Show IflAHO SURVEY JOBS SurveyorGeneral Perrault Wakes a Statement to the Herald I ROW WITH ENGINEER WILLS LAND COMMISSIONER HERMANN HER-MANN EMBARRASSED Twentysis Thousand Dollars Involved In-volved In the Contracts Which It Is Charged Were Let Without Competition Restoration of Harmony Har-mony Among Silver Men Special Correspondence Boise Ida Jan 1The inside facts surrounding sur-rounding the case of Surveyor General Perrault are coming out slowly and it Is left for The Herald which has given exclusively ex-clusively the news of the matter heretofore hereto-fore to lay them before the public Mr Perrault was seen by the writer today and consented for tho first time to make a statement for publication I have paid no attention to the statements state-ments made on the streets by my enemies political or otherwise he said but now 11 feel that I owe it to myself although having nothing to defend to comply with your request and make a statement for publication every scintilla of which is backed up by the correspondence on file in this office Continuing the surveyor general said that the contracts complained of by State Engineer Mills were let prior to his assuming as-suming the duties of the office They were let by Surveyor General Btraughan who was authorized so to do by Commissioner Commis-sioner Hermann of the general land office When I took charge I found that these contracts had been let covering a year of my Incumbency he said Mr Mills came to me and attempted to dictate what course I should pursue In the matter and I informed him politely but firmly that I felt entirely capable of attending to all matters pertaining to the office when a feeling of incompetency came over me I would step down and out He went away In a sweat Prior to his arrival On the scene I had decided what course to pursue That was to write the commissioner commis-sioner and enter what might be construed as a protest against approval of the contracts con-tracts But I felt I had no right to enter a formal protest In view of the fact that Mr Straughan had acted under the authority au-thority given by the commissioner notwithstanding not-withstanding the latter was aware I had been appointed to succeed Mr Straughan and would take charge in a very short time I merely suggested that it appeared the contracts had been let to the Oregon parties with unseemly haste The approval ap-proval of those contracts has so far been withheld Whether my communication had anything to do witn It I know not Whatever Mr Mills may have written to the department is of no concern to me The fact that General Perrault had even thus mildly protested against the manner man-ner of letting the contracts has not been known and if his communication results in an Investigation It is possible that someone some-one may get hurt Mr Perrault said he could not say anything more about the contracts than that their execution had been unnecessarily hasty It is known however that with the facts he has in his possession only the authorization of the commissioner which he has on file in his office restrains him from the use of a great deal more vigorous language in connection with the contract subject These contracts aggregate 26000 and are ten in number eight of them being let to Oregon parties Idaho surveyors claim they were not given due notice Whatever there may be to that charge It is a fact that only two of them secured se-cured contracts and those but small ones Another fact that will probably be investigated In-vestigated is that the contracts were let at the same figure showing almost be yond question the lack of competition There are two classes of contracts for one of which the government maximum price is 320 an acre and for the other a maximum of 25 an acre the latter being the highest price authorized for any class of government surveys of the character required in Idaho at least The peculiar feature of these contracts is that the price barely comes under the maximum in each instance the one class being for 1995 per acre and the other for a sum a few cents below 25 per acre It is obvious that Commissioner Hermann Her-mann has a delicate job on hand especial Iv in view of the fact that the Oregon Parties are for the most part warm friends of his The bare fact that they belong to the same state would of itself doubtless embarrass him POLITICAL SITUATION Indications are not wanting that the Idaho political situation is going to clear and that the internecine warfare that has been going on in one branch of the silver iorces in the state is about to give way to harmony The action of Congressman Gunn in bringing the chief silver backslider back-slider Senator Heitfeld into the fold arain has had a great deal to do with the impending change that will doubtless result in tranquility in the silver camp and possibly bring about a union of all the white metal forces Congressman Gunn tells the story in a letter to the Halley NewsMiner mentioned in The Herald last week In connection with this subject I learn that the strongest kind of an effort is being be-ing made to unite all the silver forces of I the state for the next campaign I also hear that It Is more than likely that I Frank Walton the brainy young editor of the Sentinel the leading Populist paper In the state will be the candidate of the Union Silver party for congress I understand under-stand Congressman Gunn Is willing to take all the chances involved in the nom nation for congress for the purpose of advancing the interests of the proposed silver union though well knowing that he will owing to his various disputes with prominent Populists enter the race with a handicap But the congressman is mak ink a good record in congress and his loyalty to silver in the recent somewhat bitter controversy with the fiatists will in nowise injure his cause REX OSBORNE |