The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-02
GIVES EXAMINER
JOHNSON THE LIE
). B. MOiander Accuses Him of
Deliberately FaIsifylng in His
Charges Against Dunn.

r.
The latest report made by Public
Examiner Johnson regarding the af-
fairs of the state auditors Office during
the -fncumbency Of r. @. Dunn, and
dealing in particular with the manner
in which Mr.. Dunn handled the sales
of state timber land, is denounced by
S. B. Molander, who served as stump
age clerk during the eight years Mr..
Dunn was auditor: Mr. Molander was
for several terms auditor of Kanabec
county, and is a man in whom the peo-
pie have. much confidence. Mr.. Mo-
lander says the Johnson report is not
only misleading, but that IT contains
many IafS6hoods.
When seen at his home last night.
Mr.. Molander said:
The whole report appears to be made
to produce a certain political effect.
There is nothing new in it, The same
committee when / was called before that
body to explain these stumpage matters
to the members. l notice that Johnson
is very careful not to make any charge of
a specific nature against Mr.. Dunn or TO
charge him with any crime or offenSe
against the law The report is full or
all kinds of insinuations and suggestions
as to what the lun1bermen might nave
done to the states tmber-n Mr.. Dunn
had allowed them to have their way.
There is not a line in the report that
properly scaled and paid for There is no
charge that the state lost as much as enc
doHar through any neglect In ming ioS
MARKS. ms Johnson says tnat IN the case aEe
recording Of a bark mark for the Hrst
season and a. separate mark for the second
season, Wasi not followed. The state
timber sales were always held late In the
fall and veryss few tracts were cut the
first season. r- Naturally when no timber
was cut or intended to be cut, no bark
CT1d
this Johnson pretends to regard as
violation of the law.
State Hasn't Lost a Dollar.
The state has not lost a dollar through
! any neglect of Thing log marks. Every
foot of state timber sold and cut has
been paid for ats the price at which. 1t
was bought. Every log Ecut on state Land
is stamped MINI which is cut in the
end of the leg. The bark mark cuts very
little figure and 'isTmofe Tor the protection
of the lumberman himself than for the
state. toE
In every instance the interests Of the
state were protected Mr.. Johnson states
what is not true when he says that a
large percentage of the state timber per-
mits are void or that any OF them are
void or voidable owing to what he al
leges. the existence of technical errors
IN them. He is guilty of deliberate false
hood when he asserts that any consider
able number Of permits were not recorded
and I defy him to point to a single IN
stance where the state has suffered the
loss Of a dollar on any timber that was
sold, by reason of any neglect of the
state auditors Office. I challenge him to
point to a single instance.
His entire report is a congIomeration Of
Misrepresentation and falsehoods, and
no one knows it better than the present
state auditor, Mr.. 1verSon. Mr.. Johns
sons statement that the average amount
per thousand feet obtained for stumpage
trespaSs was $2.94 Is absolutely untrue
and its falsity can be easily aScertained
fTf1T1 he statement
only S146 600 trespaSs was collected by.
Mr.. Dunn is equally untrue. There is not
one statement that. he makes that can
not be cOntroverted by the records Of the
state auditors Office.
what johnson Forgets.
To show how unfair he is he quotes the
average price obtained for stumpage dur
ing Mr.. Dunn's term of office and then the
average for trespass, and admitting for
the sake of argument, that his figures
are correct which they are not he forgets
to state that four ifths of the trespasS
was committed when the average selling
while the average price for 1900 was
$5.49 per thousand feet; in 1901, 1854, and
in 1902, $3.50, and a much larger amount
of timber was sold at the three later sales
than at the four preceding sales
The price obtained for timber tres
pass by Mr.. Dunn will more than reach
the average price obtained by Mr. Iver-.
son If the increased value of the stump
age is taken into consideration. / might
also state, in relation to the charge made
by Mr.. Johnson about the permits not
being recorded and the absence of bark
marks. that Mr.. ,.IYerson, the present
state auditor, has issued over a hundred
permits without bark marks or the pei
mits being recorded. but of course, Mr..
Iverson is not a candidate for governor.
The best evidence in the world that
the stumpage department was conducted
on business principles for the state by
Mr. Dunn is that the grand total turned
into the state treasury as the proceeds of
the six general timber sales held by him,
exceeded $2,250.0O0, while in all the pre-
vious history Of the state the amount
was only $1,S41 900 in round numbers.
That one fact speaks louder than can
any amount of misrepresentation, and
juggling of figures cannot disprove these
facts. -
The public should bear in mind that
the proceeds received from the sale of
state timber during Mr. Dunn's admin
istration, taking into consideration the
permits outstanding when en- he left the
previously collected and turned into the
state treasury for the thirty lone years
between 1854 and 1885,