The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1852-02-13
Job Work,
Tuesday Morning, Feb. 10, 1853.
The Pubic Printing.

spent days and some tlmes weeks, IN dlseiiss-
ing The disposal Of the public printing. III
is strange that this should always consume
50 much time nnd be prolific Of such bad
hunor among the members, yet it is so.--l
The Assembly may provide for the execution
iof other work, and members care but little
who does the job; but, The moment Public
Printing Is mentioned they are all on the
;qai pips to see tina, il is disposed Of proper,
ly-i e.,o, their particular friends. And the
defeated party is sure 70 make Tremendous
lloist, rant, roar and rage because Of their
disappointment. Meanwhile each candi-
xla.e forlhe job bdeciares that he ought, accor-
ding to the eternal principles Of justice, TO
DO the printing. When it is finally dispos-
ed Of the yanquished is lihely to talk about
4" riolstions of The constitution" setting
ssle tie lave" (" disregard Of houoro and
all that Not onl, is such the case with odr
legislatures. but with the municipal authors
aes Of many Of ourcities, who enaeavor To-
-iniis,e the bad example Of those having
more extensive Jurisdiction. City councils
may cxpcnd hundreds and thousands Of dol
lsrs in vurioLs ways, and scarcely a word is
spoken about expense. The, seem 10 have
no idea that any carpenter, brick layer or
stone mason is capable Of cheating them /;
tu,, leta JOB Of printing worth a few dollars
be proposed, and what an Instantaneous
prickins up of ears! Suspicious glances. are
cast on ths poor devil of printer; and the
gcn,lsin1n who yo.ed Inappropriate six hun.
Lred dollars towards paying the bills incurred
by l4te gass,s Of the city. gnvely talk of
economy, The forwarding merchant from
the ll.h ward, is of opinion ,ha: the funds
might be better spent IN Improving the
whsryes; the lawyer from the 9th ward thinks
she 10, on Blackstone Corner belongs TO the
city, and that the money thrown away in
printing nigh: be pro6tably applied towards
recovering improperly; the brick mason
from the 7tb ward is decidedly opposed 10
expeniing any more money foolishly until
q new city hall is erected on the square op-
posite his .esidence, and SO they 80, The
ns,teris finally disposed Of by letting the
Job TO the lowest bidder.
The above may be a little colorcd, yet we
have heard Of cases about parallel with it,
Now, word about low bids. The printing
business is q peculiar one, and but few ex-
cept thoss for long time connected with 1t,
are capable ofjulging who bids lowest should
the proposals be made in different styles.
Hence, when the bidding is near the same,
in the aggregate, there is sure to be dissatis-
iac!ion; for both bidders will claim to be the
lowest. Those, therefore, who cannot decide
satisfactorily. generally favor their political
friends, let the bids be as they may, and the
question, at last. becomes one OF politics.
"Thereby hangs ille."
We do hope our Legislators may devise
law that will prevent SO much trouble in let
ting the public printing, though there Is
little hope SO long as III. "cut throat" system
Of loyest bids is prac,ised.
The wheeling bridge Case Decided.
3 II will be e-seei, by the letter Of one Of our
intelligent Washington correspondents, that
the United States Supreme Court has al
,....k ...,l. a Iac;e;O,, In the f,aSa of the