The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-19
SELLS TIMBER FOR LESS
THANSETTLEMENT OFFER

lake the SheVIln-Carpenter case (Sec-
ton 36.44-19), for instance 1t had been
twice in the. supreme court and three
times before the district court in Henne-
pin county and the jury finally rendered
verdict in favor of the state for s5,-
SLIGO s1,133.25 less than the firm had
offered to settle with me in the first place.
and the cost to the state was 81 SEQ in
expenses In addition to the loss above
mentioned.
In 1900 an extremely aggravated case
of trespass in Aitkin county was brought
to my attention. I was very careful to
comply with the strict terms of the law
after Selling the timber and advertised
the same for sale.ii fAt the outset Mr.. T.
r. Foley. of Aitkin, who had furnished
the supplies to the rtrespassers. and was
chandise he had furnished to the tres
passers, and .wasl In no way connected
with the trespaSs, Offered me $4,000 in
settlement. ! refused his offer and, as |
strict terms of the law. The best bid
could receive for the timber was ST 300
which was offered by A. Y. Merrill, of
for that sum. The estate would have been
$500 ahead had + accepted Mr.. Foleys Of
Ter, pesldes the expenses, which amounted
to about $500 more. :! could cite sew
When l left the auditors office there
were only two Unsettled cases of tres
pass. One of y,rlast official acts was to
ter urging him to e commence action at at
once against one 81 the parties, a Min
neapolis lumberman.s But find that no
action was commented until about two
months ago, and Mr.. johnson was given
the credit for having the suit Instituted.
In this connection refer to the state
Of Minnesota vs.. Shevlin & Carpenter.
Justice Start says: Accordingly, this
court has adopted and repeatedly applied
the following rule in actions of trespass
in trover: Where the defendant is
do
ages is the full value Of the property at
the time and place of demand, but if he
is only an unintentional or mistaken tres
passer-that is, where he honestly and
reasonably believed that he had the legal
right to take the property-then the meas
ure of damages is the value of the prop
erty at the time and place, and in the
condition it was taken -
During the eight years served as state
auditor the first four years the price of
stumpage was very low. Every one
knows that there was depression in the
lumber business in the years 1895, 1896.
1897 and 1898. In the eight years I held
six general sales of timber, held no sales
in 1896 and 1899, and the amount derived
from those six sales. including the out
standing permits, was 81, 257 GOO. while in
all the previous history Of the state ten
peared from view. and only 81, S40,992 was
realized. think the figures quoted amply
demonstrate and PROVE to the satisfaction
of all fair-minded men that the timber
interests of the state we're not neglected
during. my administration. / have no
hesitation In saying that had the states
timbev been handledaas well prior to my
administration as during my administra-
tion, the permanent school and the per-
manent university funds would be at least
s.. 100000 larger thar they now are.
The state Legislature of 1893 appointed
pine land investigating committee for
the special purpose of investigating all
state timber stumpage transactions
which had taken place prior to 1895, and
provided it with aSsfiind for the purpose
of employing cruisers and defraying ex-
penses. 1t was supposed that this COM
mittee covered the field thoroughly,
which it undoubtedly did.
Any reflections which the public exam
iner may cast upon any timber transac-
ton occurring prig- to. 1895 falls with
more force upon this pine land lnvesti-
eating committee than upon a. c. Dunn.
The names Of the members of the
Ignatius Dc.inelly, xHen. S. w. Leavitt,
Hon. A: Y. Eaton,e Hon. c. F. Staples,
McGrath.
The law of 1895 (chapter 1913. G. L..
1880 specially provided that all timber
estimates made prior to the passage Of