102 THE COMMISSION OP INQUIRY, 



timber valued at $4,436.00, was appraised at |1 per acre. The State, in 

 this instance, lost |4,800.00. 



Undoubtedly this lack of adequate control led to the organization of 

 land dealers, and is largely responsible, not only for the enormous loss 

 to the State in the entire business, but has led to regular timber skin- 

 ning and land monopoly. This, for instance, in Roscommon county is 

 so great that it is claimed by the companies themselves that two Chi- 

 cago land syndicates today control over two-thirds of the land of the 

 county. As a result of this, less than 5 per cent, of the tax homestead 

 lands were sold to actual settlers. 



The possibilities of influencing, directing or modifying appraisstls can 

 be judged from the following instances: Erastus Branch purchased the 

 S 1/2 of the N E % 36-15-13 at |2.25 per acre. Our special examiners 

 were informed that the appraiser was taken over these lands by Mr. 

 Branch and his brother. Their value for farming purposes was |6.00 

 per acre. 



The N E fraction i/4 of section 1 town 38-3 W, Cheboygan county, 

 was owned by Merrit Chandler. He did not pay his taxes for fifteen or 

 sixteen years, and when the State Land Office appraised this description, 

 our examiner was informed, Mr. Chandler was with him and drove him 

 around through that part of the country where his lands were situated 

 and that he purchased the description he desired when these lands 

 were offered for sale. 



We find that these lands were valued by the appraiser at |1.25 per 

 acre, and the State Land Office reports that they were sold to him at 

 that private sale at this figure. There is standing on this quarter sec- 

 tion 500,00Q feet of poplar, tamarack and white birch, together with 

 1,000 cords of four-foot wood, having a total value of |2,300, and the 

 land is worth |6.00 per acre, independent of the timber, making a total 

 value of 13,260, which the State appraiser has called worth |200. 



Mr. Chandler also bought of the State 62.55 aeries in 39-3 W for 

 1121.95. This fraction was also originally owned by Mr. Chandler. 

 Mr. James Fitzgprald, who joins this fraction on the south, states that 

 he made application for its purchase at the proper time, but was told 

 that it had been sold. 



In connection with the sales in Cheboygan county a peculiar condi- 

 tion presents itself. Inquiry in Cheboygan county first brought out the 

 information that the first public sale was advertised for, Sept. 29, 1904. 

 Repeated inquiry seemed to confirm this, until the State Land Office 

 was asked to fix the date on which the first sale took place. "We were 

 then informed that the first public sale of ta^ lands in Cheboygan county 

 had taken place Sept. 8, 1904. The Cheboygan Tribune, whose manager 

 furnished our Mr. Burgess with a copy of what he then said was the first 

 public sale advertised, stated to them (Burgess and Wilson) that no 

 lands had been advertised for sale on Sept. 8, 1904, and showed them 

 their books of entry to confirm this. 



After receiving the information from the State Land Office we wrote 

 the Cheboygan Tribune for a copy of the list of lands which had been 

 advertised for sale on Sept. 8, 1904, and received in reply, a clipping 

 purporting to come from the issue of Sept. 1, 1904. While these lands 

 were advertised for public sale on this date, as would be inferred from 



