The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-16

: 81
thousands of dollars by the negligence
of the former state auditor
The report covering pine land tres
passes is in line with earlier reports
made to the governor by the public
examiner, and the revelations are not
surprising in view of former develop
ments by the public examiner and his
assistants.
Sale Of Mineral Leases
The part of the report which pre-
sents an entirely new phase of the
administration of the state auditors
office, however, is that relating to the
sale of mineral leases. These leases
are at the disposal of the state auditor
as land commissioner, and the report
shows that two of Mr.. Dunns land
clerks, George. A. Finn and /. c. Pat
terson, are personally interested in a
number of leases to valuable iron
lands.
The allegations made by the public
examiner are that in number of
I cases the most valuable leases of iron
lands on the iron ranges in Northern
Minnesota were taken out in the name
t.of sister of Patterson and were then
converted into contracts with Finn
and Patterson interested in the con-
tracts
The law is explicitly opposed to en-
ployes of the state using their knowl-
edge of lands, and the contents of the
books of the state offices for their pri-
vate benefit, and the public examiner
in his report quotes the section of the
statute which specifically prohibits the
practice.
Reports Reach MIR. Dunn
Copies of the reports were sent by
the governor to the office of George A.
Finn in the Pioneer Press building.
reaching him about noon. He imme :
diately took the documents to the Re-
publican state headquarters in the
Manhattan building, where they were
read and discussed by Mr.. Dunn and
members of his political staff 1t was
agreed that all concerned should re-
frain from discussing the johnson re-
ports until a close investigation of the
charges contained in them could be
made and a formal reply framed.
Il have no statement to make now"
the former auditor said last night, ''but
Twill be ready tomorrow night to make
statement that will SO effectually dis
pose of Mr.. Johnson and his charges
that he will not be heard from again.
am not prepared to speak now, for I
have a man looking up the records
with view to making a denial of the
charges"
When Finn Promises Statement
: George A. Finn, when seen last night
at his home at Merriam Park, said
that he and Mr.. Dunn had agreed NOT
to discuss the report in advance of a
general statement which would be Civ
en- to the press, probably on Friday.
"The Johnson report, SO far as it re-
lates to mineral leases and my con-
nection with them, is based on lot OF
assumptions which have no foundation
in fact 1 am only sorry that am not
the millionaire which the report would
indicate that am Mr.. FIinn said.
Mr.. Finn intimated very strongly
that he would reciprocate his treat
nlent in the Johnson reports. by max
ing public a statement of facts which
he had secured relating to- the public
examiner.
Hot Times Coming
II am glad that the carbo1ic acid or
dlnaace mas not gone into erect, he
told a representative of T. egGIo b e,
"for 1 shall throw a bowl of carbolic
acid on this man Johnson. OF eourse,
1T win be in the. shape of an expose of
this official who is spending the states
money to bring false charges against
former state officials who have tried to
do their duty honestly
Neither Gov. Van SAINT nor Public
Examiner Johnson was about the
state capitol yesterday after the reports
were made public. Attorney General
sDonahower admitted that the reports
submitted to him by the governor upon
being made to that official by the pub
lie examiner were. identical with those
made public by the governor yester-
day He said his Office had begun the
Investigation of some of the cases cited