St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-09

! gate unlawful combinations among pro-
duceTs, carriers ana dealers, enhancing the
! price of coal to the consumer. The commit
tee, in proceeding with the work OF investi-
CATION through its agents, obtsined the pos
session OF certain books ana papers OF j. j
Rhodes, a coal dealer and the alleged man
ager OF an organization Of coal dealers, Win
ont his consent and against his protest. MI.
Rhodes thereBpon instituted an action
against the committee and its agents to re-
| cover $50, 900 damages for the taking and de-
tenuon of the books ana papers. The legs
latuIe thereupon passed an act appropriate
| ing $1,000 10 pay the expenses OF sucn It'll
CATION and to pay any judgment that might
be recovered against the defendants or any
Of them. MIR Rhodes has finally, after the
action referred 10 had been twice appealed
10 the supreme court, dismissed the same as
to all the defendants thereby substantially
terminating the litigation. Pursuant TO the
act Of the legislature last metiOued an effort
was made TO procure the indictment OF MI
Rhodes and his alleged associates. in the dis
trlct court OF Ramsey county, Tor engaging
in an unlawful combination TO enhance the
price of coal, but such effort proved unsuc-
CesSful. There has been expended out or
the said appropriation OF S50,OU9 the sum OF
81. 53I SIS for attorneys fees, costs ard dls-
buTsements in the case of Rhodes and IN the
efforts to procure his Indictment leaving an
unexpended balance Of S4S, 46S. IL that should
be covered into the general revenue fund by
appropriate legislation.
Fine StuEnPG&e and Public Lands.
A resolution of the legislature of 1893 di-
rected ne TO make judicial Investigation of
the sale of pine stumpgge upon section 50,
township - of range 20. Mile Lees county,
made BY the state auditor 10 Z. A. Smith Il
Co. and authorized me TO employ co Insel
ana incur expenditure for that purpose.
Pursuant 10 such direction and authority.
employed counsel and instituted through
them. in behalf OF the St&te, Ill action against
c. A smith IL Co. 10 Gnnul the sale and TO
recover pay for the timber already cut. In
this action Judgment was obtained against
c, a. smith & Co. to annul the sSle and to
recover pay for the timber already cut. In
this action judgment was obtained against
the defendants for the sum Of $40, 3)2.4S.
damages, interest and costs and the sale as
to the timber uncut which was upwards OF
tw0-thlrdS of the entire lot, was annuiled.
Out Of The amount recovered / expended the
sum of S3,24) in attorneys fees, costs and
disbursements. and paid the balance,
amounting to s., 062. IS into the state treasury.
Pursuant 10 Joint Resolution No. of tie
legislature OF 1893. committee OF three
members Oh the senate ana tour members OF
the house was appointed to investigate all
frauds committed in desp0iiing the school.
university internal Improvement and other
lands OF the state of their timber By the
provisions of the same resolution, the gov
ernOF was also directed to investigate and
examine school lands containing pine tim
Der, or which had heretofore contained SuGh
timber. The appropriation OF s., 900 for the
use OF the committee and $4,000 for the use
aforesaid, was only allowed by the
state auditor to the extent OF
Sz,94S &9-the unexDended balance of the
appropriation for the legislative expenses OF
1888. and Of this amount $1,000 were placed
1T the disposal OF the committee and thS
balance al the disposal CT the governor. The
committee has proceeded and made great
progress with the work derolyed upon II BY
SAID resolution, and lndSmUch as 1t was nam
pered for the want OF funds and the work
assigned TO me by the resolution was on the
same line and for the same purpose as that
ent3iled upon the committee, | made ii MY
agent 10 carry Oh the WoIk of investigation
assigned 10 me, ana as such agent placed al
its disposal the funds allotted TO myself. The
committee has made very full and compTe-
hensIVe report, which contains q detailed &C
count of its work and many valuable and
important recommendations ana sUgges-
lions, for which 1 invoke your most earnest
ana attentive consideration. steps should
be TAKEN under proper legislation. 10 con-
tinue the work Of Investigation 80 we'll IN
Auguraled BY the committee. and ample faeil-
tiles and additional funds should be lIbeI
ally provided for that purpose.
III connection with this subject, l cannot
fOTbeaT TO Gail Your attention 10 the uuS6tlS
factory character Of the law as TO the sale of
pine stumpage. No timber other than pine
can be sold apart from the land, ana pine
timber can only be sold after Il board, com
posed of the governor. state auditor and
state treasurer, has determined that the tim
Der is in danger Of being destroyed by fire or
other cause. Alter such determination the
timber must be duly estimated, ana then
sold at public sale &c the highest bidder.
The governor and state treasurer have no
means at their disposal by which they can
determine whether d given tract OF pine IS
liable 10 be destroyed. Tle only data fur
nlshed them Is the nle8geT ana generally IN
satisfactory report Of an eXamlGeT sent out
by the state auditor. and the estimate made
preliminary 10 The sale is. as 4 rule, made III
j nasty. peTIUncJOry ana sHpshod manner,
and hardly ever talies with subsequent seal
Iugs. in my opinion, it would be WELL II the
governor and state treasurer are to have any
thing 10 90 with the disposal of pine STUN D
age, that each OF them be equipped
with adequate means for obtaining
Information through the channels Of
his own office. to the and that these officers
may be a check upon one another and upon
the state auditor, and 10 the END that The
state may have the benefit of the indepeu-
dent and weil-aOvised judgment of each Of
them. Each one Of these officers should
also nave the same power TO procure an esli-
mate OF tne amount OF pine standing as the
state auditor now has. From estimates OBJ
tanned through three independent channels,
more reliable data could be secured, which
would be q check upon subsequent UnCCila-
bic scalngs. The frauds most likely to Oc-
eur IN connection with the sale of pine
sJumpage arise Chiefly from dishonest and
unreliable estimates OF scGIiugs. l commend
J the entire subject TO your careful cousldeTa-
ton aud attention. Our supply OF pine is
year by year growing less and less. and we
! cannot exercise too much care IN dispOSing
of the residue In This connection / cannot
f0Tbear 10 call your attention to the impor-
lance Of protecting our forests against the
! Tavages of fires. 1t is q difficult subject TO
! regulate, but have no doubt your wisdom
! VIII devise some means TO relieve US from
| our present helplessTess. You have ample
! authority in the premises, for the subject is
| clearly within the police power Of the state.
Dairy and Food Commission,
! The report of the dairy and food commits
! sioner shows that energetic and continued
/ efforts, meeting with considerable success,
/ have been made TO protect the dairy Interest
! Of the state against the inTOadS of Oleomar-
/ gaTine. Seizure and conhscation OF the in
hlblted product has been the most effective
/ weapon-far more dreaded than the mere
naked prosecution OF offenders And were
! II not for the law governing tTafnc and com
MERGE between the states, under which the
manufacturer in another state can shin his
/ product into our stats and dispose of it in
| the original package, seizure and cOnhsca-
! ton would afford com plete relief In all
/ cases where the product has been disposed
/ Of UT the foreign shlpperin its original state
| and has become inteTmingled with the other
/ property Of tue state. then il has become
| subject to the state control and in all such
| cases the dairy department has without hest
/ tauon resorted 10 seizure and counscaliOn.
! a suit was instituted in the federal court for
! Minnesota by the Armour Packing company
against the dairy commissioner TO restrain
( HIM from making such seizures, but when
/ the company found that they could only re-
/ strain in transit, or in original package, g
/ and that the commissioner disavowed any
/ purpose to invade this ground. they dis
! missed their suit.
/ The case of Weideman vs.. The State Of
! Minnesota involving the validity of chapter
/ II of General Laws of 1891 the so-caied
pink law. was prosecuted by the dairy de-
partment 10 successful termination, and at
the October term Of 1893, the supreme court
made & decision sustaining the cOusIitu-
tionality of the law, which had before that
time been a moOted question.
A provisO relating 10 cottoline was added
to the lard law Of 1891 by chapter l26 of the
General Laws Of 1898, which hasilead 10 some
! controversy. II has been insisted on one
| side that the word ''cottoline" was used in q
/ limited or Trademark sense TO describe one
particular product. while, on the other hand
| II has been contended that the word was
/ only used il q general sense to describe
adulterauons of a certain class. This am
biguity of construction should be removed by
! further legislation.
In addition to IFS other duties Tho dairy