The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-10
Dunn SCORES JOHNSON
7-7assSs-.- -ass---- s's.-a--s-s.--
STATE AUDITOR WRITES sCATH-
ING LETTER TO RAMSEY
COUNTY AUDITOR
GEN. POPE TAKES UP MATTER
Applications for Refundments and
Attachments Said to Have
Been Loosely Han-
died.

died.
"I am Disguised with the action of your
Office in recommending refundments to
! this Office of questionable character
We have had more trouble with
the applications for refundments and
rebatements from Ramsey county than
all the other counties combined. state
Auditor r, c. Dunn to County Auditor
w. R. johnson.
Public Examiner Pope has instituted
proco edings 10 bring to light the exacc
facts involved in the transactions at the
office of County Auditor w. r. Johnson.
wherein warrants for replacement OF
taxes were issued without the legal tax
certificates. All day yesterday the state
examiner and his deputies were engag ID
il IRE ing into the case and it is ex-
pected that by today matters Will have
become 50 shaped as to eEao'e Gen. ope
to arrive at conclusiie rCsults. He will
tn n make a compl tie report Of lis find
ings which will be fled w tn Gov. Van
SAINT. So far as can be gathered now
this report w IL charge that tax refund
nlent war ants were issu I'd by the c0un-
ty auditor without the certificates upon
which they were based being in ! is nee
at the tine.
The case under the immediate scrutiny
of Examiner Pope s that in which ac-
cord ng to Gen. Pores statement, CT ri
Ducils ard Walter d. Davis swore to
TIC propr etorsl ip of certain tax GER
til a.es cid b. tie ecu ty auditor aud
ais0 made a sworn application for their
rofundmeGt. Ii e facts proved tnst the
certificates were not at this time held by
the men claiming them but b. w. II.
Dightner, receiver for, the Bank f Min
neSota. These Certi Gates amounted to
$i,S72.06 and repl esented the PRINCIPAL AID
interest of the 1e -urns fer the oil Dennis
Ryan homestead. The warrants were
made out and presented to James Schoon-
maker, as attorney, and later the Ger
tifcates. according to the statement of
Gen. Pope. Were purchased at q OF
$3,150 which gave t. e operators CT the
d. al Gear mar gin of 1,122 .06 Tzese
certificates were obta mad from Mr.
IigEtner as receiver aud mo tgagee. Mr.
Schoonmaker ma no Applicant N him
self. according to his statement bit
merely accepted the war1arts as alto nsy
fer the ether ps1ti 8, has these wal. ants
cashed and turned the money OK e. to his
clients.
REFLECTION ON COUNTY AUDITOR.
The discrepancy in the manner n which
the deal was carried out and at pre-
scribed by law reflects very discreGitabIy
upon County Auditor Johnson, who, not
withstanding the fact that he was per-
sonally absent from his Office the cay
upon which the t ansaction was made
is responsible for busiT e7s of this kind
in connection with his office The an IL
cations made for the refundment of tax
es according to law, must be made by
the parties owning the certificates: the
county board of commissioners, Of which
the county auoi or is clerk, must certify
in cases CT this character, that the law
has been fully complied with; the matter
then goes tt the state auditor and he
after consulting tie attorney general for
his opinion as to ValiGity of the GER
ti1catcs in question, indo:ses the appli-
cations when the money is finally paid
over.
Examiner Pope alleges that none OF
these requirements was obeyed In the
first place the county commissioner Of
nclal signatures appear, on a document
in the possession of Public Examiner
Pope, under the statement that the
board has made full investigation and
found the conditions of the reflndment
correct and lawful in every detail. TIE
commissioners, like other similar boards,
depend upon the advice of their clerk
In such matters. 1T would seem, there
fore, that Auditor Johnson had been
exceedingly oerelict to say the least in
thus neglecting to correctly advise the
board and in turn the commissioners
have placed themselves in a bad light
in certifying to something which is not
sustained by facts County Auditor
Johnsen's statement that these cert:f-
Gates are handed TO him simply because
he is clerk of the board of county COM
missioners and not as county auditor
does not seem sufficient grounds for eX-
cuse in the minds of those who are
conducting the investigation. In fact, it
would appear all the mere reason why
he should have had his board correctly
Informed in the matter.
Public Examiner Pope had his atten-
ton called to matters of this character
on May 2, when the balance sheets of
the county auditors office were present
ed to him. In April the amount of the
tax redemption warrants presented to
County Treasurer MetzCorf We're unusu-
ally large and they at once attracted tho
attention of the certain officials who
have carefully watched the proceedings
since that time. The tax redemption in
April aggregated some S.S,G composed
largely of certificates sold in 1891 and
1892 and since inNalidated by the courts,
of such items was that which is now
under discussion.
BIG INTEREST RATE PAID.
Another feature of the deal to which
Examiner Pope calls attention IS that
in making these refundments the county
allows interest at the rate of 10 per
cent This has been carried on indefl-
nitely and the law, pr1or to this year,
has been construed by State Auditor
Dunn. Examiner Pope and other officials,
to warrant no more than per cent.
AS to this particular case they hold
that but per cent is legal, since that
rate was fixed by the last legislature.
State Auditor Dunn was wroth when
he discovered that he had been mislead
in giving his o. K. to d document that
certified to by the proper officials, and
yesterday sent the following comm mica
tion TO County Auditor Johnson:
'W r. Johnson, Auditor Ramsey
County.-Herewith / return application
NO zIt and 2l7s WIKI my diSapproval
endorsed thereon Now / wish YOU TO
M77. 2f79 and 2lS5 1852 for further con-
sfderation. ] am Disguised with the
action OF No5ir Office in recommending
refundmeEtS to this office of a cues
tionable chafa cter ana hereafter with
all due regard to You, / want to say,
and say it most emphatic that any
application FOR refllndTnent that comes
be treated with scarf courtesy as long
as I am auditor. We have haG more
trouble with applications for refund.-
ments and aha tements from Ramsey
county than ali other counties in the
state combined. and hereafter if any
applications for refunduaent or abate-
ment Of taxes is approved in this Office
we will be dead certain that there is
some merit in the application.
re n reporter for the Giob Mr.