The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-02-11
Land Department.

greatest results Of the Temple-Web
Co., audit. For "a years the work Q
the land department grew from moth
ing to one of the most important II
the state, with never a check upon it
affairs as it passed from one admin
istration to another. In the presen
audit, beginning with statehood ant
ending July l, 1913, every grant o
land from the U. S. Government, wal
checked against selections made b,
the state with the discovery that in :
number of instances selections hat
not been made for the full amount O.
the land grants of the federal govern
ment Since the audit the matter has
been taken up with the federal lane
department so that selections will be
made and patents issued for three
land grant shortages as soon as In
dian reservation lands are open fo1
selection.
A perusal of the audit of the land
commissioners office develops the
fact that in the early days of state
hood there was not great deal of
care exercised as to the proper cred
it's to the various funds when collec-
tions were made through various de-
partments of the state. The audit of
the common school permanent fund
reveals that there is an excess of re-
sources over the capital account bas-
ed upon verifcation of the records OF
the office of $62,770.62 (page 703, vol
ume s. which has been collected and
not credited to certain funds to which
it is supposed to belong. 1t also de-
velops that the records show that
there have been certain sums over
paid to institutions, and that there are
other sums which certain institutions
have not received. In order to get a
proper balance, it is recommended
that proper credits and debts be |
made to those various institutional
funds, and that the remainder of the
S62,770.62 be credited to the income
and interest account of the common
school fund. A statement of the items
'eferred to is taken from the Temple.
Webb Co. reports and incorporated as
| part of this report. It is not to be
that this is anything but
| matter of bookkeeping, as it is
hardly probable that these sums were
aiken from or overpaid to the funds
If the various institutions; but in the
natter Of bookkeeping, and reconcile
nent of the records of the Office these
transfers. should be made to form h
base for accurate and correct book
keeping, following the report of the
remple-Webb Co., which carried the
audit and check up to July 1. 1913.
In checking over the losses from the
ight-of-way taken by railroad coln-
)anies and from lands conveyed or
occupied as is the section of land in |
Fargo by the Agricultural College i.
vas found that some 2,262.26 acres in |
Ill of the common school land grant |
had been lost to the state (see page
BOZ, Volume 5, Temple-Webb Co. re-
oort). By proper efforts made by the
state of North Dakota it is believed
that the federal government will make
good the losses by granting lands still
owned by the federal government with
in the boundary lines of the state of
North Dakota. This committee has
every reason to believe that the fed
eral government will recognize the
justice of the claims of the state for
additional lands to make good the
losses to the common school land
grant; and should the federal govern
ment make good these losses, figuring
the value of the lands at the minimum
price per acre imposed by the constr
tuition at $40, more will have been
gained by the state by $1,000 than the
cost of the entire audit by the Temple
Webb Co. The land commissioner ir
making the bookkeeping changes sug-
gested by the Temple-Wegg Co., as
fast as possible, considers the audit
and check already made the most i'm
portant thing ever done for the land
department, and strongly advises an
audit and check by public accountants
every two years.
Observations and Recomme ndations.
This committee is impressed with
one fact that we feel should receive
special mention in this report. The
Temple-Webb Company audit reveals
that the state is the loser of very
considerable sum in interest every
year from the practice which has been
in vogue for a long time in several de-
partments of depOsiting fees in a pri-