The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-08-27

rests. If 'rumors' are in circula ton on
the Sound to the effect that I am
private counsel for the Weyerhaeuser
timber syndicate" l am not aware of it,
l am satisfied that if such 'rumors'
were in circulation friends would have
advised me of the fact. Whether in
circulation or not, the ''rumors" are
entirely without foundation. l have
never served the Weyernaeuser timber
syndicate, or any person or company
interested in or representing that syn
dictate, in any capacity whatsoever,
either public or private; nor have I
been employed by them for any pur-
pose, either as private counsel or other
wise, or at all. 1 challenge any and
all persons to show that any such en-
ployment or relationship now exists or
Weyerhaeuser timber syndicate.
Permit me to suggest that in my
opinion the publication of such alleged
rumors" is, to say the least, unfair.
All men do not carefully analyze what
they read in a great daily paper and
distinguish fact from fiction. An in
vented rumor often ripens into an al
legged fact and irreparable injustice is
done. You refer to me being from
CowlitZ county where the Weyerhaeu-
ser syndicate has large interests. 1t is
a well-knOwn fact that an heretofore
political antagonist of mine has rep
resented the Weyerhae user timber syn
dictate in the county referred to almost
since that syndicate had interests there
Your article also states that if the
Mccoy act, now being tested before
the supreme court, is held unconstitu-
tional, it would be within the power OF
the land commissioner to turn over
vast tracts of valuable timber land to
the Weyerhaeuser syndicate; that the
Mccoy act, passed by the legislature
of 1899, provides that in the sale of
state land the tracts offered for sale
may be segregated into lots Of not less
than $50 acres upon the demand of any
bidder; that prior to the passage of
that act the commissioner could put
the land up in tracts as large as he saw
1.at 10 ;l,o
the Weyernaeuser company could bid;
and that the only restriction on the
for not less than ten dollars per acre
The writer of your article is entirely
laws upon the subject with which he
deals Section of article 10 of the
constitution provides: mo more than
one hundred and sixty G60) acres Of
any granted lands Of the state shall be
offered for sale in one parcel 81
SO far as l know no more than 100
acres of the states granted lands has
ever been offered for sale in one par
eel. Certainly no more than 100 acres
will be offered for sale in one parcel
under my administration, if l am per-
mitted as commissioner to take an oath
to support the constitution. The act
known as the Mccoy act" was passed
by the legislature of 1901, instead of
in 1899 as stated (See Laws 1901, p.
1899. The principal features dis
| tinguishing that act from former laws,
| briefly stated, are the provisions that
| when the estimated amount of timber
| shall exceed one million feet to the
quarter section the timber
| shall be sold separate from the land
and that in all cases when the timber
is sold separate from the land said
| timber shall revert to the state if it
| has not been removed from the land
within three years. unless upon a
showing OF good faith the time is ex-
| tended not to exceed two years. The
| principal contention before the SUI
preme court with reference to this Nc
Coy act is not as to the sale of lands
| in quantities greater than 100 acres at
all. The principal contention, and the
one which primarily brought about the
institution of the action, was the claim
by the applicant to purchase that even
| though the estimated amount of timber
exceeded one million feet to the quarter
section. he is entitled to purchase the
land and timber at the same sale the
timber merely being sold separate from
the land: and the contention on the
part of the attorney generals office
| that the Mccoy act contemplated tina
| when valuable timber or material wa:
sold from state land with the privileg,
as above stated, of removing the sam,
within from three to five years, thu
state should retain title to the land 81
that a reversion of the timber would
inue to the benfit of the state. Incl