The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-30

range 149, town 49, Inspector Wright
found 10000 feet On lot 8. same sec
ton, Stevens reported 1000 feet In
spector Wright found over 100000 feet
| CTestimony of w. G. Stevens, Inspec-
tor Wr1ght's report, page 1867 These
and all the other underestimate tracts
were sold to the lumbermen Through
| the influence of Commissioner Lam
oreaux, Senator Davis, Fletcher, Eddy
| and possibly others of our representa-
tives in congress, these sales have been
| approved. 1t is true, as often charged,
! that 1 asked both Secretary Francis
| and Bliss not to approve these sales I'M
| til further investigation could be made
| 10 Secretary Bliss and Senator Nelson
L gave it as my opinion that these
| sales were valid and would so be decid-
| ed by the courts unless we could show
| fraud and collision, a rather difficult
thing to accomplish. I also held that
| the United States government must re-
| 1mburse the Chippewa Indians for all
| their losses from the Understanding
| Was this terrible, outra geous underes-
timating the result of INCOMPETENCE,
| carelessneSs, accident, or was it the re-
| suit of fraud and collision? 1 say there
must have been collision between the
| lumbermen Or Their agents and some
| of the estimatorS.
The st. Paul G o b of June 90
| states that commissioner Hermann
has determined to accept the estimates
where the Staples and Douglas reports
nearly agree STAPLES was chief OF
| the former corps and one of the prom
inent purchasers of pine at recent
sales), land offer for sale on basis of
| last estimate" If you do, Mr.. Com
missioner, you will hear from the Chip
pewas. I had anticipated this move,
for Commissioner Hermann has oppos-
| ed me all the time, and so wrote to Sec
rotary Bliss from the Mile Laos reser-
walton, under date of June 10, calling
his attention to the fact that the COM
parative statements of the Staples and
| Douglas estimates, as printed in InSpec-
| tor Wright's report, were not a part OF
said report; that those statements were
| prepared by Commissioner LamoreauX
some time after Wright had made his
report, and were presented to Secre-
tary Bliss and myself by LamoreauH,
with an argument for the approval of
! the sales of Red Lake pine. 1 affirmed
that the frauds of the Staples estimates
were greater than those Of the Douglas
| estimates; that there should be on file
| in the secretarys Office the sworn
statement of one of the Staples esti-
majors that attempts were made to
bribe him to make false returns, and
| that he left the corps because OF iris
| and the knowledge he had of many of
the estimators being bribed. For these
| and other reasons L urged that the
comparison between the Staples and
Douglas corps should not be taken
! into consideration at all.
Coming down now to date, viz, June
| 26. The Washington correspondents of
| the st. Paul and Minneapolis papers
have kept the wires hot during the
| past month with accounts OF the eff
forts of Davis, Fletcher, Eddy and
! oic.ciO T,a1-
Baldwin One day they are sure of
BaldWin's scalp the next not so sure,
and then they fume and threaten, go
see the secretary and the president,
and with a grain of encouragement re-
new their efforts. Baldwin must be re-
moved, for are they not pledged to the
pine land ring that it shall be so? The
G 0 b e. S correspondent, under date of
June o. says: THE efforts of the Min
nesota delegation for the removal of
| Baldwin will be successful Glorious
| day; GoOdnow appointed to $4,000
| job; Baldwin deprived of his $40 day
job. Glory enough for one day of Nc
Kirleyism. To be sure my position is
! protected by civil service, and fortified
by four years service during the War
of the Rebellion, to say nothing Of my
| being a sound money Democrat. What
| matters all this as against the inf1u-
ence of the pine land ring? Any
! charges against baldwin? Not
charge Only he dare stand up for the
rights of the Indians. He dare oppose
the lun1bermen who had robbed them
of much pine timber, and were after
! the rest of it. Well I haven't resigned.
I shan't resign. / can't resign in honor.
To do so would be a half admission of
guilt, and might be accepted as full
admission by the public. Besides 1 do
| not know that either Secretary Bliss or
ba 1ornSideDt have demanded
my resignation, for the call for my
resignation came in a sort of semi-of-
| fetal way, and thus far | have heard
nothing further regarding it. Doubt
| less I will be removed, for Davis,
Fletcher, Eddy and Morris have sworn
it. The most vicious of my persecu-
tors is Representative Eddy, of the
| Seventh district. All because I heard
in Washington, from several sources,
that Eddy had said that by a lucky
purchase of Red Lake Indian pine at
the late CrCokston sale he had made
enough to pay all his late campaign
expenses AS it came to me this pur-
chase was made in the name of one
Peterson. l happened to know that
Eddy was one of the principal pur-
chasers of Indian pine at the Duluth
sale. EDDY says he made the purchase
as agent for Michigan parties. I have
said, and 1 say again, that Eddy, as
| the representative III COHSTGSS OIL many
of the Chippewas, should have steered
clear of these pine sales, because it
was known that the lands had been
greatly underestimate and the In
dams robbed.
Later-July g. The request for my
resignation as Chippewa Indian COM
missioner was received this date, to
which I promptly returned the follow
| ing reply:
I have the honor to acknowledge the re-
cept of your letter of the Goth inst, in
which, by the direction of the president, you
| request my resignation as Chippewa Indian
| commissioner, asking an answer at my earli-
est convenience. In reply beg to assure you,
Mr.. Secretary, that under ordinary conditions
my reply to the request of the demand of
the president or yourself for my resignation
would meet with prompt compliance on my
| part. would not claim the protection of the
civil service, would |, or do 1 now plead
for retention the ground of honest, faith
full discharge of duty, or would 1 refer to my
| record as soldier-as private and officer