Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-04-14

One thousand pounds of bronze or
namentation from the figurehead of
battleship North Dakota was sold as
scrap iron by the custodian of state
property by order of Thomas Hall,
secretary of state, and Carl O. Jorgen.
son, state auditor, both members of
the board Of trustees of public prop
erty. "a
The bronze was loaned to the state
of North Dakota by the United States
government through the efforts Of
+. Governor Hanna. 1t was not the
property of the state and was not sup
posed to be sold as junk or scrap
iron.
Rieder Had His Orders.
Jacob Rieder, custodian Of state,
property, says that he sold the gov.
ernment propert; upon the orders of
the secretary Of state and the state
auditor. Mr.. Rieder says the COVER
nor was away at this time, as he rec
ollects, and that the order to sell the
bronze came from the other two meln-
ibers of the board Of trustees.
Sold One Third.
The part of the figurehead of the
North Dakota which was sold as junk,
in weight, was just about one.third
of the whole piece.
The Great Northern freight bill
shows that the weight of the figure
, head as billed to the governor of the
state of North Dakota and as received
here on tne 14th day of March, 1918,
was 1920 pounds.
The secretary of state and state
auditor authorized the custodian to
sell little more than 1000 pounds
of the. figurehead, practically all Of
the ornamental work, at cents per
pound; to junk dealer and they evi-
dently thought they were driving a
good bargain.
Bronze sells for considerably more
than scrap iron,, tis said, and then
too, this bronze wasn't exactly the
property Of the state nor had the Sec
retary of state nor the state auditor
any authority to sell this government
property and turn tie money into the
state treasury, so far as the Tribune
can find out.
Didn't Pay Freight.
Seventy.one dollars may look pret.
ty big to some people, but on search
ing the record one finds that the state
of North Dakota paid freight charges
to the amour. of 1888 on this figure
head. The sale of all of the orna.
mental work on the scrap iron basis
brought ST., or less than the freight
charge. To be exact, the amount for
which the beautiful trimmings to the
figurehead sold was $253 less than the
freight charges on the pieces.
Clipped Eagles Wings.
The Tribune has in it's possession
a photograph of the figureEead of the
North Dakota as it appeared before
it was loaned to this state and before
the ornamental work was sold for
junk. .u
and mounted in the proper
manner the figurehead is a
thing Of beauty and a joy forever.
The Tribune will print a reproduction
of this photograph within few days
to show the people of North Dakota
what the United States government
meant them to have on display.
But the part of the figurehead which
was mounted and placed on the capi-
tol grounds is huge joke. some
have mistaken it for an imitation OF
the rock upon which our forefathers
first set feet and most Of the visitors
who have seen it have still to figure
out what 1t represents.
The Reason For 1t.
Apparently the only reason the GUS
todian or the trustees had for dispos'
ing of something they had no busl'
ness to. sell and which was not theirs
Continued on Page Two.)