Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-05-08

!, S east, the application was for the
purchase Of land This was an al
most certain method Of concealing the
actual value Of the property and the
Interior design of the applicant.
Purchase of land implied settlement
and development. and when the tracts
applied for were at remote distance
or away from the natural highways
the advertisement Of sale designat-
ing mere land attracted no inquiry
or competition.
THE state cruiser sent out to ap-
prise the land" reported valuation
of $4,000 for the $40 acres in the en-
tire section (this was the lowest rate
at which it could be appraised legal.
ly) and $228750 for the timber He
further reported that - of the 16
forties in the section had been burnt
off seven years before. On the basis
of this valuation a timber syndicate
agent made the purchase of 4S0 acres.
O"uS'S Fdio d\SS OF oV TcT ScHt
"The first cruise of the tract made
under the direction of the Pierce
county assessor in 1907 showed for
taxation purposes a 60 per cent valu.
alton of $4S,160 and the owners paid
the levy without protest. The county
cruise disclosed on this burnt off
land, for thus reads the state cruis-
er's report on file in the state land
department, 32,942,5OO feet Of mer-
chantable timber and 1900 cedar
poles.
Another instance of heavy loss
to the state was the sale of all of
section 16, township Is, north, range
S east, school land, and of the south
half Of section "a, township Is, north,
range east (granted lands, c. E. P.
& R. I. fund.-. The applicant was evi-
IDENTIFY a dummy, as the deed passed
to syndicate manager.
1.-TWO cruisers inspected the two
tracts, comprising $50 acres and ap-
praised them at valuation of $1O.-
1856; timber, 1886 and land $500. At
this price the property was sold
"In 1907 the Pierce county assess
ing cruisers found the actual value of
'hc stumrage on the $50 acres to be
'fAG.cnH They furrh"~ estimatef
than VIXEN the state sold the timber
five years previously it had com
mercial value of $4,000
In Half Section State Overlooked
13,495,750 Feet.
"In the school section the state
cruisers found 16,272,000 feet Of mer-
chantable timber. where the county
cruisers discovered 55,4S8,00O feet In
the south half of section "a the ap-
praisers for the state overlooked 49,
495,750 feet. Inasmuch aS only five
years had elapsed from the time OF
sale until the county cruise the nat
ural increment is of slight considera-
ton as against the increase of value
which the state cruisers placed at
IS cents per 1000.
"If the truth we're known, the total
loss to the public school and granted
land permanent funds, all of which
are intended to relieve the tax bur-
dens of the state, would run into
many millions. Transactions of the
character outlined in the two instanc-
es cited covered a period of 10 years
administration of the public land de-
partment. They could not have oc-
Cured under the administration of an
appointive bipartisan commission. the
members of which were accustomed
to following in the trail of the cruis-
ers and public land appraisers, while
the elected land commissioner was
at the same time on duty as ex-offi-
clio chairman of the commission"