The American patriot., 1855-08-11
Public Printing-Po1 Jury.


cation signed by "A member of the Police
Jury" the purpose of which seems to be to
find fault with the election of The American
Patriot to do the parish printing for the en-
suing year, at a salary Of one hundred and Sc
venty five dollars. While 7 am willing to ad-
nit that the statement Of facts given by the
writer is strictly correct, yet he should remem-
Der that it is not only necessary to tell the
truth, but the whole truth There are some
facts connected with this printing business
which have not been told, and which will give,
when known, quite different face to the whole
matter.
For the benefit of this very economical and
conscientious member, allow me to refer him
to the proceedings relative to having the puolic
printing done for the last few years, and to
point out to him his o,cn consistency in regard
to it. E..r- .4
In 1s47, George W. Reese offered to do the
parish printing for a certain sum.
He acas elected. At the June session Of
1S4S he asked for 1926 extra compensation and
it acas gicen him.
In 1s49, the Jury balloted several times
without an election. No majority was had for
any one Reese agreed to do the printing for
nothing, and acas consequently elected. After
wards at the following session, he comes aoith a
bill for his relief and aszed to be paid for
the ecorh acAich he had done.
In 1854, Dumas, the publisher of 'the State
paper" proposed to publish the proceedings
of the Police Jury at one hundred and seventy
five dollars. His offer was accepted and he
was elected parish printer as will be seen from
the following resolution, offered by w. w.
Moore:
"Reso1red, de-, That W. II. Dumas bid for
the printing of all the proceedings of the Po-
lice Jury of the parish be received and that
, he be allowed the sum of $175 for doing the
| same, payable quarterly on his own warrant.
drawn on the Parish Treasurer.
(Signed) B. NJ. G. BROWN,
President of the Police jury"
From these facts and others which are given
on the records of the Police proceedings, it
will be seen that the public printing has been
let ont at various prices ranging from seventy
five to one hundred and seventy-fve dollars.
Last year the Police Jury seems to have
come to the conclusion that one hundred and
seyenty-five dollars was but a fair compensa-
ton to the parish printer, and hence that
amount was paid Dumas. I never heard at
T that time ANYTHING said about political extra
vagance or waste of the public money. The
Police was democratic, and "the State Paper
tried to be, and so all was right. The fact is
the parish printing is worth to do it, one hum
dred and seventy-five dollars; and all this
hubbub sought latterly to be raised about it,
7 is only for party effect and nothing else.
q At the June session of the Police Jury,
i 1855, Reese was again candidate for parish
: printer, and by agreeing to do the work for
q nothing, he was elected. He is a rery patri-
otto nan, surely! But did he. .fulfl his part
\ Of the contract--so liberal to the Parish /?
e No, he did not. The excuse he rendered fo,
= not doing so was, that VIM. IT, Green, the Po-
: lice Clerk, and also one of the proprietors of
); the American Patriot, handed him the report
= of the police proceedings in printed form.
d Hence he concluded that from the fact that
d Green and struck off the proceedings in print
o eel form that :" some higher power had inter
vened" and that the reports would be pub
# lished in the American Patriot What matter
c was it to Reese whether the police proceed
# ings were published in the American Patriot
: or not? He had agreed to do the work for
s nothing, and why did he not fulfil his part of
? the contract? Did the fact that the proceed
ings of the Police Jury would be published in
the Patriot release him from all obligation to
publish them as he had agreed to do? w
;. His zeal to do the State some service in thus
= acorhing to gratity his patriotic feelings a1oue
, should not allow itself to be so easily put out
~ by so slight cause. .g-- .- -I.
;, The editors of the Patriot have the undoubt.
. cd right to make such selections for their col
), ,, umns as they sec proper. If they chose to
publish the proceedings of the Police jury
they could not have expected any remuneration
for it, and no doubt the police reports found a
place in the columns of the Patriot as any other
!. matter would--simply for the reason that they
. would be interesting to the public
Reese failed to publish the police proceedings
i, as he had agreed to do and for the reason given
> above. But is that explanation satisfactory to
!, the public? Did the fact that the proceed
ings would be published in the Patriot
relieve him from his obligation to publish
them? ,.
= When this matter was brought before the
!. police at its next session. a month after, Reese
comes i'll and makes another bid for the work,
. But as he had failed in the performance of his
$ contract in the first instance what assurance