The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1902-01-21
SCHOOL
LAND
BOARD
Makes Statement On John
son Loan.
Admits There Was a Mistake
AS TO Amount of Land.

The state School Land Board has
made ub 10 he following statement in
relation to the mon School Land
Board:
THE whole thing is only one Of sew
eral little tempests in local hyst,rIcaI
teapot which boils spssmodically for
political effect only. The business Of the
State Land Board is all done publicly
and always with the intention Of pr, .
noting the public welfare. We are glad
this question has come up because it has
disclosed a mistake OF which we were
not aware. We have never in Il e past
and do not now pretend to be inlallible.
"Mr. Johnson's first app tiOn was
rejected, the same as we often reject
applications when tie information
seems indequate, but which upon fur
ther showing is allowed. This loan in
this rebpect does not differ from many
others, because we often, where there
seems any doubt as to the value Of the
security offered, reject it altogether, or
until some further showing can be
made. In this case, after something
like two years, the application was re-
newed, accompanied with list Of
some eeven actual sales in that vicin-
! ity, furnished by an abstractor, &C. IL
flying that one tract, for instance, Of
twenty acres had sold in 1890 for $3 ,701,
another Of 80 acres sold for Si2 ,7S2 and
1893. These tracts in actual Gales brought
from 1915 an acre to 1926. One tract oi
iorty-six acres, being three acres more
than ne supposed this security contained,
sold for over $275 an acre. Although
these hguee may be somewhat above
what the anne land would have sold for
since yet, as is we'll known, Salem has
never bad a boom, but making this
allowance, the valuation we made on ]
this supposed forty three acres was only |
$40 an acre to cover the rules Of Il . !
board, whereas, the instances furnished
from the records reach 40 high az 1925 |
an acre.
. "The application as furnished us de-
clares there are 1928 acres undercultiva-
tion. We accepted this statement as true
because ii was sworn to. The tracts had
contained that much land and
WAS 90 described in former mortgages,
but eleven acres had been sold off, and
thie fact in some way escaped the attea-
tion Of the county attorney and abstrac-
tor. The state is in no danger OF losing
a dollar on the loan because the thirty
two acres are worth much more than the
loan, but the security is not within the
law which requires three times the value
1f the loan. The intention Of the board q
VAS right and the error is simply a I
mistake that better men than we often
make. We have loaned over 81 200 600
nce we have been handling the school ?
und, and while this mistake will result &
n no loss to the school fund, il is TO be a
the avidity with which il 10 I
iezed upon merely testides TO the excel. I
ence Of management which has not :
'een excelled by any banking firm any !
where doing similar volume Of business. i
We have been frequently abused by men z
or refusing them loans, charging that IL Y
vas through q desire to keep money in o
he treasury, but here is case where 3
ensure comes for making one. II is
lways question OF judgment, and the t
ubic officer iq to be congratulated who e
oss not catch il going and coming. il
"The board has never instructed an a
gent TO make any particular kind OF r
eport upon SD application, His jujg- v
lent is always left perfectly free so
IT as the board lie concerned. In this h
ase the attorneys recommendation h
as based, no doubt, on the list of actual C
lies that had been made, as was the |
oard 8 conlusion to allow the loan to %
0 made, The only mistake was in the
latter OF the amount Of the security
NJ not dollar OF loss will result from y
, although it isto be regretted. We "
ory often disallow applications even y y
hen recommended by the attorneys" u