Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-04-03
i e,ltaerst aud @e';sv
TUESDAY MORNING, :. ArxIn ssspss



Senator Neal respecting the outrageous
manner in which John Tecsdale, in the
capacity OF State Printer, has been
swindlipg the State out of many thou-
sands of dollars.
1t was proposed BY the more honest
portion Of our State Legislature to cur
tail the extravagant prices paid for State
Printing, by aboliskiug the Office alto
gether, and letting out the work to the
lowest responsible bidder. But this did
not please the Opposition. They wanted
that office to stand, because it was one
odt'df Which much capital can be made,
and is also we'll calculated to drain the
Treasury.
From the speech in question we pro-
pose to extract soncwhat literally. Mr..
Neal says:
81 lay it down as q car inal principle in leg
isls,ion thas We ahoald guard tie Treasury and
appropriate the public funds with the came
care. prudence and economy thatn prudent
man would his private property. Now this
work II rely msehapical there ~ nothing
political about 1t. and why should the people
be taxed to pay more for having this work
done by mechanic who belongs to the party
in power, ths9 one OF the Opposits party. II
this principle be correct, IL may, with equal
propriety, be applied to all supplies furnished
70 ell buildings. or other rnech anicsi work per-
formed for the State"
But. cir. your State houses and other public
works. your school houses and other works Of
public interest," are oil lot by coatract--the IL ost
extensive competition is invited. Notice any
railroad or work Of internal Improvement.
where millions are to be expended, and where
the work is required TO be done in the best
manner, and you will ses that the most extern
sive competition isiuvited. Why, then. should
We shut out competition in the disposition Of
this work for the Stats3 There can be but one
response. and that is in the language of the
Senator from Benton"
The argument used by the Senator
from Benton WAS that Republican
State Printer should not only be elected
but he should be so literally compensa-
ted for his work, as to enable him to
keep up and support "a first class A. No.
|, Republican journal at the capital" in
other words, the people of Iowa of
every political persuasion are to be taxed
and robbed for the purpose of MAINTAIN
ing "frst class, A No. Republican
journal at Des Moines. This undoubted-
ly is the true reason, but is it not enough
to sickcn the heart Of any honest man :?
Must the treasury be robbed, and the pco-
Piles money squandered in order to
maintain an INSCRIPTIONS Black Repub-
lican paper at the State Capital! This
is the avowed intention of the Opposi.
ton.
Concerning the State Binder, Mr..
Neal said -
"'The State Binder lis not necessarily con
nected with politics, he has nothing to do with
the No. Republican journal and certainly
Democrat can do IS good job Of binding az
Republican, and this item a lone, for the las,
year, amounted to $1,000 and am informed
and infer from the proposition intend TO cub
init to the Senate. that the State, now pay,
about double what the binding is really
worth"
Mr.. Neil then goes on to examine the
workings Of the law, and specify some
of the items as audited, but first reads
the law governing State Printing under
Democratic rule, which was very soon
abolished upon the opposition coming in
to power.
The figures given show conclusively
that in every article ofprinting the State
Printer has been dishonest and outra-
geously SO. If the price per thousand
could not be changed the worthy official
would over charge the number of pages.
One item Of printing consisting of half
. ream OF letter heads, we find charged
at sl4 this is pretty good when the
State furnishes the paper. The job, pa
per and all, could not be worth 10
exceed $500, at the extent.
"As pass along down the long COL
umn Of charges of the same kind and
similar to those have been investigat-
ing, find the following bill for printing
the Governors Message Of 1858:
Gov. Crimes Message, composition four
forms $3.50
Press work, 220 tokens. .............. 1920
Governor loves Message, composition,
forms, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 1920
Press work, $4,000 copies, l6sitokens,.... $500
-
Making,.... ....................S2 S9. so
for printing the Governors messages at
one session ofthe General ASS mbly. Al
most every country paper, and the other
papers at the Capital printed these mes
sages as an important item OF news to
their readers. But this favorite indiyid-
ual, after having his type all set for
printing this document, without which,
as paper at the Capital, it would have
been considered::unworthy Of pubic pat
ronage, strikes off the number ordered
by the General Assembly on paper fur
nished by the State and pockets $2s9.s0
for the job"
That IL fat take and q clean swim
de- aud yet it goes to support an A.
No. / Black Republican journal.
| next come to the publication of the
laws in the Iowa Citizen by order of
the General Assembly.
As the usual price charged by printers
for transient advertisements will nav bet.
ter than the general rates fixed hv law