The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-10-27

the deed Of $4,000 acres Of swamp lands lands
selected BY his predecessor, and decided to
the Greaf Northern railway and we DE-
Gals to anaui said { deed ga and give this this
powerful railroad corporation the power to
select from the states public domain.
The Times has had a great real to say
about this Great Northern deed. Time and
again have been requested to reply to
the Times attacks on me in connection
with this deed. The individual who
drafted the populistic plank referred to
was an arrant demagogue. Probably
asinine demagogue would be the better
term. Let me give brief history Of this
famous railroad grant and deed. The
Minneapolis & st. Cloud Railway Company
grant was made in 1869. Up to the time,
Adolph Bierman assumed the duties Of
state auditor, under that grant there had
been decided to this company 124,O74.24
acres. The selections for these deeds had
been made by the company. In a decision
rendered by the supreme court Of this
state on Dec. II, 1890, in an action where
the Minneapolis & st. Cloud, Duluth &
Winnipeg and the Duluth and Iron Range
were interested parties. it was determined
that the right to select under the land
=; grant made to the Minneapolis & St. Cloud
belongs to the state (see page 104-45 Mimi }
RecoMect, this decision was rendered
Dec. II, 1890. Between that date and Sept.
d, 1894, Auditor Bierman allowed the com.
ing the decision. and during this same
time the records show that he decided to
| them, ON their own selection, H1S661
acres. Then, after falling out with Jim
Hill and Mike Doran, he discovered that,
under the decision above quoted, the state,
and not the company, had the right to Sc.
aect, and during the months of September
and October, 1894, he selected for the com.
pany these 2H 1864 acres Of what he
claimed, and what his friends claimed, and
no one denied. were the poorest of the poor
swamp lands in the entire state. Mr.. Bier
mans friends claim that by making this
selection and giving these worthless lands
to the Great Northern he was rendering
the state great service He was doing
nothing Of the kind. He simply saddled
all the worthless lands upon one railroad
corporation to the advantage of other rail-
road corporations. Let me illustrate: At
the time Mr.. Bierman made this Great
Northern deed, GAG, 700 acres of swamp land
were required to fill the undisputed untitled
railroad grants. Had the Great Northern
grant been the only grant then to be filled,
MIR. B1erman's action would certainly have
Injured to the advantage Of the state, be-
cause the state would have gotten rid
OF 21,OOO acres Of its most worthless lands,
and the remainder Of the swamp lands
would have accrued to the educational and
charitable institutions Of the state. But,
as I have shown, there were over 600 900
acres of swamp land required to fill the
grants, and giving this large amount Of
worthless land to the Great Northern COM
pany simply helped the other companies,
and was Of no benefit to the state. In
other words. Mr.. Bierman's action resulted
IN benefting several corporations at the
expense Of the Great Northern. Within
sixty days of the date of the famous deed
to the Great Northern (and during the last
days Of MIR. Bier1nan's administration
70
panies. These lands were the cream of the
swamp lands. The big deed was duly made
and carried to the Great Northern office,
and was Immediately carried back to the
auditors office by an emissary of that COM
pany. From that day to this the Great
Northern company has steadfastly re-
fused to recognize that famous deed in any
manner whatever. So much for the deed.
Before referring to the reason why this
B1erman deed was not listed for taxation,
| a word relative to the Times allegation
that attempted to lobby a bill through the
legislature, multiplying the deed in ques-
ton. BY referring to page Is Of the state
auditors last biennial report, it will be
seem that the attention of the legislature
was called to this deed. There was no at
tempt at secrecy. At that time there prob
ably were a few forties contained in that
deed that were valuable for pine or tam,
arac stumpage. But, since that time l
has been taken off these lands. The state
refused to own them and the Great North
erm would not have them. They were no.
| mans lands.
1 find by referring to the bill file of the
state senate for 1897, that the following
bill was introduced:
State Of Of MN4innssota, Thirteenth Session
snas e 49, 6 &c by MI Greer
bin for an act relating Ella h to the e q
nneapoiis 9 s. co aa k larss 70 come ane
Be it l. ENACTED naE by the legislature of the
ion the of St. Coa4a Ra
SHyt Rsaa and nclqde Lee in deed dated
Of f Tits So ac as prepsre 9 DEED
lists duly filed with the State land COM M
Raze met bgee e9r to Sp spo1 ss of h as
Remainder Of said lana grant shall BE-
the general provisions Of chapter sixty.
two CO.., general laws. 1898. The state land
commissioner shall fill and complete said
Sec. 2. This act Shall take effect and b,
emphatically assert. without fear OF
successful contradiction, that I did not
lobby for the passage Of this bill, and took
no interest in 1t whatever. and never ap-
peared before g. committee only when I
was subpoenaed to do so, and I refer the
Times or anyone else to Senator McFIale,
Senator Hodge, Senator Osmun or Senator
French these are the only gentlemen !
remember being present when I was called
before the committee-there may have been
others), for the truth of what assert. !
do not know what became of the bill !
never attempted to follow 1t up, and, as ]
have said, was not Interested in any man.
ner in its passage or defeat. I find upon
an examination Of the senate journal that
! the bill died in committee, something that
did not happen to bills In which the state
auditors office was interested. Had SEN
ate file No. $50 become law 1t would have
given the company all the land selected by
the company prior to this Bierman deed
amounting to about 10000 acres, and the
balance of "a, 900 acres would have been
selected by me, and, as I stated before the
committee, the Great Northern undoubted.
~ would have received q good share oil
/ the 271,0O0 acres In the Blerman deed. In
other words. the bin meant that the 30, OOt
acres selected and accepted under Auditor
Braden and Auditor Bierman's administra-
lions would have been allowed to stand.
told the committee then, and say II