The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-09-30
FACTS PRESENTED BY Mr.. Dunn PROVE
JOHNSON'S REPORT FALSE.
STATEMENT BY ROBERT c. DUNN.

be destroyed by fire or windfall and l
gave him my u1timatum to deposit $13,-
600 with the state treasurer and give an
| additional bond of $4,000 within ten days
| or / would cancel the permit and let
| him litigate if he so desired. The result
| of the matter was that my terms were
| complied with. and to make a long story
| short, the state received pay for thirty
| seven million feet of logs, more than five
| times the amount of the estimate. The
| land in question belonged to the univer-
| sity and
| Hon. John s. PilIsbury Personally
Thanked Me
| for the admirable Manner he said, in
| which I had guarded the interests of the
| state and the university. 1 cite this in
stance simply to show that there was no
| neglect of duty on my part as far as the
| permits issued by my predecessors were
| concerned.
| My efficient deputy, the present state
auditor who was thoroughly posted on
| the affairs of the Office, having served
| under Mr. Braden and also acted as
| deputy state treasurer for four years,
| the stumpage clerk, Mr. Molander, and
myself worked increasingly for months
| to bring order out of chaos and get the
stumpage records of the Office in decent
| shape. Prior to 1895 timber permits were
/, issued indiscriminately and the permit
| holder was not required to make any ad-
vance payment. He simply held an OPP
/ ton on state timber, and he might or
| might not cut the same. AS matter OF
| fact, scores of permits were issued TO
| men who never intended to cut the TIM
| ber They simply bid to keep others
| from getting the timber, and they could
| do so with impunity without the expendi-
| ture of dollar on their part.
| Both Gov Van SAINT and Public Elk
| aminer Johnson think, or pretend to
| think, that Hon. S. G. Iverson, the pres
| ent state auditor. is honest and efficient,
| in which view I heartily concur. But
| these gentlemen seem to forget that MT.
| Iverson was my deputy for eight years
| and had immediate supervision of all the
| details of the office and that he person
| ally handled many of the trespass settle
| ments and was consulted in almost every
: instance. If Mr.. Iverson is honest and
| efficient now, is it not reasonable to pre-
sumo that he was equally honest and
| efficient during the eight years he served
as deputy auditor? Will Mr.. Johnson or
| Gov. Van SAINT please point to a single
| trespass case of any Importance that was
settled by me without advising and con-
| sulting with Mr.. Iverson?
AS to Mineral Leases.
| With reference TO mineral IedSeS.
| First and foremost 1 want to say
| that I am not now and never have
| been, directly or indirectly, inter-
| ested in any mineral lease or con-
| tract, either during my term of
| office as state auditor or since, to the
| extent of a five-cent piece There is
| nothing in the law governing the leas-
| ing of state lands for prospecting pur-
| poses that prevents any one from secur-
idaI II q MI
| fixed by law. The law provides that all
| applications for mineral leases must be
| accompanied by the cash; that is to say,
| $50 must be paid for each one hundred
and sixty acre tract or less. The pros
| pecting lease gives the holder the right
| to prospect for ore for a period of twelve
| months, and at the expiration of that
| time he must take out fifty year con-
! tract at the rate of one hundred dollars
per year. and when a railroad gets with
/ in a certain distance of the land COW
| cred by the contract, after a period OF
| five years five thousand tons OF ore
/ must be mined or an amount equivalent
| to the royalty on five thousand tons,
| that is to say, $3.50 must be paid into
| the state treasury annually. one man S
| money is just as good as anotner's to
| the state Probably nine-tenths of the
| leases issued are dropped at the expira-
| ton of the year. Taking out mineral
| lease is like buying a lottery ticket.
/ The knowledge obtained by any clerk
| in the auditors Office with reference to
| the value of any piece of mineral land is
practically worthless. The only way to
| discover whether there is ore on the
| land is by drilling or test-pitting.
The law provides that where two or
more parties apply for lease on the
| same piece of land at the same time
| ha
| highest bidder That provision of the
| law was strictly complied with during
| the eight years I served as auditor. l
| defy any living man to prove to the con-
! trary If there was no competition the
| first applicant who paid his twenty-five
/ dollars received the lease.
The law fixes a specific amount that
shall be paid for mineral lease and
| a specific amount that shall be paid for
a mineral contract and tn governor,
| tbe ianitor or the messenger boy has
| inst as good as right to take out min
| eral lease as any one else. It is all the
| same to the state.
| IT is preposterous for any one to
! assert that the state can be robbed or
| injured in any, manner by the issuance
/ of mineral leases to any person so long
| as the terms of the law are complied
| with. If ore is discovered the holder
| of the contract must pay to the state
twenty-five cents per ton royalty. and
| know of no possible way in which
the state could be defrauded.
The Mabel Evans Lease.
Mr.. Johnson's report particularly re-
fers to lot 1. section 6, town 5S1a, range
II, upon which Miss Mabel Evans Sc
| cured a lease. This tract of swamp land
contains SO 65-10O acres. I selected it
and set it apart for the benefit of the
state institutions land fund Immediately
the swamp land list was filed in the
state land office in order to prevent some
railroad company from filing en- it. as
owing to the situation of the land 1t
probably contains a body Of iron ore.
but apparently no one seemed to think
much of the mineral possibilities of the
tract, or else those who knew of them
wore sure of being able to deprive the
ssCSe of this land by means of con-
test. for, as I have before stated, it lay
without any application for a year. Any
one could have applied for a lease dur
ing that year and obtained the same.