The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-22
The Whole Truth About It.

If the land commissioner of a rail-
road company should make such a
series of blunders as Auditor Dunn
achieved in the Duluth & Iron Range
case he would soon be looking for an
other job. =
He would probably make haste to re-
sign before the directors. met. -..
He certainly would not ask them to
make him president Of the road on the
strength of such a record.
The actual record of the case is
shown in another column. It is not
campaign "hot air. but facts which
are easily verified, and cannot be gain
said. They show a carelessness that is
fairly monumental. The nerve which
now claims the gratitude of the people
and the reward of high office for
such conduct is nothing short of
colossal.
In the first place, MI. Dunn set him
self above the courts and law officers,
and refused to allow the completion
of the Duluth & Iron Range grant. He
rejected nine different lists of lands,
one after another, as they were offered
for selection by the railroad officials.
When the case came in court list of
these lands with the certificate of the
auditor 3 office was filed, and the court
was asked to declare the lands the
property of the company. Meanwhile
Mr.. Dunn had selected about half of
them, a GA acres, for the state insti-
tutions. He seems to have paid no fur
Their attention to them. He left the
states attorneys in ignorance of the
question, and remained silent while the
company claimed the lands and got
them under the court s decree. He read
the courts decree, and told of it in his
biennial report, explaining that the
court had granted the company all
Glands heretofore selected and not
deeded.'
He either would not or could not I'M
derstand what it meant. This could
not mean anything but the list of lands
| he had refused to deed. Six months
afterward, according to his own &C.
count, some one called it to his atten-
ton, and he discovered (O to his hor-
ror that there was list of lands at
tached to the decree. Then he roasted
the attorneys on both sides, and started
to get the lands back. The attorneys
for the state had secured a promise
from the railroad company to return
the state institution lands, voluntarily,
when Mr.. Dunn displayed his "diplo-
macvD by a public TRADE against the
railroad company. This upset the agree
ment and delayed the settlement for a
year, and it was then secured by other
state officials, after Mr.. Dunn had
eaten humble pie and paid a public
compliment to the officers of the rail
road. g..
Mr.. Dunn claims this act as one Of the
browning glories Of his administration.
But for him, he says, this tract OF
lands would have been: lost to the
state.
The record of the case, as disclosed
in the news columns today, shows that
Mr.. Dunn was responsible for the orig
Einal loss, and in no way entitled to
Icredit for the return Of the lands 1t
is not TIL e Journ IS province to
defend the railroad company, but the
|record of the case shows that in this
matter they played fair and above
board. They manufactured no list OF
lands, but took the one certified by the
state auditor and gave ample notice OF
every act. They were not required te
return the lands, but did it thru the In
tercession of the states counsel te
avoid trouble with the state and the
prejudice that would be aroused. The
tangle arose by the neglect OF Mr.
Dunn, and was Strengthened out II
spite of him. Mr.. Dunn, with character
istic modesty, denies all responsibility
as auditor for the blunder, but claims
all credit as auditor for Strengthening
it out; while the only thing in thu
| whole transaction for which he is en-
titled to undisputed credit is the pro
vision in the compromise which give
the railroad company time enough t.
select the best timber. lands available
and prospect at their pleasure for min
eral deposits on lands to be selected.
The public, sooner or later, gets three
Of the man who is always claiming t
A have done it all. They have put up wit
, that line Of talk unusually long in tn
$ case Of Mr.. Dunn. It has at last Wor'