Omaha daily bee., 1897-10-12
WHERE STATE LOSES MONEY
Another Feature Of the Deal in the School
Land Leases.
BACK RENT OFFSETS BONUSES OBTAINED
Unsty ActIou Of the Hoard wipes out
Indebtedness of siGO,OOo, Much
of Witch Could Have
Been Collected.
AcK RENT OFFSETS BONUSES OBTAINED

LINCOLN. Oct. i1..-(sreclai)- Land Com
missioner Wolfe, who Is up in the north
west part OF the state leaeing school lands,
sends word TO the office that in Knox
county he offered 1925 acres for lease. and
succeeded in leasing S.3i6 acres. receiving
a bonus amounting 20 Sa36.s0. lie says that
he has had the best luck in Knox county
that he has met with during the leasing
campaign, and received a larger bonus fiom
that county than from any other The books
of the commissioners office, however, show
that there have been IA $50 acres of leased
land marked Cancelled IN Knox county this
year, the state thereby losing beyond re-
demption the delinquent rental, amounting
to about Ss,9lG. Knox county citizen
who was in the city today gives 1t as his
opinion that under the improved conditions
and good prices for grain aud live stock
in his county, fully One-guatter vi the buck
rent would have been paid this year had the
board not been hasty in declaring the
forfeitures before the farmers could realize
the money on their proJucts
An Investigation shows that similar con
ditions prevail in the other counties Of the
state, except very few, anu 1t is found
that in these few counties the commissioners
had very poor success in making rev leases
The total of Land leases Cancelled this year
amounts zip to 766,7S9 acres the back rent
on the same amounting to $4G0,O73. BY the
cancellations this amount has been entirely
lost to the state. The public has been al
lowed to believe that great part vi tue
cancelled lands have been leased again to
good farmers and that the amount OF bonus
received foots up to an enormous amount.
PROFIT HARDLY APPARENT.
This is not "a fact, however Up to sep
stno,',,hi,, ana att.nding inc anrtions in
r,arso" had sf,ccaeded in leasing so OOO
scras The annual rental of which is about
sIt mo nm Ais amnnnt leased he received
Sio'ooo. otn .i,'s, us ~ an - a. 5oo ,rla
Son,,,,, cnnimIssioner saws that n careful eg-
tinrSto sbows that at the end of the year
~ 80, -, Iaases from, all sources will
a.,o"nt w. ooo onn acr.s and that there will
alouht W -OV,VVo " ~, ,,',,u 80 nhort go ono
u,a i, 49,. fan,ai 90, ,hIs whole anount viii
he nbout s3S 600 a part of which is sure to
aeoIn bacnm,o dalin1uent In order to get
the bonus money amounting to $4,000 and
the promises to pay rentals amounting 10
S3S 900 a year the board has Cancelled leases
on 766,IS9 acres of land and wiped out Of
existence the S46O,O13 debt when was uuc
on back rent. 1t is only iair TO suppose
that some OF TINS back rent wouiu nav nav Doe'' oo
paid up, and that uhaer the illproseu Ill oH.'
ditions large numpel vi IheS' ~, ~
leases would have continued 10 pay lnel a
rentals to the state HAD they pau V"I g.
1ortietn out OF the ".iounu Inv noi,,,t tbat vii
woulu laFe t,u,i peGm 'Ia i, hnnnsos ybile had 40
% ~, inu,1 tn ha pnod nav
per @ ecu, a,, orc ", bcreafter thew would pay in
ing renters @ @heieai'e e. IVY ,,an, ieases will
Gi shoIe noies ~ .t, 20, 'N'
pr,ns .o ~ .ne faa%,ra of the now scheme for
hIothei 49, 70 ,iabt bv investigation
IT,, uaI5 h,5 5,rads NJ cases the delinquent renter
- I'm hnIa tb. land even after the forfeiture
had been declared and found it far more
rnostahin .,au IN make a new lease and pay a
pooa si,ed horas than to pay up the back
rant In cases of we'll improved farms the
owner was glad to pay small bonus ana
oet q new lease, where the back rent ac-
count was wiped off the books. Some OF
them allowed or induced other men to Sc
cure the new leases, and then got assign
ments from them. 1t was in this manner
that the Edmisten land deal was hiauaseu "
whereby the state lost four and one-hali
years back rent on a quarter sectloh III
Dawson county
GOVERNOR HoLCoMB RETURNS
Governor Holcomb and party returned home