Daily national Democrat., 1860-04-12
The City Printing.

repealed" But thinking. (deFplte the re
m,,s,ronces of one Of tieir number. who is a
man of fine intelligence and knows what he
Is obout.) that he old ordinance was indeed
renealed. although the ordinance repeating it
wns itseh repealed and although the Mayor
had dot signed it, even if it had not repealed
itself, they refused to open the bids, authori
zed under the old ordinance and which were
thus refusing, they passed resolution au-
thorizing proposals for doing the city print
ing to be handed in at the next Council
Well. at the next meeting of the Council bids
were received Previous to their being open
ed, a resolution was adopted, that the bids he
now opened and the lotoest bidder contracted
NTH The bids were opened. and the lowest
one was higher than the Council expected to
lind it. Regardless of their former action.
they voted thut the bids be returned to the
parties making them, ard thus the question
stands Perhaps the Council know " Whether
they are standing on their heads or their feet
but the people are of the opinion that their
precise attitude is a little dubious.
Be that as it may. the pith of tho whole
matter is this: The members Of the present
Council, who are laboring under very great
hallucina,ion, think or pretend to think that
the City Printing ought to be done for $500
a year The entire press of this city are of
the opinion. in fact they know. that it would
be a loss of time money and labor to do it at
even twice that amount. They put in their
lids in accordance with their opinion. The
majority Of the Council. assuming to know
more about printers business than their own,
get angry. aud few of them suffer them
selves to make very unkind remarks about
the city papers. In this thing, they are very
wrong. We publishers and printers do not
pretend to dictate to them, as individuals
what they shall sell their goods for or their
produce, or whatever else they may deal in.
We do not accuse them of n combination a.
gainst purchasers because they do not happen
to vary very greatly in the prices which they
ask for their merchandise If Alderman
Mann would agree. on an advertisement for
proposals for the same from the City Council.
to furnish the Council in shoe leather for one
year for S240, while Armstrong would offer
to do it for 5000, and Alderman Eshom for
$3.50, we would be very far from crying out
that it was coordination" We would
simply say that, as business men, knowing
their own business, they did not very greatly
differ rs to what would he fair price for
that kind of supply Of shoe leather. The
variation of the bids would be attributable to
the various estimates made by the bidders as
to how much leather " would be worn out by
the Mayor during the year whether this or
that Alderman was much given to exercise or
the contrary; what the distance was at which
certain Aldermen resided from the City Hall
and how many shoes or boots they would
wear out, dnling the year, in getting to and
back from the Council, DC, DC, DC All
these things would lie taken into considera-
lion, and cause some variation in the bids
but in the main. they would be found to be |
based upon a business like. sensible founda-
ion, and to be governed by the general !
'egning price in the market Now, we pub
ishers and printers know what our labor, |
line and money are worth. In good faith. we
nave made our bids to the Council They
vary, as they naturally would, but they do
not fall below what is fair price for the
City Printing. In good faith those bids were
put in. Each paper is under obligations, hv
a natural sense of honor and fair dealing, to
stand 10y its bid. We cannot. now, after our
bids have been opened and read, proceed to
underbid each other with any show Of de-
cency. We have made our offers to the
Council. The Charter allows them to give
$4,000 year. The DEMOCRAT offers to do it
for much less, and for AS little as it possibly
can afford. and make anything The Council
are bound under the Charter to elect City
Printer, and he must publish paper in this
city We publish paper in the city and are
now, in all fairness Of dealing, the City
Official press. The Council may differ with
us as TO what printing is worth, but we tell
them here now that we offer to do this print
ing Tor the city at much less than our regular
advertising rates, as those rates stand pub
iished in the pale er Our regular published
rates, (as will be found on the first page of
the paper in the first column) are, for one
40, ,,f I u al Eno 10 I,
subsequent insertion 81 so. For all the
lumber which the Council orders done dur
ing the year, it will readily be SEEN at these
regular rates, what the bill against the city
would amount to. Let US look for instance
at the expense of publishing one ordinance.
Scarcely any ordinance is less than six
squares. These ordinances, after being intro.
duced, have to be printed a week Very
well, a six days publication of an ordnance
of six squares would amount to S62 After
the passage of this ordinance, it would then
have to be republished at least once, which
would make the whole cost, $50 And often,
it so happens that an ordinance is so amended
and so tinkered with that it must be pub
ished two or three times over. Frequently
the ordinances are not only six squares but
twelve or fourteen squares long. At such
rates as these, five thousand dollars would
not pay the cost of the city printing, and yet
they are fair, living prices. We offer to do
the city printing for much less sum, and yet
we are eensured by pepole who know moth
ing OF the printing business as extortioners.
Because the papers of this city chose once.
out OF professional rivalry, to cut off their
own noses to spite their faces, and agreed to
do the citv nrintinr, a. n 80