The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1918-08-01
fraud SALE
| Of STATES
LAND
s.hool Land Disposed of in
Madison County on
July 10th.
|OLLUSION CHARGED
After Investigation State Land
Board Cancelled ALI
Contracts.

B0ise. Idaho, July N.-State Land
| Commissioner |. A. Smoot may be ask
N to step down and out as head of the
aate land department as the result
/ an investigation the board Of land
commissioners has decided to make
h..o the recent state land sale at Rex
mrg The certificates and the money
aid in on the land are being held up
i pending the investigation.
1t is alleged that as a result of the
/ cOllusion between the bidders COM
petition was largely eliminated and
/ the state may have lost $4,000. The
board will determine on August 8
/ whether or not the sale should be ap-
proved
Commissioner Smoot says in his re-
/ port to the board the sale was one Of
| the most successful and satisfactory.
There were 10000 acres of land sold.
/ 1t brought 100000, an average Of
/ 1888 per acre. Land board members
4 claim it should have brought $500, 600
Attorney General Walters has left
for Rexburg to investigate.
BOISE, July 30-The troubles of
Governor Moses Alexander and his
4 Democratic administration continue
4 to multiply. Last week it was the
NOnpartisan league. This week he
still has the league on his back and
\ another land board scandal as we'll.
N It is said that the state stands to
lose $130,000 on account of a land sale
recently held in Madison county, con-
Quoted by land board official.
On the 10th the state land board
conducted a land sale in Madison
county. There were 297 prospective
buyers in attendance. The law pro-
Vldes that all land sales shall be by
competitive bids. This is what hap
lened: When the hour Of sale arrived
me prospective buyers asked that the
sale be adjourned one hour. The ad-
purnment was taken and the prospect
we buyers Immediately proceeded to
nod lottery in the room where the
@le was being conducted, for the sixty
1acts containing $4,000 offered at the
SAFE Each of the 297 men wrote his
name on slip of paper and the names
were then put into hat and draw
ing TOOK place, right under Land
commissioner Smoots nose. 1t was
gentleman's agreement. The first
sAty names drawn were to have the
ana at the appraised value, with no
wmpetltive bidding, the first name
yrawn to have first choice, and so on
uown the line. After each mans right
was established by the lottery system,
ae sale was permitted to proceed and
.ue sixty tracts were knocked down to
ne hOn-competitive bidders at the ap-
plaised value of from $1,000 to $14.OO
per acre.
anat the land was appraised at a
Enormously low figure is shown by the
.ac' tnat after the sale a number Of
.ue successful purchasers resold their
nslt at very advanced figure. One
pu'vnaser Is alleged to have resold
ats s tract at an advance of $2,240; an
s'uer at $1,000, and others for lesser
San,ts: Sanvunts: 1t is also alleged that a
is IalAer from st. Anthony was author
AZ M 700 oy syndicate to bid as high as
f,%oV per acre for 1000 acres. A
bssa bsa,, Utah, syndicate, was said to
Ins.sd sse nad an agent on the ground with
so..' ue.ioil TO go as high as $4,000 per
ao osc Ior 5000 acres. If the sale Is
ma."s rm~aa,.susinlmated, it is conservatively esti-
Nv y, enat the state school funds will
j. II. sl5o'OOO and some put the amount
'S nigh as 100000.
Vtner Scandals Whitewashed.
u. ,nls Is not the first scandal of this
erat,a 'hat Is charged against the Demo-
400 administration. Some months
eeU,.a sale took place in Jefferson
o. III which the land commission
ve . cnarged with ignoring competit-
fS, .l slus and crying out the sale so
ono h.n MAJ There was opportunity for but
pra,sna On each tract, namely, the ap-
pet,,;ri price, while there were COM
mora ~ niders present willing to pay
ever mere is not any doubt what
tnna nut that the state endowment
sale 30 o,O ost thousands Of dollars in this
lana dso, hs, but the Democratic state
ton 'oafd whitewashed the transac-
IN olher saer illustration of the system
" 0gue came to light In Teton coun-
to,s ~ mat county some presump-
10 ha INDIVIDUAL insisted on his right
chase a LOT the land he wished to pur-
@id as provided by law, and II is
and tb.. received severe calling-down
terres a. The example of this man de-
tids o'ners from making competitive
Hov, ocnooa Children Suffer.
Of do',. many hundreds Of thousands
thlldra,, nave been lost to the school
H OI THIS STATE hv s....h rIaothaxls.