The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-05-15

The Amended Charter--Csrperatssn Newspa-
[From the Sunday Atlas, Nay l4l
The corporation advertising, under the amended
charter, is destined to be troublesome affair with
the reform" Common Council, il strict construc-
ton Of the charter Is adhered to. By the twelfth
section OF the new charter, all work. labor service
or supplies Of any kind for the city, Is required TO be
given to the lowest bidder after duly advertising for
proposals. Under this regulation the Comptroller
cannot, probably, avoid employing obscure and com.
para!lveiy unknown newspapers to publish the pro-
ceedings OF the Common Council and to do the
legal advertising for the city because such papers
the very names of which were never heard by one
among thousands Of citizens, can well afford to
underbid in the contest for this advertising all the
well established newspapers Of general circulation
among the people. There are not more than five
daily papers that generally read by the people Of
this city-sold about the streets-served at dwelling
houses and read in the railroad and in the pub
lie houses. To reach the mass of those interested
the advertisements required by law to be published
in the corporation papers, no sane man would think
of employing such sheets as the Journal of Com
ne,cc, Courier and Enquirer, or the Epening Post,
to say nothing of the ephemera zone horse" con.
Germs published upon the penny system. The
papers of general circulation in this community are
the HERALD, Sun, Times, Tribune, and perhaps
the Express. Two of these five should be selected
as the Corporation papers" in order to secure that
publicity which the public interests demand for the
official advertising Of the municipal government.
Not one OF these papers except perhaps, the Er-
of the Common Council and the advertisements re-
quired by law for less than IS 900 year. The HERALD
will not touch the job for less that Sc 900; and that
price is quite cheap enough Now, there are nearly
dozen daily papers published in this city, never
seen by majority of the people interested in mu-
nicpal affairs, that would jump at the contract for
less than 81 900 year. Under the charter, if a
contract is to be made no discrimination can be
used; and if the Erening Mirror, the DAY Book the
Tue National Democrat, the National Democrat
or the Budget underbid the HERALD and Times
they must be awarded the contract, the terms of
the charter will be disregarded.
This is another of the impracticabties of the
amended charter; but, it is anticipated that the
genius Of the Law Committee of the Board of Alder
men, who are charged with deviang scheme to
:" whip the devil around the stump" will find some
way to evade the charter, as was done in the case
OF the streets being cleaned by the Board Of Health
so that the corporation advertising can be perform
ed as it should be- by papers Of general circulation
at fair and honest prices.
The Alderman Of the Nineteenth, has preached
theory similar to that urged against the contract for
repairing pavements-that the advertising does not
properly come within the range of the twelfth Sec
ton OF the charter The publication of the proceed
ings of each meeting of the Common Council and
of each advertisement required by the executive
department, is decidedly separate and distinct
job, the magnitude Of which cannot be known in
advance. No estimate or specification of the
number of lines to be published can possibly
be made, as the basis OF contract, so as to
comply with the charter of ls49, until the manu-
script to be printed is written, or until after the
meetings whose official proceedings are to be pub
lshed have been held. In this view of the case in
asmuch the publication of the proceedings of no
one meeting of the Common Council will cost $780,
at the usual rates of charge in the most extensively
circulated papers, and the price Of no one adver
tisement will reach that sum- it is contended that
the 18th section of the charter is not necessarily
applicable to the case.
If the Law Committee will adopt this plausible
theory, and recommend that all the necessary cor
poration advertisements and official proceedings of
the Common Council be published in two Of the
generally circulated newspapers, at the same price
per line as such papers charge individuals for bust
ness advertisements, they will open an admirable
road around the 18th section of the charter and Sc
cure for the corporation advertisements the publ
cation they require, upon terms that should be per-
fectly satisfactory. The Corporation ought to pay
the same price for its advertising that individuals
are compelled to submit to.