The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1896-02-08
A SIDE LIGHT.

VerSy between the American
Falls, Land, Irrigation and Pow
er Co. and the state board over a
proposed withdrawal of land UNI
der the Carey act. On the 4th
Mr.. Palmer, agent of the com
pany, published a statement in
the Statesman which, among
other things, contains the follow
ing:
1.-THE withdrawal of the proposition
submitted by my company to reclaim
100000 acres Of land, grew out of sug-
gestion made by the Hon. w. J. Nc
Connell in December last, wherein he
stated that he personally knew that the
estimate of cost contained in said prop
osition, was entirely too low; and that
the proposed aOGteT rate Of SIS per acre
s0aS like1OiSe too zoaO, and out of pro-
portion to the estimated cost"
We itaicize the clause which is
clearly an error and which in
duced Governor Mcconnell to
publish the letter, or 'tsugges-
ton, - to which Mr.. Palmer re-
fers. 1t is as follows:
Boise, December 19.-Charles T.
Palmer, POcatello. Dear Sir: l have
your favor of the 18th. 1t is impossible
for me to tell you how soon the board of
land commissioners will act on your
proposal, as your proposal is not yet
complete, and l have no means of know
ing when it will be. l will say frankly
to you that you either made a mistake
in your letter, or in your calculations
on your proposal, when you name $780,
GOO as the cost of the works. / know
enough myself Of the country over
which the ditch is to be constructed to
make me quite sure that your figures
are wrong.
Then, again, If you should construct
the works even for that sum, and cover
100000 acres of land, the average cost
would be only So per acre. The state
board could not and would not allow
you to charge S15 per acre for water
right.
"You certainly must know that no
board who have the interest of the pub.
lie in charge could allow such profit
as the difference between So per acre
and SIS. do not know how you made
the mistake; it might possibly have
been in writing your letter. The pres.
ent board of land commissioners will
be willing to concede a fair profit on
Investments of this character, but they
will not go beyond what is a business
or legitimate profit under any circum-
stances,
Il write this thus plainly so that you
may understand the position we occupy
as there is no use in fooling away your
time, as we'll as ours, in the consider
alton of an enterprise which cannot be
carried to a successful conclusion on
the proposed terms.
Respectfully yours,
w. j. MCCONNELL,
Governor.
We believe all fairrninded peo-
pie will admire the straightfor-
ward, honest language of Gov
ernor Mcconnell and emphatic
ally endorse the position he takes.
AS an effort has been made to
cast suspicion upon the state
board, especially one member of
it, in connection with this matter.
the governor s letter has a pecu-
liar interest. 1t was a private
communication to the American
Falls Company, and written at
the very time the governor was
being accused of conniving with
the said company for his own
benefit. After awhile people will
understand that whatever else
may be said of Governor McCon-
nell, it can not truthfully be
charged that he is a dishonest
official. We omit mention of
other members of the state board |
simply because they are not
counted when charges of miscon-
duct are made. Whatever is
done, or supposed, amiss is
promptly credited to the governor
and the somewhat singular fact in
this connection is that not single
member of the board has felt
allied upon to publicly announce