New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1906-10-10

greeted Gov. John A. Johnson upon
his arrival in this city Monday even
ing. The knowledge that he was to be
here spread to different places on
either side of this city and there was
inquiry for a special train to carry
the people in and out of the city on the
st. Louis, and as a result of this there
were present several hundred from
neighboring towns, and when the
governor reached the platform he was
able to look into the faces and speak
to men from within wide radius Of
territory.
The train that brought Mr.. johnson
to the city was an hour late, but not
withstanding this Capt. Burg with his
artillery was waiting and the govern
or's salute of seventeen guns was fred
in honor of the presence of the chief
magistrate of the state in the city, and
the governor was escorted to the hall
by large delegation of the prominent
democrats of the city.
The lateness of the hour made it
necessary for him to cut his address
shorter than it would naturally have
been and he only referred to some OF
the more important work accomplish
ed in the past two years. He dwelt for
sometime on the question of timber
trespass and what had been done to
recover to the state the vast sums of
money that had been stolen in the
shape of timber. In this regard he
said in part:
One Of my first official actions was
to demand a complete transcript Of all
the charges thus preferred, and to
submit the matter to the attorney gen.
eral. In an official communication
dated Feb. /, 1905, I made inquiry as
to the status of all suits pending, and
asked the attorney general whether his
department was fully equipped to in
stitute suits for the recovery of the
money properly belonging to the state,
and was informed that there was
neither funds nor sufficient Office help
to do the work.
Pursuant to my recommendation, the
legislature made provisions for the ap-
pointment of additional counsel by the
attorney general, that suits might be
instituted for the recovery of all the
moneys belonging to the state. Suits
were instituted. The defend ants de-
INJURED to the constitutionality of the
law providing for penalties for timber
trespasses and illegal settlements.
Necess arily the litigation has been
somewhat tedious, but the supreme
court of our state has finally handed
down an opinion in which the consti-
nationality of the law is upheld, and
there remains no doubt whatever of
the successful termination and conclu-
sion of these suits against number
of individuals.
A partial list of the defendants and
amounts claimed by the state, to the
aggregate of over $500, 900, was recent
ly published by the state press. In ad-
dition to these cases, many referred to
in the public examiners report have
been settled by the state timber board
according to law: and others have
been settled subject to ratification BY
the next legislature. Thousands Of
dollars have come into the state treas.
ury through this course. These, how.
ever, are case of timber trespass which
occurred under previous adminstra
tions. I wish to emphasize the fact tina
timber trespass cases invoking thous
ands of dollars have been settled b5
the state timber board during the pas
two years, and not a single case has
been settled except in accordance witt
the law and for the entire double o.
treble damages legally due the state
I desire to be perfectly fair and homes
in my statement of this question ant
at this time wish to accord to the at
torney general for his able legal ser
vices, as well as to my other associ
ates on the state timber board, th,
credit to which they are entitled il
their vigorous and loyal cooperation
in every movement looking toward TIL
recovery of the value Of the timbe
which belonged to the people OF Min
nesota.
Besides these cases that have beel
settled and settled according to law b
cited many more pending and calle'
attention to the fact that his opponen