St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-15

was completed, and Dcfofe the audltof
had made the draft, the committee per
emptorily instructed him to the effect
that no settlement with the company
would be allowed, and the committee
then took sole charge of the case. This
was the last heard of it, except for an
occasional statement in some interview
with members of the committee, in
which it was declared that it was
getting along all right" until Aug. Z,
1894. At this time Gov. Nelson trans
.mitted to the treasurer letter encl0s-
Ing the check Of Harris Richardson for
s17, ,342 Oh. With this letter the gov
ernor enclosed the following self-eX-
planatory letter from Mr.. Richardson's:
A SIS Fee.
ST. PAUL. Mimi, Aug. 81, 1894.
Knute Nelson, City-Dear Sir: We
have collected for the state, as the re-
suit of three suits. two brought against
the ItaSca Lumber company and one
brought against the II. c. AkeIy Lun-
Der company, TO recover for the pine
timbe cut upon section 36-56-26. and
section 15-55-22, the sum of $4,000.
Two thousand dollars of this sum
should 90 to the credit of section 36-5ii-26
and $4,000 to the credit of section 16-
55-22. The committee incurred eX-
penses amounting to S409 i'll connection
with the investigation and bringing suit
as 10 section GO 56-26 and S73570 in con.
nection with section 16-55-22. l have
advised them to take this money out OF
the amount collected and put it in the
bank to the credit Of the secretary Of
the committee, for the purpose OF con-
tinuing the investigation.
l do this believing that it is proper
reimburse the appropriation in this wayo
which it could he done. In connection
with the suits we have incurred an eX-
penditure of s13.26, and we have
charged the sum of 81, 500 in the three
cases. On the recommendation of the
committee we have deducted Onr fees
and expenses. ! hand you herewith
cur check for 17,942.O4, being the
amount collected, less fees aud eX-
pen5eS as aforesaid. Yours respect
fully, HARRIS RICHARD SON.
The deductions to be made from the
foregoing statements and from Mr.
Richardson's letter are plain. The
Itasca company. or its successors, the
Akely com Dany, volunteered TO pay the
state the amount it claimed, to VIII, $685.
500, and the only ''cOstS, fees and dis
bdrsements" to which the state would
have been subject in this case were
two-cent stamp to forward the draft,
After several months of patient toll
and careful investigation the committee
collects $4,000, LESS fees and expenses
aforesaid" amounting to 81 ,651.96.
1t will readily be seen that the inter-
ference of the committee in this case
simply
Cost the State SS.15796.
Further than this. the committee, in
Withholding a portion OF the amount
collected, violated constitutional pro-
vision, which expressly stipulates that
the principal of all sums collected from
such sources shall remain forever in
tact. and that they shall not be eX-
pended for any purpose whatsoever.
The entry upou the auditors books
showing the receipt OF this sum is un-
der the head of miscellaneous re-
ceipts," and the item is put down as
follows: "From Kuute Nelson, gov
ernor, amount collected in suits against
Itasca Lumber company and II. G.
Akely Lumber company. less expense,
$17,342.04."
W ny tnlS sum coming ulIeclly IrOnl
the permanent school fund should be
credited to miscellaneous receipts can
only be accounted for on the theory that
it was desired to avoid the cOnStitu-
tional prohibition Of an inroad on the
school fund.
The next case cited where the com
mittee 'saved' money for the state is
| that Of Staples & Mulrey, the amount
| being S3.026.29. Concerning this, the
! following are the facts: Surveyor Gen
eral Jacob Bean, of the Saltwater dis
| trict. in which the logs in question were
| cut, had not made his report on the sec
| ton in question at the time the commit
| tee begun its work, but he had already
been notified that such report was over
due. and while the committee was en-
gagged i'll
A EaWksllaVV Excursion
to upper Snake river to ferret out clues
the report was made. the draft for the
| amount was drawn and the committee
had no more to do with it than the
| Sultan Of Turkey:
The next and only other case is that
against |. r. Foley, for $500. This
! was a clear case of trespass, and one In
which the committee had every chance
| to exert its ingenuity In Saving" for
the state. The amount is placed among
| the assets Of the committee, and, as a
matter OF fact, the committee has done
everything except to get the money.