New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-09-25
DAILY CRESCENT.
OFFICIAL JOURNAL
THE CONSOLIDATED CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
DEBATES OF THE STATE CONVENTION
OF LOUISIANA.
WEDNESDAY, July IA, 1852.
TILE GlNYENrIQN pRINTING

GlOH IuE report Vi lnc COHllnltIct W WHOM was
referred the compensation Of officers of the Con-
vention, presented on the 10th inst, and which
was made the order of the day for last Monday.
Which motion prevailed.
The report being then before the Convention,
Mr.. Sandidge offered the following as q substi-
tute
s' Resolved, That the Printer elect of the
Convention be required to execute whatever
work may be ordered, in the manner prescribed
by law
Mr.. SAND1DGE said: With due respect to the
committee, he would offer q subst tute to their
report. 1t had been his lot to have had good
deal to do with regulating the rates of public
printing. In 1847 his duty on the Printing Com
mittee in the House of Representatives required
him to make full investigation into the sub
ject of printing, and the rates that would give
fair compensation. The report which he then
presented was adopted by both Houses, and the
rates established by that report are now the
law of the land. The Legislature has been act
ing on that report ever since that time Now,
he was not disposed to give the Printer to the
Convention more than was paid to the Public
Printer. Has it ever been known that we re-
quired to go a begging for printer at these
rates u? On the contrary; it is well known that
we have number of applicants, here, for the
business, every session. Such being the case
1t could not be presumed that the rates were
not fair.
He did not expect that anything of this kind
would have been brought before the Conventions
but believed that the Printer would have been
satisfied with the fees allowed, and not required
us to act on q new proposition at moments
notice. Who knows about Nonpareil type, and
about GEMS, - and such other terms But he knew
that the table of charges in this report will
make every item, except two, 400 per cent.
higher than the law allows. These rates will
be from ~ per cent. to 400 per cent higher
than ever were paid in this State, and are from
10 per cent. to 800 per cent. above the law as it
now stands.
Mr.. JENNINGS said that the report of the COM
mittee was unanimous. None of the committee
were practical printers, but they had consulted
those who were, and received all information
on the subject that was available to them.
From the estimates and tests made to us, it was
clear that the Printer could make no more than
fair profit, according to the rates of charge in
the report. In 1847, the estimates of about
dozen practical printers in NewOrleans were re-
celved These estimates disagreed very much,
an average of them was made From the best
advice that the committee could obtain from
practical printers, the average, which was little
more than guess work, and which was made the
law OF 1871, would not compensate the Printer
to this Convention. 1t would occur, at once, to
every gentleman in the Convention, that the
rates of printing for the Legislature could not
regulate, with any degree of fairness, the print
ing for the Convention. The Public Printer has
an immense amount of matter which goes into
the paper number of times, when it is known
that the whole expense is incurred in the first
insertion Besides, the fact of being Public
Printer in this State. gives an addition of from
lO0o to 1000 to the circulation of paper
That is worth from $4,000 to $4,000 There are
many other advantages possessed by the Public
Printer which are not available to the Printer
to this Convention. With these views, the COM
mittee, in their report, have given to the Printer
the thick with the thin-have modified some
rates and increased others, and with the Act of
the Legislature before them. and with informa-
ton derived from practical and sensible men,
have made the most just report that their !iulg-
ment could direct.
Mr.. SANDIDGE answered that the best drec-
ton they could have taken, would have been to
adopt the present report with % per cent higher
rates
Mr. RISK moved to lay the substitute on the
table, and would briefly give his reasons The
gentleman who has offered the substitute may
have had good deal to do with printing in the
Legislature, but he has either had bad nforma-
ton given to him or has arrived at wrong con-
clusions from some other cause. In all legisla-
tive bodies there are many varieties of work
Among these there are great many kinds of
job work, such as bills, reports, blanks, etc
These form the profitable parts of the Printers
contracts in Congess and in the State Legsla-
lures Especially does the Printer look to the
bills introduced, ordered to be printed and laid
upon the members desks every day, as his source
OF profit In printing the laws and journals,
the Printer expects to incur loss, but he makes
it up on the job printing This may be q fair
or it may be an unfair mode of making esti-
mates, but it is certain that the contracts of all
Public Printers are framed in this way, with
the knowledge of the Congressional or Legisla-
tive bodies who are the contracting parties
MIR. RISK referred to the gentleman's remark
about Nonpareil type, and about the &C ems" by
which the Printer measures his charges Mr.
X. then gave a clear explanation of the amount
OF printing matter that would be comprised in
each page, with the use of Nonpareil type, COM
pairing it with the lesser amount that would be
given by the use of Brewer, Bourgeois, or other
type. He also explained, much to the interest
OF the Convention, the mode of measurement of
printers work by s'ems''
He said that he had the honor of being
practical printer. That fact being known to
the committee who have now presented their re-
port, they consulted him on the subject of
charges He had given them his views, and it
appeared that his views had received their COM
mesdation, for they had adopted them, He
would add nothing more, here, than the
remark that the rates will afford profit,
but not an eXtrayagant one-such q profit
as the printer is fairly entitled to. The gen.
tleman who offers the substitute has stated
nothing in the shape of a tangible objection to
the report He MR. RI could not find any
thing in the genteman's rather wild objections
that affected in the slightest degree the fairness
OF the rates which the committee had agreed
upon. The views which he had felt called upon
now to give were founded OH experience. He
gave them to the Convention with full know
ledge Of their truth, and, therefore, with entire
confidence
Mr.. SAND1DGE called for the yeas and nays
Mr.. HEBRON explained the reasons why he
would sustain the report. He had consulted
with practical printers, and got not only their
opinions but their reasons for their opinions.
These reasons and opinions made it conclusive
Ill his mind that the rates allowed by the re-
port to the Printer to the Convention will yield
a fair but not unreasonable profit. The work
usually most profitable to public printers, as
explained by the delegate from NewOrleans,
Mr: Risk, is that which is laid on members
tables from day to day, for their consideration,
as ordered by the Houses There is none of
1hat here. He was convinced that the rates
were reasonable, and he was always willing to
allow reasonable profit for work DONE
NIX. bEsANcoN corroborated the information
iald IA before the Convention by the delegate from
NewOrleans, Mr.. Risk, and said that he be-
heved 1T to be the wish of the Convention to
give the Printer a fair remuneration. He suo-
gested, as the best means of ascertaininr what
would be a fair remuneration, the appointment
of q committee of five, a majority of whom