Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-02-16
TEE PUBLIC PRINTING.

THE PUBLIC PRINTING.
 We subjoin a statement obtained from the offices of the auditor and swamp land secretary of the amounts paid, in each year, for pubic printing from 1852 ts 1859. It will be seen by that, that the amounts received by us in year'' including the pay for printing the Disest,'s about $7OOO year, and emitting items of the Dise''' bank reports and one or two extraordinary docu- ments the amount is about $5OOO year. This statement will also show some important facts. The pripting never cost the state 2O,OOO year. The nearest it ever came to that amount was Tn 1854 and 1855, though the true amounts drawn out of the swamp land fund and covered up un- der some such phrase as general expenses might make it up to that sum, the principal part of which went into the pockets of know nothings. The reader must remember that the amounts paid to us have been for heavy work' such as acts, journals, reports, and digests. Our labors are to be seen in each clerks office ID the state. On the other hand, the vast sums paid to the editor of the Gazette, with the exception of few hundred dollars for printing bills, etc, for the General Assembly, were charged for adOerttsiag and for printing blanks. It will be seen that alter our election as public printer the cost of printing fell from SIS, "A in 1854. to less than S3ooo m 1856. In that year instead of $2O,OOO we did not receive S3,OOO. Still further, when they supposed that the cost of printing the dlgeS'' bank reports, and report of the geological sur vey, would make one year amount to the sum of S2O,OOO, we find that the whole amount paid in that year, Q858,) is less than sl7OOO; of which part was to other persons or hrms It will be borne in mind that while the amount paid for the ordinary public printing Of the state is less now than it was formerly, the amount of work done is doubly as great. Compare the acts and journals of 1856 with those of former years. Consider, too, the voumnious bank re- ports and other heavy matter and then remem- Der that in 1858, the state printed all these and $500 copies of the Digest of the statutes a work of LAG royal octave pages, and paid less than was paid in 1854. when these heavy re- ports and the digest were not printed.
 We wish we had time to point out some more of the contrasts shown, but the intelli- gent reader can do it for himself. Assuming the whole amounts paid to us at $7,0OO year, and referring to the rates allowed the public prin ter to be found in the Digest. practical printer can easily estimate our profits. It was suppos- ed that those rates would allow profit of eight per cent. per annum. Some of this work has to be done by given tme For instance long bill is handed to us at night with an order for hundred copies of it by ten o'clock of the next day. To get it out the hands must work paid. The greater part of the work has to be done immediately, and necessarily at extra cost If we had our own time to do it in, it could be done more cheaply. Some of the work, such as advertisements in the paper, blanks etc., pay better. Admitting the profit to be ten per cent it will be seen that the year. ly profit on the public printing is S7OO. In 1858, 1t was more, in 1856 it was less than $500. In making the calculation, the printer will remem- Der that we furnish all the materials and it re- quires heavy capital to keep on hand supply of paper, type, etc, that may be required when navigation will not admit of its being brought. Even admitting the profits to be fifteen per cent, it will amount to only ten hun dred and fifty dollars year under the most favorable state of the case, and embracing a se- ries of years when most printing is required to be done. But we subjoin the statement for the satisfaction of all, and to show that instead of receiving S2OOO0 year from the treasury, that we do not receive a third of that sum, and the profits arising from it count by hundreds, and not by thousands as has heen falsely stated.
 In 1852, the amount paid for public pronsing was nearly seven thousand dollars Perhaps if we could ascertain the amounts paid by swamp land commissioners and charged as general expenses" this amount would be much larger
 This was divided as follows.