The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1913-12-02

thus auspiciously begun. The states
men of the new commonwealth not
only adhered faithfully to the injunc-
ton laid upon them by the Constitu-
ton which they had framed, but they
added laws in accordance with It's
spirit for the purpose Of enhancing
the advantages it contemplated. One
of the first and most important OF
these was the imposing OF minimum
price for state lands. In his message
of 1861, Governor Ramsey pointed out
the choice that lay before the state
as ito whether these vast estates, con-
secrated to the noblest aspirations OF
free people shall be husbanded with
a wise and statesmanlike economy, or
suuandered with a blind IMPROVE
dence." He decried Selfish eager
mess Tor premature results" In con-
sequence, the legislature fixed mini
mum Of S. an acre for farm lands, and
81 for timber lands. But the great
step came in 1868, when it was fur
Ther enacted that the timber should
be sold at public sale, separately from
the land, which might be disposed Of
later. Here luck stepped in to bestow
upon these pioneer conservationists
rich treasure Of which they had not
dreamed. Underneath large tracts OF
these timber lands lay deposits OF iron
ore, all undiscovered. Had the usual
policy of disposing of the land along
with the timber been followed, this
great source of wealth would have
gone into the hands of individuals.
AS it was, it has been reserved for
the state.
Even so, Minnesota owes much to.
the refusal of State Auditor Braden to
sell lands in the iron range at the
minimum price fixed in 1868. Believ-
ing that the law should be amended
so as to retain all mineral rights for
the state, he stopped the sales OF such
lands, and in the end the legislature
passed law providing for the leasing
of ore areas, and naming a royalty OF
25 cents a ton on ore mined under
these leases. 1t has been since felt
that this sum is too small, and the
law has been repealed, with the result
that leasing of ore lands has ended.
The state believes that there is no
need of haste, and that suitable
royalty can be fixed when the demand
for these lands becomes insistent.
It would be a mistake to suppose
that Minnesota has been absolutely
faultless in her administration OF pub
lie lands One exception was made to
the policy of permanent fund, when
some "salt spring" lands were turned
over to the state university, to supply,
by their sale, money for geological
and natural history survey of the
state. Over $500 900 of principal went
in this way. Another loss was of the
proceeds from the sale of 500,0 900 acres
of land which the people, by direct
vote, took out of the permanent fund
and devoted to payment of bonds that
an early legislature had repudiated.
With all deductions, however, the
record of the state is unique. News
paper readers are becoming accus-
toned to increditable estimates of the
income of Minnesota and the Univer-
sity of Minnesota from these ore lands
so fortunately reserved. But conserv-
alive figures are wonderful enough.
To be appreciated, they must be placed
along beside those of other states.
Iowa has sold all but 200 acres of the
100000 granted her. Never having a
minimum price limit, she has as a