Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-10-25
THE PUBLIC PRINTING AGAIN.

have gotten more than they bargalned Tor.
The facts elected by the examination seem
to embarrass the committee as well as the
parties, and they rise to explain" In
the committees dispatch they complain
that our publication of portions of the tes-
timony was partial and "garbled,"
and that its publication was unauthor-
lied by the committee" and " in violation
of the rule that no part of the testimony
should be published until the committee
made its report" If there was any such
rule we were ignorant of it. We have
been reliably informed that persons in no
way connected with the investigation were
persisted to hear portion of the evidence
as given by some of the witnesses, which
impressed us with the belief that it was a
public investigation of a public matter and
that as Journalists we had a right to
But why such a rule in this case@ The
committee is charged with the inyestiga
ton of an accusation publicly made in re-
lation to public matter. Why shouldse-
crecy be enjoined on any one until after the
committees report should be made? This
is a question they will not answer
But the committee in their dispatch
complain that our publications have been
partial and 'garbled,p and calculated to
do Messrs. Jones, Purvis & Co. injustice.
If by this the committee intend to charge
by the terms partial and "garbled' that
we have not published all the evidence
given by the parties referred to, we admit
the fact. We did not purportto publish all
the evidence of Messrs Griffith, Jones &
Purvis. But we have been advised by par
ties in whom we rely that the evidence
published by us is substantially correct, as
deposed to by the parties as far as it goes,
and if the evidence is ever published as
given it will bear us out. We intended to
do, and as we believe did no injustice to
any one, and if the committee or any one
else shall pretend to question the truth of
this declaration, we appeal to the original
evidence in the hands of the committee
and challenge its publication. rtsy
Instead of doing the parties Injustice we
did not publish the most damaging part
of the testimony. Mr.. Ira P. Jones, one of
the firm of Jones, Purvis & Co, was as
much at fault in his mathematics as he
WAS deficient in his memory, as the follow
ing will show: rat'|.-
@. What is token? A. The Code defines
what a token is. H -
G. What does the Code define it to be? A.
Ten quires.
Q. How many quires are in a ream? \.
@. There are then two statutory tokens in
| each ream of paper? A. Y es.
@. In this account you have charged for 40
reams of paper and 213 tokens. Now if there
are but two tokens to ream, how did you get
2l3 tokens out 40 reams of paper? "A, | can't
explain it.
q. In this other account you charge for 5214
reams of paper and ], 7S6 tokens. How do you
get l,7S6 tokens from 52l ] reams Of paper? A.
That is account for work done by Roberts &
Purvis and | will leave them to explain it.
@. Well, here is still another account in which
you charge fer six quires of paper and eight to !
kens of press work Now, if it takes tenquires
to make token, how did you get eight tokens
out of SIR qujres? A. am not a practical
printer and can not explain it. r
Q. Here is another account in which you
charge for seven quires of paper and twenty
four tokens. How did you get twenty-four to-
kens out of seven quires of paper? A. / can
not explain it.
Thus the examination progressed, draw
ing out many answers, the publication of
which would be damaging but not unjust
to the parties accused. .Et.fs Z
However embarrassing this investigation
may be to the parties and the committee,
the records of the Comptroller's office can
neither be overlooked or ignored. These
alone sustain every charge heretofore pre-
ferred against the Public Printers. Among
others, we may illustrate by their account
for publishing 1880 copies of the Public
and Private laws of the last Assembly.
! Inc paper contained in these volumes cost
Is cents per h., and weighs about Il lbs.
Ill no event did it cost the Public Printers
more than 30 cents yet they have charged
Tor the paper which went into 1900 copies
of these laws 4,497. 90, within a fraction
OF cent OF 81 per volume. Business men
will see at glance, and without the evil
dence of experts, that the account is excess
sive and fraudulent. The book referred
to can be found scattered all over the State
in the hands of the Justices of the Peace
pay the taxes to examine and judge for
themselves. In this single item the Pub
| lie Printers have drawn from the Treasury
more than $1,000 which they were not en-
titled to.
/ we could extend our remarks to an al
most indefinite extent. But this is as
much as our space will permit us to say
now As occasion may require we willre-
cur TO the subject again. In the mean
Tune we commend our political adversaries
TO possess their souls in patience. The de-
velopments are disagreeable, but cannot
be evaded. Like the Indians effort TO
cover himself with short blanket when
he pulled it over his head his feet were I'M
covered, and when he drew it over his feet
/ -