The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-03
SEEK ID RECOVER MONEYF ROM SALE OF SCHOOL LANDS ONeal Instructs Brickell to Institute Suit Against
 Mobile County SUM WILL PROBABLY
 AMOUNT TO $100,OOO State Land Agent in Report Declares That School or Section 18th Lands in Mobile Have Been Beck
 lessly Wasted

Montgomery, January 2.-(Special.) )--The
 opening gun in what bids fair to be the most dramatic step ever undertaken in Alabama was fired by Gov. Emmet l ONeal here today, when he instructed At torney General Robert c. Brickell to in- | stitute suit at once for. tho recovery of sums of money that will probably amount to $100.00O from the sale of school lands I in Mobile county. The action follows 1 closely upon the heels of report sub mitted 10 the governor by State Land Agent ". l. Martin, in which the agent declares that the school, or sixteenth sec tion, lands in the county of Mobile have been recklessly and extravagantly wasted.
 Numerous references in the report are made to the stringency and sanity of the laws on the question, it being partieu- larly pointed out that no sixteenth sec- ton lands can be sold by county save upon vote of the majority of citizens. and then only when the superintendent of edu- cation and the governor have approved the sale. The report shows that the lands in Mobile county were leased and other wise disposed of absolutely without au- thority of the state during period last ing many years.
 Owing to the fact that Mobile county operates under a school system entirely different from any other county in Ala bama, 1t Is suggested in the report that the school commissioners of Mobile prob ably thought that they had a right to dispose of the lands without authority of the state, giving the proceeds to the schools, but laws are cited on the sub ject to show that the commissioners should have been aware of the statutes
 ,"Especial attention Is likewise called to the fact that all supreme court holdings are to the effect that timber is land, and that when it is disposed of most valu- able asset has forever gone. Hence the exact amount due the state cannot be well estimated"
 The land agent enumerates instances in which the board of school commissioners owes the state of Alabama for the sale of such lands the sum of s25,o2o, being amounts derived in the cutting or boxing of timbers, and $4sS for farm leases and rights of way. But criticism of the land agent implies that this aggregate fund is only the beginning of the havoc that has been wrought in the county.
 O'Neal Replies to Criticism
 Goveror E,mmet ONeal, responding to the criticism, goes 1t one better by say ing. in commenting upon the sixteenth section lands throughout Alabama: While the legislature enacted stringent laws for the safeguarding and protection of this valuable domain, your report con ,clusvely shows that through the failure of the state to exercise proper control, this valuable legacy has been largely dissipated through the grossest neglect and mismaragement on the part of the agent entrusted with it's control. In my judgment, no statute of limitation can oar the right of the state to recover the right of any of these lands which have not been sold by authoritative law, and have instructed the attorney general, the law department of the state, to institute suits for all such land now adversely held where no legal conveyance has been made, as well as for all waste, mesne piolliS anu utIldSSS. dtludl UT SldlttOTY, also such criminal prosecutions as the facts may warrant
 This sweeping arraignment by the chief executive Of the state is taken to conclu- sively show that one of the most radical campaigns ever started in the state is Q be instituted against commissioners who have been in control of thousands of acres of sixtesath section lands which have not been disposed of per the statutes of Ala bama.
 With especial respect to the situation in Mobile county, tine agent reports that the county has a different system He says that the timber lands there were as fine as can be found in any part of he country, bur that they are now all gone. He says that none of the money collected by the board was ever paid into the state treasury. He calls attention to the fact that the commissioners have leased 105 areas, from which they collected esti- mated. about $25,o00, at the lowest figure The rights of way over these lands, he says. were sold. Forty-seven farm areas l.. addition, have been leased without the state getting any return.
 The report of MT. Martin and the gov ernor's response. show that suits will be instituted in the near future for moneys that may ru nfar into the thousands most valuable governmental grants be- ing thus destroyed"
 Martins Report
 The report of MT. Martin follows
 "Montgomery, la, December 2S, 1glt His Excelency, Emmet ONeal, Cover
 nor. Montgomery, Ala.
 Sir. As state land agent I have re- cently finished an inquiry into the past management and present status of the school lands of Mobile county known as sixteenth section lands. In making this examination and reaching the conclusions tiSat follow, had the valuable assistance of Hon. J. T. Gorman assistant exam iner of public accounts, who was in Mo- bile at the time.
 ''I find that there arc 23,0S2 acres Of land in Mobile county, known as school lands, and being mainly sixteenth section lands, though there are few tracts fin lieu thereof in other sections; all given by the United States government to the state of Alabama in trust for the bene- fit of the school system of Mobile coun- ty These lands are in fec simple so far as the beneficaries are concerned, and carry with them all rights and prop erty of every kind on the land, incuti- ing, of course the timber, whcr forms part of the realty itself. A definition of the term school lands. may be found in section 17Sl of the code, and is as fol- lows.