The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-11-22
: FA3Tn.Ess EMPLOYE
Who Came Near Getting the Government
Into -npI sant ON nliGatinns.

hh'h ut)'SdS"I-i
Washington, November f3-The Post to-
day published an article To the effect that
Ivan i'CtrCl, special agent OF the state de-
pagtmcnt. formerly IN the census office, had
been detected il the act of furnishing false
information to the government i'll relation
TO the sealing industry Of Alaska wh6n has
been embodied iii the preparation of the
Refining sea case for arbitration. COIitin-
uing. the article says:
When the state department began the
task, some months ago, of preparing tho
Behring sea case for arbitration, it became
necessary to secure the assistance of all
experts on the Alaskan sealing question. In
investigating literature on the resources 0e
Alaska the department cncoratcred the
name of Ivan Hetroif more frequently than
that OF any other authority. Upon inquiry
fUf' him being instituted, he was found 10
be special agent Ot the census bureau. Ii
was also learned that he had taken Il cen
sus of Alaska for the United States gov
eminent in 1850 and in 1880 had written
the monograph issued by the bureau of
statistics of the treasury department on
Alaska In addition to this, he had also
assisted Hubert Howe Bancroft in the pre-
paration of the latter'S history of the terri
tory.
it was quite evident to the state depart
mcnt, therefore, that this hitherto trusted
official would be valuable assistance in
the preparation OF the, i}ehring sea case.
petrOf was summoned from census bu-
reGu To the state department. he was in
terested with the examination into and com
pilation of certain facts relating 10 the seal
ing Industry. II was not necessary tor
him to visit Alaska and his work was done
in this city.
Some time after he had submitted it to
the department, one of the governments
special attorneys while examining the data
discovered an error. Closer investigation
Ehowed that nearly the entire information
h1rnished by PctIoff had been falsfied and
u "a manner which left no doubt Wilful in
tent 10 deceive.
This discovery astoun1ed the state Off
GERS. The information had already been
incorporated in the case of this government
as sent TO London, formed part of the
arch upon which the United States claim
rested. although il was not the keystone
by any manner Of means. The British gov
eminent was at 0ucG notified that the United
States had been led into errors of statement
and WAS informed that the correction could
be made when the counter case, as the sup
Elementary papers are termed, WIS sub
mitted
The discovery created cons;dera-
BILE excitement in official circles
The superintendent of the census has been
In conference with the president, secretary
of state and secretary of the interior re-
garding his faithlsS enpl0ye. The question
has naturally arisen, if Petroffs work has
been flashed In one instance. are not bis
census figures also unreliable? This is an
inquiry that can only be answered after
tedious, perhaps expensive nvestiga ton
Curi0usly enough there is no law upon the
statute books to meet such a case as this
petroff will simply lose his government po-
sition with the knowledge that Lever again
can he re-enter official life.
petroff is Il Russian by birth, who moved
to Alaska when that country was Rus
sian province. He lived there forty years.