Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-12-29
BECKMANN RAPS
SCHOOL LAND SALE
Land Commissioner Advocates
Commission to Do the
Appraising,
WOULD RAISE RENTALS


Lincoln, Dec. 2S.-(Special. )--Con-
troversy over the sale of school lands
is one Of the live issues OF the day
and it Is probable that the coming
legislature will be called upon to take
action in the matter. Land Commits
sioner Beckmann is much opposed to
the, sale Of the lands, and in speaking
Of the matter gives his ideas as fol-
lows:
Il am strongly Of the belief that
the state should not sell the school
lands it now holds, The state made
great mistake when it sold as much
Of its lands as it did and the tax
payers begin to realize this.
Nov q prudent business man,
whether he is a merchant, owner OF
a manufacturing establishment, stock
man or farmer, in fact, any man doing
business Of any kind, will take an in
voice every so often to ascertain
whether the method OF doing business
has been profitable, and il he finds
he has not been doing profitable
business he will try to find out where
the trouble lies and after locating the
mistakes that have been made will
endeavor to remedy the same. ] think
the state Of Nebraska should pursue
the same method. Let us see whether
the way the state has dealt with its
educational lands, or what is COM
monty called the state school lands
has been profitable or not ] claim
Il has not, and IL we find it has not
then we should find out where we
have made mistakes and should try
to correct them.
"If we investigate the records we
will find that the state of Nebraska
acquired 2,978,0os.05 acres of land, Of
which there is now decided l,09l.-
1911 acres; held under sale contract,
233,971.H acres; held under lease con-
tract, i,6s0,9o0.ol acres. This leaves
a little more than half Of the original
acquired school lands unsold.
Appraising Land.
"In 1883 the legislature passed a
law that the appraisers Of school
lands should be made up OF three dis
interested freeholders Of the county
in which the land is located; said APP
praiscrs to be appointed by the county
treasurer, county clerk and county
Judge. In 1891 the law was amended
so that the appraisers be made up
OF members Of the county board,
which law Is still in effect. The com
stitution OF Nebraska provides that
no school land can be sold for less
than 81 an acre. | wish it had said
$50 an acre instead of 81, then there
would be great portion of the land
still unsold.
1T is true that the appraisement
OF leased lands is too low, but this
is also true Of lands appraised for
selling purposes, Superintendent
Thomas estimated that the school
lands the state now holds would sell
for about $20.0O0,0O0 To realize this
amount the land would have to sell
on an average OF little more than
$l3 an acre. | make the prediction
that il the appraisements are made
the same as heretofore that it would
not bring more than about one-half
of this amount.
Favors Commission,
~ would advocate that we do away
with our present system OF appraise-
ment and that commission Of three
members be appointed by the gov
ernor or by the Board Of Educational
Lands and Funds to do this work.
That said commission visit all school
lands that are to be appraised for
leasing purposes and appraise the
land at its true value, so as to be fair
to the state, as well as to the lease
holder. This would cost the state no
more than it does at the present
time, and | am sure we would have
more uniform and better appraise.
ments, and, perhaps, receive four or
| FIVE times more income from our
school lands in rentals. and this would
| be only fair to the taxpayers, 1t will
cost a certain amount to keep our
schools going and what we lose on
income from our school lands is to
be made up by the taxpayers. The
state could, after the appraisemen,
lis made, make public the appraise,
ment and set time when said land
would be leased to the highest bidder
There is no good reason why the
state should not receive as good
rentals on its school lands as private