The age-herald., 1899-11-25
REGENT SALE OF
 UNIVERSITY LANDS
Another Interview With Treas
 urer J. H. Fitts.
COVE RNOR MlSINFORMED
Gives a Few Facts Concerning Receipts from Lease Tuscaloosa Gazette Gives Some Figures and Asks
 Several Pointed Questions

Tuscaloosa, November 24.-(Speeial)-ln reference to the sale of the State University lands to the Sloss-Sheffield Coal and Iron company, the Gazette, in it's issue of yes 'terday says:
 "A Gazette reporter accosted MT. J. H. Fitts yesterday and called his attention to the following from the governors card in the Birmingham News, in which he tried to explain his action in selling the Uni yersity lands:
 All the revenue derived from these lands has been from one small tract espe- cially valuable, and has probably aggre- gated about $15G00, or an average of Sl,oOO year After MT. Fitts read this he was asked what tract had brought the University $1 GOO for the past fifteen years. He replied None; the governor is alluding to the land leased by Colonel Hargrove, and he is badly misinformed, both as to the time and re- ceipts. Ihe land Was not leased to MT. Aldrich until the spring of lS95 think At any rate, the first royalty paid from that lease was for ishe mon.n of October 1895. If you desire 1t, I vii! give you a correct statement of the royalties received from the lease up to this date, which you can publish if you think 1t will be of any interest to the public, or if you desire to correct the reinstatement of the governor.
 MT. Fitts afterward handed me the fol- lowing of the morltnly payments of these royalties October, 1S95 $2S95; November 1895, s46.94 December, 1895. $9451; January, 1896. $175.19; February, 1895, $l5S.1; March, 1896, $lS1.1 .15; April, 1896, $l46.64 May, 1896, T,,Ix August, 1896, $3i79l; September, 1896, $S24.94; October, 1896. $447.94 November, 1896, $s29.O4; December, 1896, $330.05; January, 1897, $379.96; February, 1897, $S05.13; Marcn, 1S9l, $2lS.56; April, 1897, $252; May, 1s97 s256.13; June, 1897, $2sl11; July, 1S9d, $427.19 August, 1S9l, $4o9.62 September, 1S91 $473.05; October, 1897. $45O.7S; November, 1897, $421.94 December, 1884, s41O.55; January, 1898. $4l1.25; February, 1898, s45S.15; March, 1898, $335.16; April 1898, S212.90 May, 1898, $53304; June 1898, s51l.9S; July, 1898, $1i6.36; August, 1S9S $459.40 September, 1898, sf3309; October, 1898, $4S6.45; Novem- Der, 1s9S $4SS.96; December, 1S2S, SITES January, 1899, $520.36; February. 1859, $49o.37; March 1899, $64S55 April, 1S99, $541.i0; May, 1899, $413.19; June, 1899, $449.60; July, 1899, S44o,13 August, 1899, $371S9; September, 1899, $45G.63. Total, $7,994.43
 It will thus be seen llat die amount received from uns land is $l7,99i.4S instead of $15 O00, as stated by the governor, and that the time of the running of the lease has been -four years instead of fifteen, as erroneously stated by plis business gov erno., who it would seem prefers to deal in fancies, not facts and wno, instead of going to the record for the truth, prefers
 
 menis 4hat mus, be given for the purpose Of preventing the truth from coming out on him. The governor knows when u.lis teal Was made wi,h MT. Aldrich and tnat it was not made ff,een years since.
 ' But lo. Us go back to the facts and figures of unIs Aldrich lease, which the business governor sneers at and compares it with the sale of the 4,i40 acres by him and his three trustees at the starAnamber meeting of the board They received for .nis land $56,000, for which the governor claims he get , per cent. interest. As ne is business man and knows about federal and state bonds, we want him to state where he can set sucl securities that will pay net , per cen. He knows, if he is the business man that he claims to be- that per cent. is all that ne can get on this money, and al this rate of interest it will earn only $22iO per annum. Against this now let us see what is GAe annual in come from the Aldriclh lease. Inc above figures show for the four years that these lands have been leased they have paid out to the University $l7994.4S which gives an annual average of $i.49S50 instead of $1,000, as stated by ,Jnls business governor. These
 
 Eess governor, who has access 1o the rec ords and could easily have gU-Ien the facts if he wanted them. The eIpirre amount re- ceived for the sale of the 4440 acres is s5G ,00o which invested required by law will bring to the University treasury an nually s2.240, While the littie G40-acre tract leased by Hargrove, upon whom the gov ernor reflects, is bringing into the institu- ton annually $4,49S4S, which is nearly 5 per cent. GOO Again, let divide the ST, ,99i. IS by the 64O acres of land leased by Hargrove and we will see that more than BPS an acre has already been realized on UhiS property; GIT, to be exact, $2S.11 per acre, and not more than one-fffuh of the coal is gone from the land yet, and that the coal will not be exhausted in fifteen or twenty years at Ghe present rate of con- sumption.
 Now. how does this contrast with the fanciful pictures or the ad captandum statements of the business governor? Is this matter to be sneered at? Is this an action of the late Colonel Hargrove that he his people should be ashamed of or should be lightly. spoken of by this gov ernor?
 'In this connection and about this mat ter we have few ques tions that we want the governor and his associate, General k. w. Rucker, to answer; and if they will answer the questions they can do so and clear up much of the secrecy and mystery of this deal If they do not care to answer them, then the inevitable conclusion must be that they cannot be answered without compromising some one.-
 T. Who are the stockholders of the $20,- OO0. 900 corporation organized dn New Iersav