St. Paul daily globe., 1895-04-18
Staples and Dunn Bills Fro
woke a War Of Words in
the Senate.
blt9tt
DAY FAvoRs BULLDoztNG.
20
II That Be Necessary to Put,
the Staples Bill noi
Through. 80 &c
THE SENATE PASSES BILLS
H
Aimed at the Ramsey County
Coroner and Abstract vs7sc
o., earsi
VloFh. tsu5i

The senate extended it's work I'M
til near midnight, the pine land bills
taking up two long sfdtings. The
debate on this matter was one of the
most acrimonious of the session, and
at times was spiced with sharp
words. The lines were drawn be-
tween the measure favored by the
state auditor and the one that had
the Endorsement of the pine land
committee. The entire force of the
state auditors Office was on the floor
of the senate during the contro-
versy, and the lobby was augmented
bp the presence of lumbermen. the
Staples bill has the right of way,
but it has not been disposed of. It
will DOUBTLESS require several more
hours today to finish consideration
of the measure. A number of amend
ments have already been made, and
the house will get one more chance
ait the matter
The pine land bills were taken up
as special order yesterday afternoon,
.. +. 359. introduced by Mr.. Staples
and >. e. 692. introduced by Senator
Potter, and known as Auditor Dunns
measure, were considered together
Senator Schaller moved that the Sta
pies measure be recommended 20 pass
Senator Potter moved that the senate
measure be substituted. 81
Senator Schaller opened the discus
sion upon the merits of the two meas
ures by saying: 81 presume it is not
necessary to recall the fact that, two
years ago, an investigation in a sum-
mary way was ordered with a view 10
uncover the frauds perpetrated by the
pine land thieves" He proceeded to
descant upon the conditions that made
1t necessary to take some action that
would preserve the state school lands
and to provide more drastic laws to
punish the piracies upon the pine
lands and to prevent the spoliation of
the public domain. Unless the house
file be passed he declared the Iegisl
lature would break the pledge all par
ties had made to put stop to a de-
struction of the pine belonging to the
school lands. He preferred the house.
measure because of its efficiency. The
senate bill he characterized as being a
revamp Of the old law, that had proven
to be inefficient He did not favor
I leaving the sale Of the pine to the
will of the land commissioner, but
should be vested, as provided in the.
house bill, in the governor and board
of commissioners, who could only dis
pose of the pine after complying with
| provisions stated in the bill. rf,ssl
Senator Potter drew distinction be-
| tween the sale of agricultural lands
| and pine land stumpage, and contend-
ed that the senate bill was preferred
| by the people.
Senator Hodge contrasted the feat
| ures of the two bills. His experience
| in the sale of pine lands led him to OBJ
| serve that the state could not use the
| same methods in selling pine as
| private individual. He thought it
| good policy to preserve timber as far
| as possible. In view of all the facts
| he favored the main provisions of the
| house bill.
Senator Thorpe, speaking in the light
| OF twenty years experience in hand
| ling pine lands, thought the old system
| OF d1spoSing of lands should be pre-
| served. He had never heard of a loss
! or complaint relative to the system of
recording assignments of leases and
| in leasing state lands. He saw no use
| to change the system for disposing of
| lands by the state.
| Senator Young said that the revela-
| tions of the investigation started two
| years ago had startled the state. IT
| had been shown that the state had
| been disgraced by the frauds that had
| deprived the state of many thousands
| of dollars worth of property He did
| not
DEEM 1T WISE
! to leave the discretion in the hands of
the state auditor to dispose of public
lands 1t was no use to pass the senate
| bill. 1t had been Indefinitely post
| poned by the house. and the refusal TO
| pass the house bill would amount to a
refusal to provide means to protect the
state against methods that his obser-
walton warranted him in saying would
permit further wrongs against the
| state. In his opinion the house file
was ably drawn, and is good meas
ure. The terms of the old law per-
mitted appalling conditions to arise be-
cause of lame provisions
! Senator Wyman said the house bill
provides for selling pine as soon as a
| fire runs through the forest The SEN
ate bill would allow a sale when there
| was danger of a fire on timber lands.
He found objection to the method of
keeping the books In the AUDITOR s
office under the old law Because of
the change in bookkeeping methods
| and of other features he favored the
Staples bill. He deemed it unwise to
take up the senate bill because it could
not become a law this session.
Senator Fuller favored the senate
| or,I I4;,
ative to scaling pine when standing
was preferable to scaling it after be-
ing cut, as provided by the house bill.
Senator Keller alluded to the hard
work of the legislative investigation
two years ago. He said he had teIe-
graphed for witnesses and informa-
ton. The witnesses had responded,
and the committee had worked hard
He alluded to Senator Leavftt having
| worked hard to discover what had
been done, and an ungrateful public
had kicked him out of office. He said
that an immense amount had been ex-
| pended in the investigation, in at
torney fees and for other expenses.
The investigation had resulted in los
ing more money than it saved. He
favored passing the senate bill, which
allowed the auditor to have charge Of
the pine lands. He wanted to let the
governor and auditor go in under the
old system and make a good record.
Senator Schaller said that the house
bill had been criticised on the theory
that ashes could not be estimated, and
the law questioned by persons who
knew almost as little about it as q
mummy. He said that it was true
that the house file increased the pay
of these same appraisers. He claimed
that the pine land scandal had come
because the state auditor had appoint
| ed appraisers who were not qualified