The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1908-07-29

DISPATCHES from Kalispell under
date OF July 9th to the Great Falls
Tribune say: After a full days S
sion. in which the sensational 1ea-
lures of Saturdays session were elm
mated, the investigation board OF
the state land commission ended It's
work at S O'Clock this p. m.
The evidence today consisted ch ef-
lv Of bringing up matt rs that hao
aeen gone over before, and while ene
interest remained at high pltch ana
the court room was packed at every
session, practically nothing developed.
w. e. Wells, president Of the SOM
ers Lumber company, was the rst
witness this morning. He testified con-
serning his transactions with tn
hoard. and stated that he mad pau
the state considerable higher prlce
for its lands than he had paid 1ndl-
viduals for their holdings.
When questioned by Governor NOR
ris as to his reason for this, he SAID
that the fact that lumber lands ecu
be secured in body from the state
made logging operations cheaper. For
the reason that roads and river I'M
provements would cost as much for
O. small tract as for large BODY OF
timber and getting the timber IN
sroups from the state enabled them
/, nav more for the lands than they
could >therwise do.
On cross-examinat:on by Mr.. Gruob
he admitted that the deeds to the
lands had been secured through what
is termed dummy entrymen." he
also stated that his company had
never given the state land board or
anv member thereof any monoy or
ather valuable thing for any action
thew ever took on any CT their trans
actions, He further stated thac nas
company would be willing TO ed
the lands back to the state, provided
they could have their original pur-
chase money with a reasonable rate
of interest returned to them.
c. L. Bobner of the Northwestern
Lumber company, was then put on the
stand. He testified that he had paid
the state all and more than the
lands were actually worth, and he had
never given any member OF the board
any consideration whatever for put
ting through their transactions. on
cross examination Mr.. Dobncr accused
MIR. Grubb of bringing in accusations
against the members of the land boaro
that would not be admitted In any
regular court, and also charged MN
with being unfair to the state offl-
cials
Ed. Dickey, Mr.. schmit. Henry Neil
and others testified regarding things
that had been covered before.
Governor Toole was again put on IN
stand and made statements concern
ing the general policy of the land
board In disposing Of Its tlmpe1
lands. He said it was the policy OF
the board from 1908 to sell no more
of the lands except those for which
a high price could be realized. Ot'
fers were made in the transactions
in question, and the board had arol-
trarily raised the price to a sum they
thought the companies wcu'd pay.
That the sales were only made al
all on the earnest solicitations Of the
leading citizens of the county. He
also made a general denial of the
charges of graft.
Mr.. Grubb asked him as to his ides
of the law which provided only 16(
acres should be sold to one person
He said that while this was On the
statute books and was compl ed witt
technically he did not think the stat
could dispose of its lands to the bes
advantage by selling them In small
tracts and that the primary cons
Grafton of the board had always b el
to get the best values for the state
he said that while this statute pro
hibited the selling of more than 16t
acres to one person he understood j
as applying particularly to agr'cul
tural lands, and while it in effect ap
piled to all lands it would be wi hi1
the province of the board of land cen
missioners to sell all the timber, /
sold separately from the land, in iii
state of Montana.
At the opening of the afternoon sas
sion Attorney General Galen testisie
and was followed by Secretary 0
State Yoder and superintend MT Q
Public Instruction Harmon. In eac
case these gentlemen made gener
al denial OF the charges made agains