Telegram-herald., 1892-01-01

and receivi ng money consideration
from the parties so contracting and
furnishing the same and that be has,
during the said tune. attempted 10 get
money - Consideration for the por-
chase Of supplies fer the state. We re-
fer you to testimony from letter from
one Lloyd Breeze of Chicago IN regard
20 the purchase of manual paper. TIE
facts are that at this time the firm rho
pad contracted for the making OF
manual paper for the state had shut
down and As the state printer required
the paper for the manual, the seere-
tary negotiated with Chicago paper
nouses for the purchase of this manual
paper. His letter from Breeze states
that be had been 70 zee Taylor 4 Co.
OF Chicago and all the comm ssion he
could get for Mr.. Soper Was $50 and
desk To be thrown In. He also
asked Mr.. Soper If ne could not
make the Ieams of paper weigh
less than they were required to weigh.
IL would be several pounds less. ana If
Il was short weight 1t would take an
expert to detect 1t. lie woufi like TO
squeeze In 500 pounds and assured Mr..
Soper II would be all right a. that end
OF the line"
The above letter is supposed to be
the one the administration held over
Mr.. Soper and has:sned his resignation.
Margins ON insuranc~.
Crooked work is also reported in the
lnsuring I the state house block. Soper
secured the insurance himself. saying
nc was an old insurance agent. There
- no positive evidence that he received
money in the deal but i. looks shady to
say the least.
At the September meeting of the
board OF state auditors. Soper INTRO
duceA = resolution that eacn member
OF the board OF equalization be allowed
900 TO cover expenses OF their trip to
the upper peninsula, which was eecond-
Ell by Land Commissioner Schafer,
the man who has a mortgage on his
farm and put by the presiding officer
Mr.. Breasted. The records show that
the resolution wss passed unanimously.
Soper put IN bill tor the full
$2U0. the others for lesser sums,
JACK Strong's being next highest,
SlI4.25. The committee submitt.d that
the resolution was clearly III opposition
to any well defined principle of right
and justice. and that the board of state
auditors bcadvlsed TO rescind the same.
The committee also find that to Mr..
Soper was also allowed per diem ex-
penses IN many instances when away
on business connected with his depart
ment. (Here's reform for you, = dem
ecratlc board allowing q democratic
officer per diem expenses, IN addition
to stated salary
In regard to the salary dizzy the com.
80 .A "A
was in fact made, bat whether in pursu-
ance OF any previous agreement. ar
rangement or understanding between
Rowley and Sopcr or any of their
frienss, for and IN their behalf, the COM
mittee state no conclusions, rs they find
themselves without power TO send for
persons and papers to conduct such
thorough examination under legal
safeguards es would entitle their con-
clusions to be regarded as final upon
the facts found The committee ap-
pend letter from Phil j. Mckema of
Esconaba. ardJthe testimony of wit.
nesses that throw no light on the sub-
lect beyond what has already been
published.
been no system oil lnventoring state
property when administrations change
and close their report with q recon-
mendation that the evil be Immediately
remedied.
Gov. Winans refused to talk about
the matter this morning beyond that
the report met MS approval and the
finding of the committee was what he
had expected. He refused to state
whether or not Soper would be prose-
cuted.