The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-10
GOV. lind Pulls TIE REDRDON THE STAIE EAUDHOR'

| days ago to criticise the administration;
but propose to do him justice, whether
| ne Will me or not.
| Mr.. Dunn has done a great deal of good
| work; he is doing good work; l have CO.
| operated with him. and he with me, in
| saving the remnants of the public lands
| TO the state, and l propose to give him
! credit for it; but l propose also to ask
him-I regret that he is not here-when
| he had the audaci'ty to stand before an
audience in this state some two weeks
| ago and state that the public school
lands of this state had been honestly ad-
| mln1Stered and. that 1t was because of
| the honesty and good administration of
the Republican party of this state that
| our school fund has reached the enormous
amount amount of Sl3, 900, to ask him why he
did not tell the whole truth. I tell YOU
now, and 1 utter it with all the emphasis
that am capable of, If the Republican
state officials, if the Republican state
| oIlcers s In the past had been honest, and
done their duty, the school fund of this
STATE would have been double what it is
| L Ltouay: lAppiause) l propose to show
now the republican officials of this state
TOOK 100000 from the school fund OF
this state and turned it over to John
Roekefeller. iao o1lo It IS serious charge to
make, put 1t is true, absolutely true.
Now, am going to read very briefly
! from Mr.. Dunn's own official report on
this question. On page so of the state
auditors report for the years 1895 and
1896. you will find this, from Dunn
"A committee of the state legislature
OF 1895 made an Investigation of the re
IN nnqulSShment us by the state of the lands
| on Wh1ch the Mountain Iron Mines is
SITUATED, after the same had been dlIIy
! selected as indemnity school lanS The
Se IesSecrlptlon OF these lands are: The south
! nall of the southwest quarter southwest
| quarter of the southeast quarter or sec
ton 80, township SO, range 18 and lois
numbers number three and four and the south
| west quarter of the northwest Quarter
OF section 8, and the southeast Quarter Of
F, 5S, range Is. > - 'iis'iiip
In view of the fact that this Mountain
IRON Mine property is today valued at
more than $4,000 600, which is a conser-
vauve estimate, and an amount exceed
Iug tne entlre accumulation of the state
school fund to date, have, in regular
! course OF office work investigated the
! 1acts attending the REIMBURSEMENT of
/ tnese tilfse lands as shown by the records of
t,ia+ triis 9dllce @ ana of the United States dis
@ ITlct land office. at Duluth, Mimi, which
| snow as follows:
FROM DUNN's REPORT.
! THE land in question. which now IN
| @ eIuaes al the land owned, occupied and
| OoIperdleo as part of the Mountain Iron
1lne, bn e. on +d the Mesabi range, was selected
DuIuth Ill SELECTION list No. 9, on
February 8, 1884. This selected list was
| IN IN proper form and in conformity with
! the rules of practice of the general land
once IN force at the time the selection
ooan dnat was February 9Th. 1884, then he
,,S2E "0n January 26th. 1888. the then state
auditor, Mr.. w. w Bradens caused a
new new selection list, No. u, to be made. to
saKe Sas Ihe place and supersede. the lists
! WIN WIN a TeInquishment signed by State
1hudltor 1a.Id Braden' of all the selections of
iand Tn made IaaU in IN the first list.
| property. for four years. after If had
peen duly reported to Washington and
aioner ian oeen af pa passed upon by the commits
pending in the office Of the secretarv o9
the interior, the state auditor witRoft
SSaiiittllon Saitsa OF law, without any authority.
ana ana rennquishes the states claim 10
that immense iron mine properfv +bo
iargest ,5 In In The world, and which was estio
e15 oo o6oy py MI Dunn himself to be worth
S41I1z,o0OVUO. NOW, why did he do this
The legislature of this state investisafsi ats
Ils Inls question. [ shall not keep yoIJ7 7yal.v
tba tPlas' a,.;9e 49e l want to read a portion of
IiO excuse Tor it will read YOU a letter
written by the commissioner Of the aen-
elal eTadlaa, iand @ otse, Mr.. Stocks1ager, to Mr..
qulslment. He says: 0'ln-
": W. Braden, Auditor of the State
farI,ll1 fa Minnesota, ta st Paul, Minn.-Sir: Re-
IN which you request to be INFORMED
whether It would be advisable for the
seate Sot;s OF minnesota to relinquish all Sc
mo-
been connected with specific bases co
as TO form separate and distinct seIec.
lions, nave to say that some of fhe
selections to which YOU refer are hafore
the honorable secretary of the interior
on appeal by the state from the actian
OF thlS oillce rejecting them, and under
fdn ddr tIle th circumstances it is thought bet
ter lhat this office pass upon the 1lIes-
llon presented when the lists not passed
action" oAA anu
That was on tha o5tI, do,, oe 1
1855 that the commissioner of the gen
eral land office advised the state auditor
1r Tot TO rel1nquish any of these lands.
me auditor proposed to relinquish sone
idnoS and he was advised not to do II
he d1dn' wait, however, for that letter
70 reacn MIN, but he was probably ad-
cause on the day after that letter wa
written, in spite of the caution of thar
letter, ne went to work and reIinquished
the states claim to that magnificent
property. '
HISToRY'S BLACK PAGES.
In this hearing before the Joint com
mlttee of the house and senate, and it
IS black page in the history of our
state, witness by the name of McDon-
ald was examined before the committee.
now read from page So of the report
or the Joint comittee Of the two houses.
10 investigate the Mountain Iron prop
erty: lie wrote a letter to the state
auC1tor, Mr.. Braden, in regard to thIs
land He testified: ''-'
Some time in September 1887. myself.
M w Mcdonald and c. C. Merritt ap-
piled to the state of Minnesota for a
lease OF otherwise to obtain a title from
the state to those lands, the northwest
quarter OF the northwest quarter and
tne east half of the northwest cNn-tcr
| 1i 9s ;, section 8, township SIS north, range
This was in 1887, the year before the
state auditor reinquished these lands
u. This Is the land embraced in the
mountain Iron mine property? A Yes:
known at that time as the indemnity
schooI lands And some time after writ
our request at Cloquet, Mimi, that the
land could not be purchased, leased or re-
tanned by any other title from the state
as the state had no mineral leases Now,
to the best of my recollection that letter
auditor?
"a Yes. Gentlemen: Your reonest
IN relation to the lands noted. In reply
would inform you that the lands are
selections herein mentioned by the state
OF Minnesota, and at the present time we
have no way to inform you that YOU can
obtain those lands by lease or purchase.
Inc pine timber on said lads or other
lands, are always subject to sale at an
annual sale, once year, by permit, APP
pIyl,ng Ply, TO the governor Of the state, that
such lands shall be offered at an an
nual land sale and there sold to the high
est bidder for so many dollars thousand
feet (but amount not included)
q. Did you state in your letter to
Mr.. Braden, or to the state auditor, that
lease2 A. Yes, sir.
g; You stated that there was iron
"a. We. stated that we wanted the