Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1914-06-05
DENOMINATIONS
IN POTLATCH DEAL
UP STATE PAPER TAKES EX-
cEPTlONS TO CAPITAL NEWS
STORY.

! newspaper published over in Clear
water county, takes war-like acton
against the Boise Capital News for in
sinuating that there was secrecy about
the deal wherein republican members
Of the State Land board sold the Pot
latch Lumber company four and three
quarters sections Of land on which
stood timber owned by the company.
1t seems that the Sentinel proudly
printed on its first page the legal ad-
, vertisement Of the sale of the land,
and for the Capital News to insinuate,
in view of all this. that the deal was
of a secret nature. brought a decla-
ration Of war on the part Of the SEN
tineL In speaking of the Capital
News, the Sentinel says in part:
The Capital News -" degenerate
prying, lying, s*s slanderous. Feeking
with falsehood. cowardly innuendo*%s
scurrilous sheet edited by jailbirds."
The proposed sale of the four and
three-quarters sections of land was
"discovered' by Fred Floed, demo-
cratic candidate for federal appoint
ment. and by him reported to Mr.
Nugent. democratic candidate for
United States senator; and by him
reported to the then Democratic candi-
date for the governorship, James H.
Hawley. Floed charges that the deal
was made by Governor Haines in
exchange for the vest-pocket vote of
the lumber interests. Back comes the
answer that the three democratic
politicians who stand in unison on the
propositions are. playing politfea ana
that no patriotic impulse to protect
settlers from the "rapacious nav" of
the lumber trust aetuates them.
When the sale occurred, there was
but one real bidder-the Potlatch Lum-
Der Co. The Democratic candidates
charged that the reason that there was
but one bidder was that the Potlatch
Lumber company held a longtime
lease on the land thus making the
property undesirable as a purchase
According to the Sentinel the land is
Isolated from the remainder Of the
lumber company holdings, and that TO
realize on the investment, the com
pany must own the property and pur-
chase adjoining land to make the tract
large enough to pay to build a railroad
to it. 1t furthermore states that the
tax payers of the county were satisfied
with the deal, inasmuch as it added
a considerable area to the tax roll and
the prospective building Of a few
miles of railroad was likewise Of in
terest.
Whatever be the merits of the con- /
troversy. it is purely political. 1t is
true that no sane farmer would want
to buy land q covered with timber
which the owner had ten years to saw /
up. 1t is likewise true that there are
Of acres of logged-off lands (
in North Idaho right now that are for /
sale for less money than the Potlatch /
company paid And these thousands /
of acres are vastly more desirable from
a farming standpoint, having nearer
neighbors. better roads, school and
railroad facilities. There are few ia
kers for the very simple reason that
the price asked is more than the land
is worth in comparison with what is
offered elsewhere A few hours
travel across the Canadian line is
vast area at a lower price and with
no stumps TO clear at an expense of
s25 to $50 an acre.
There is, in our mind, no doubt that
the sale was on the square and that
no Interior motive actuated the State
Land board. The state got all the
and was worth. and all that it will
be worth for years to come. AS a mat
.er Of fact, logged-off lands ought not
10 be sold at any price. They ought to
be absolutely free, and the man who
iynamites the stumps, at an expense
If S25 TO 500 an acre, fences the land
md makes it productive, ought to be {
given the land outright and have his
holdings exempted from taxes for ten s
ears or, like the mines of Idaho, pay ]
10 taxes until on a shipping basis. '
Considering price and productivity I
ere for acre, the logged-off lands Of S
yorth Idaho are not worth ten dollars i
E compared with the sage brush land
nth water ready for it under such an a
-rigation system as that which covers v
hoshone, Richfield. Dietrich and h
,any other segregations in Idaho. $