878, week after week, we called
the attention of the readers of the
Union to the fact that Auditor
Whitcomb was parceling out val
liable pine timber, the property of
the school children of the State, to
his favorites for a mere 1.-THE of it's
actual value. But to come down
to more recent period. In Au-
gust, 1892, the irregular sale of
the pine timber upon section &c.
1926 was first brought to our at
tention. We made mention of it
several times in the UNION, and
urged that the candidates for the
legislature from this district should
be required to pledge themselves,
if elected, to have the matter in
vestigated. The Anoka, Little
Falls and Brainerd papers also
made mention of the transaction.
Messrs. Lee, Fleming and the
writer made an issue of it in the
campaign and publicly pledged
themselves to secure an investiga.
ton. Yet Senator Eaton has the
effrontery to say,
By his own admission Dunn was uu-
der a pledge to have the sale of section
36-42-26 in Mile Laos county investi-
gated. This pledge was never have.
claimed to have been made to the peo-
pie of his Legislative district, they
knew nothing of it, but the pledge was
made to some pine land dealers in his
district and in Anoka, presumably to
secure their support in his campaign.
These pine land dealers wanted this
land. G. A. Smith & Co. got it, and to
get even with G. A. Smith & Co. they
wanted the trade ripped up the back
and Dunn promised to do it before he
was elected, so that his investigation
was prompted by pine land men and
not from any special desire for reform
on his part.
No man who knows Hon. VIM
n II 90 c,oooIo,, ~F Abo l2,,,. sly