Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-11-08
REASONING AGAINST FACTS.

Yesterday morning we presented to our
readers the minority report of the commit
tee appointed to investigate the alleged
public printing frauds. This morning we
give the majority report. We invite a
careful perusal of the two documents. 1t
will be seen that the majority report con-
sist mainly OF generalities, and partiality
to the accused isapparent from beginning
to end. They admit that the proof shows
that Jones, Purvis 4 CO., charged for more
ems of composition in lat Heiskel's Re
ports and in 9Th ColdwelPs Reports than
appear in the pages of the books, but that
in doing so they only followed out the re-
cognized rule of printers for the State, &c.
The idea that precedent makes wrong right,
is principle not heretofore recognized in
either law or ethics, and right-thinlling,
unprejudiced men will he very slow TO
adopt such q course of reasoning now. NO
matter how firmly established such
u rule may be it is wrong, and we
are surprised that men claiming
to be rational would make such defense.
They say this is done to make up for incl
dental expenses, such as lost time, extra
proof, alteration of copy, running over
forms, &c, in order to insure perfect ac-
curacy in the publication of Supreme
Court Reports. Now this is saying that
the matter of printing books cannot be re-
duced to certain rules for securing accura-
cy and calculating the cost thereof, and that
a large margin must be left to be supplied
by guess work" This, no practical prin-
ter who understands his business, will be
prepared to admit. t..T.- ..
They also admit that the proof shows
that the Public Printers, in many in
stances, received pay for four compositions
Of the same document, but they came to
the strange conclusion that there was
1nt hi M ron in hot n n
violation of law. Now, we invite our read
ers to examine the law on that subject,
and if they can find anything there
in that can he tortured into mean
ing that Public Printers are entitled
to charge four tlmes!for the same identical
composition, because IA certain amount is
printed for the House and certain amount
of the same for the Senate, then we must
admit that we are incapable of compre-
hending the plainest terms of the English
language. The law says the following
prices shall be allowed for the public print
ing: !" For the Journals, per ZOO ems,
forty-five cents" &c. A subsequent act
added firty per cent. additional to the
amount allowed, hut otherwise it remains
unchanged Now, if it had been intended
that separate charges should be made for
the Journals of each House, or for any
part thereof, why did it not read, for
each of the Journals of the House and
Senate, and for every part thereof" the
Public Printers should be entitled to re-
ceive so much per 900 ens. This is a
forced construction of the law, entirely
unwarranted by the language, and one
which we have no idea was ever antici-
pated by the Legislature.
And then the idea OF allowing the Public
Printers to take into account transporta-
ton, wastage, insurance, and the discount
upon State warrants, in arriving at the cost
of paper used, is furnishing them with a
margin that would enable them to swindle
the State out of hundreds of thousands, if
they were so inclined, and be perfectly in
nocent of anything wrong, under the rea-
soning Of this Committee. Such reasoning
ia, We undertake to say, unprecedented in
the history of legislative reports.
We say, and we appeal to the majority
report for the correctness of our position,
that the reasoning of the majority is di-
rectly opposed to the facts they themselves
and leave the public to judge of the guilt
or innocence of the accused, we would like
to see the entire evidence published, and
from it let men form their own conclu-
sions. If it exonerates Jones, Purvis &
Co. from any charge Of fraud, it would
certainly be n matter of pride to them to
present it to the public. But, when we
see their friends in the Legislature OPP
posing its publication, we must conclude
that it does not clearly eXonerate them
from everything that il wrong. Again we
callupon our readers to give both the ma
jority and the minority reports a careful
perusal.l