The age-herald., 1900-04-03

commit inst offense. do not propose to
 state one fact not based on the official re-
 port of some state officer
 Governor Johnston produced statements
 from the treasurer's office, arguing that
 hs had entirely sxtlnguished 4ne defflt
 which had accumulated during the admin
 istration of his bredeeessofs.
 llq regard to the ereatfoh of offices he
 said:
 Creating Offices and Increasing Salaries
 Another charge is that created a sqe-
 cial judge and that he has been in office eighteen months and never held court or tried a case. As is usual, both charges are untrue. did not recommend the ere &tion of the office, and somewhat reluct- antly approved the pil
 The Nicaragua Canal
 Speaking of the proposed Nicaragua ca nal, he said:
 II am heartily in favor of the construc- ton of canal to connect the Atlantic and FacH1c oceans. l think it would be of vast benefit to our country and particularly to Aiapama and the south. l tLlink 1t would increase our commerce ten times as much as the possession of any distant islands that nave already cost us three times as much as would require to build the canal. Il am not in favor of endorsing the bonds or any corporation to do this work nor cf seeking the consent of any foreign nation other than the republics having dominion or the lands desired to be occupied. I am against making q treaty with England on tLle subject I am in favor of the United States acquiring the right building and running and controlling and defending the
 canal as dts own property without the con- sent and in defiance of the interference of any European government
 It seems to mo that the efforts hereto l lore expended Gn attempting to turn this l work over to the Maritime Canal company | nave only had the effect to delay and cl1- strnct the work suppose the statement l or my position over and over again will | put an end to Chat latest lie that Mr Huntington is putting some large sums o.f money Into the election to defeat my dis
 tin9ulshed compehttor. Judging the future oy uAe past, don't see why MT. Hunting ton should desire change"
 Governor Johnston then referred to the
 land deeds, saying:
 The Land Dea,
 When the board of trustees of the 'MonteVallo school, without a single dissent-
 ing vote, directed me, as president of the board Qn consideration of $2 300 cash to be forfeited if the lands were not taken) to give an option to MT. DeBardelaben to take the lands at $5 per acre, and their or uef was carried out by me, the opposition made vicious charges against me for | that the lands were worth $20 an acre. that they mad been sacrificed, and that proba bly
 was getting some benefit. more atro- clous lie was never breathed into existence.
 Ilme ripened, the option expired, Mr. De- Bardelaben declined to take the land and forfeited the $2,500 to the school The | monew was invested in a dairy farm. ana no one is ready to offer as much as
 s3oo per acre up to this time. The reckless winners ought to have organized syndi- cate and taken the lands at S5.
 An option, subject to the approval of
 the board. was given by me on some 1000 acres Of land of the university Tho board was called together, every member notified
 to be present, the land commissioner in- structed to be there with maps and all in- formation as to value, and he was present with his maps and the advice of the assist
 ant state geologist who know the lands and stated that the price offered (s125O was
 fair and full. The board, with one dissent ing Vote directed the sale to be made. The transaction was not closed for several
 weeks. The president of the university and
 members of the board knew of the trans action. There was no secrecy about it. Not an objection was heard. The deed was
 prepared by the land commissioner and the
 money paid into the state treasury The Alumni Meeting "Then the alumni were called to meet A partisan committee appointed and it was
 alleged that great outrage had been per- petrated and that the lands were worth $200 an acre, it was intimated that it was a terrlpe and fraudulent transaction. Sub- sequently a hi4 was filed to set aside the sale, all charges of an unfair price or fraud or wrong doing of any kind abandoned and the right to set aside put almost wholly on the ground that not as many days notice | of the meeting had been given as a bylaw l required. The truth is, that the lands were | sold at full and fair price, and it was to | the interest of the people and the universi- | ty, and in accordance With the grant to | sell rather than lease, and no one desired | to lease. The question was, whether it was ] better to hold these lands and tax the peo- p.e over s1O,0Go a | ar. or sell them and re- lieve the people of this burden. The uni- versity had over 30,000 acres of land. If all could be sold al this price it would have an income at per cent of nearly $40 GOO a year, and would have no need to be calling fer extra appropriations at the expense of | the taxpayers.
 Some of the reckless campaign orators said that had sold my own land at $49 per | acre and the university at $1250 The viciousness of the lie can be understood | when it is known that the lands referred to | as mine had been hmpronved and developed, and deducting what these improvements cost in cash and the value of the personal property included, from the price, s49 left Tess than $S an acre for the land. Last week the same company (Sloss- | Sheffie9d) bought about 1000 acres from Colonel B. M. Long in the same vicinity and just as good land for $10 per acre | Nothing will be heard of any of these | charges after the 14th of April. One dis | tinguished orator stated In a public speech 1 that he was informed that when I was | boy four or five years old I had stolen a | gold thimHe from my mothers basket | No one else had ever heard of the charge | serious and grave as it is; but a Morris | hotel orator can be depended upon in any | emergency where unrestra'ned ima ginaton | and reckless disregard of common de- cency is desired.''