Little Falls herald., 1904-05-13
STATES GREAT LOSSES
Startling Report Of Public
Examiner in Trespass T.:
Gases

The following from the Minneapolis
Journal of May 9Th, is summary of
one Of the most sensational reports
ever presented by Minnesota public
official. If the evidence presented is
true. it is very evident that r. G.
Dunn ought not to be governor Of
Minnesota, anu if what Dunn says of
Collins is true, the Judge should not
be governor. Much 1ecriminarion is
going on and many long suspected but
hitherto hidden things are ',eine
brought to light. The consequences to
the dominant party are apt to be un-
pleasant. The Journals report is as
follows:
Many thousand dollars were lost to
the state Of Minnesota from 1895 to
1909 by the failure of State Auditor
R. G. Dunn to observe the law gov
erning trespass on state lands.
This is the gist Of the long awaited
report made to Governor Van SAINT by
S. T. johnson, public examiner. The
report, which was filed in several in
stallments, was made public today by
Attorney General Donahower, at
Governor Van SAINTS request. The re-
port throws some transactions of the
state auditor into the lime light.
The reports are all on the same
subject-timber trespass settlements.
They show from the records that
many trespass cases were settled by
Mr.. Dunn for the bare value of the
timber, when the law requires PEN
atty for every case, and the least
settlement the auditor can make un-
der the law is for double value.
Governor Van SAINT sent the reports
to the attorney general with a letter
Indicating his belief that suits should
be brought to recover what the state
has lost The report covers sixty-nine
cases. One is the Akeley case, already
made public. A case against Congress-
man G. B. Buckman Of Little Falls,
which was settled for less than the es-
timated value of the timber, is
treated in separate report, and
another report gives the record 2ef
sixty seven other cases.
Sensational features are found in
the testimony Of state cruisers, who
say 1t was the talk in their camps
that men of influence could make
easy settlement for timber taken fr om
the state.
The governor thus passes on to the
attorney generals department for &C.
tion the results of months of investi-
cation in the records of etate audi
tor s::oftice, by the employees of Public
Examiner Johnson It all grows out
of the investigation conducted by the
house committee on public accounts
and expenditures, which had John
Barry, the expert accountant, go over
the records as well as he could in the
time allowed. They recommended a
further investigation of several sub.
jeots, including that Of timber tres
pass. This was carried on under Pub
lie Examiner johnson by John Barry,
but he did not go far into the matter,
and most Of the work has beer done
since Jan. by P. M. Kerst, deputy
public examiner, and other employees
of the department.. Only small part
of the record has been transcibed.
The records show that R. G. Dunn,
while state auditor, ssmade it rule to
settle trespass cases for about the val
ne Of the timber as returned by his
cruisers. These values are always low,
and the prices received at state sales
run 50 and 100 per cent higher than
the estimates. The number of cases
shows that trespassing was prevalent,
and the record shows that the same
firms committed wholesale trespasses
year after year, settling at values
much less than the state received at
stumpsge sale.
The law makes willful trespass a
felony In order to force the penal
settlements Of treble the actual value
of timber illegally cut. This recourse
to criminal prosecution was often
threatened by Auditor Dunn in cases
which he would settle for the
cruisers estimate or very little over.
The threat of criminal action was not
carried out
The most fragrant case referred to is
that of Congressman Rnckman vho