The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-20

THEM Until SOlu6UUuS wall pay bACAA
or an approximation of it for them.
Another point is that where the govern.
ment had information that lands are more
valuable for their minerals than for agri-
cultural purposes, they We're Withdrawn
from the market Farmers, therefore, and
other persons who originally entered gov
eminent lands We're not permitted to home
stead where, If in the opinion of the gov
ernment they contained valuable deposits
Of minerals. Some violations of this rule,
of course, were made, but it is neYerthe-
less true that as a general rule the original
entrymen were seeking the low lands,
which, as a general thing, do not contain
workable seams of coal, or If they do con-
tain workable seams of coal, these seams
are upon portions of the lands entered
which were in the hills and mountains.
Therefore, when they sell their mineral
Interests in a tract of land very much of
it Is yalueless for mining purposes.
The university lands Were however, by
act of congress, permitted to be selected
from the lands which the government had
reserved for the value of the minerals
thereon. DIR. Smith was engaged virtually
a year in making these selections, and in
addition to his own valuable fund of know-
edge obtained from ten or twelve years of
experience as state geoligist prior to that
time, made 'diligent inquiry from all
sources, and selected lands which he had
reason TO believe were the best then owned
by the government in the state The val
properly be compared with the valuation
placed by farmers upon the lands entered
for an altogether different purpose, and I'M
der different law.
Form of the Options
= The only option which we have seen, but
we are informed some of the others are
similar, on its face shows that 1t is made
subject to the approval of the board of
trustees, and the letter of the governor of
March 16, to Mr. Fits, in which he states
that he is negotiating a sale of the lands
in township 16, range Z, states that the
sale he was then negotiating was subject
to the approval of the board of trustees.
The statute was that the sales, if any,
were to be made by the land commissioner,
and by ordinance they were subject to the
approval of the executive committee, whose
action upon the matter could be obtained
at any reasonable time. These members of
the executive committee were known to be,
and had gone on record as being opposed
to any further sales of the university lands,
The idea, therefore, was to shoot over the
heads of the appointed agents and officers
of the university, and submit the question
ITO those who were without information to
a certain degree in regard to the merits of
the proposition. The sale in this case well
illustrates the reason for making the OPP
tion read Subject to the approval of the
trustees!" The chairman of the executive
committee was detained by important bus
mess, occasioned probably by insufficient
notice of the meeting. Other members of
the board were absent from the state, and
the sole member of the executive commit
tee who was present consistently opposed
the sale, and only three of four members
of the board of trustees out of twelve ac-
tually voted in favor of it.
Governors Personal Connection With Deal
1t may be that in the statement made by
the governor to the press and also to the
board of trustees he sincerely believed them
to De true; but the best defense that can be
made for him is that he was greatly misn-
formed in regard to the facts about which
he assumed to speak, and he was reeklessly
disregardful of the law which he was sworn
to uphold and protect. How much, If any
thing, the holder of the option upon the
university lands obtained for the option we
have not been able to discover, and may
never learn. 1t is not fair to assume that
he obtained the option out of pure love for
the university. Men don't take options to
the financial centers and organize and float
twenty million dollar corporations for the
love of their country or for their health. 1t
is to be supposed and it is the only natural
supposition that they expect to be paid for
it
We called upon the officials of the Sloss-
Sheffield Steel and Iron company and asked
them what they paid for these options, and
they declined to answer the question. they
voluntarily told us, however, that they
didn't think we would make anything by
pursuing that line of investigation, and that
really they had bought other lands more
valuable for less money. We asked them
then if they would surrender the university
lands to the university at the price paid
and take the money and buy those other
better lands at ten dollars per acre, which
we had been assured they could do, and
which they themselves assured us they nad
done. They stated that they didn't buy the
lands for the purpose of resale. We then
tried to ascertain the name of the party
who held the option, but we failed IN that.
We asked the governor for information in
regard to these options and all other mat
ters connected with the sale which he saw
fit to state, and he has ignored our COM
rnunication.
1t has been stated to us that the governor
vas in New York and attended and partic1-
DATED in the meetings at which the organl-
cation of the Sloss-Shehied company was
set in motion. We don't know that he had
any interest in that company further than
the sale of the American Coal and COKE
company lands in which he was interested,
for the price of about fifty dollars per acre,
and the sale of certain mineral rights OWL
ed by himself and General Rueker jointly
at about ten dollars per acre 1t has been
stated that the original price for which the
university lands were to be placed IN the
Sloss-Shefield deal was twenty dollars per
acre. We have only one side of that ques-
ton and cannot express any opinion
Our view OF the matter Is tHdl tie queS-
tion of the right and the propriety of the
university to recover these lands does not
turn upon any question of intentional fraud
perpetrated or alleged to have been perpe-
trated by the governor but that wholly re-
CARELESS of and apart from that question:
this sale can and ought to be set aside.
1t has been suggested that the governor
could not sell his own lands without IN
Guiding those of the university; that they
were really parts of one and the same deal
and each depended upon the other. There
is remarl5a BILE simultaneousness in these
transactions. and If they are merely COIN
oidences in point of time and have no bear
ing one upon the other, the fact ought 10 De
known.
the Future Conduct of Sales
We do not deem it beyond the scope OF the
duties of this committee 10 einphaticany
e1goast and urgently recommend that the
future sales and leases of the lands OF the
university shall be required to be along the