Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-09-13
THE PUBLIC PRINTERS.
Their Reply to Baxter's Charges

in the CHRONICLE of the 10Th of Au-
gust.
Absence from the city they say prevent
ed an earlier answer. We cannot of ehurso
in our limited space give their lengthy ar.
ticle in full, but as is Arrays our custom.
we give them the benefit of a fair digest of
their denial.
After long and rather feeble, personal
assault upon Col Baxter and his motives.
they say:
Col. Baxter says that under the contract
for the Public Printing, Jones, Purvis q
! Co., had, about two months since drawn
eighty thousand two hundred and sixty
one dollars" This statement is incorrect
ana as Col. Baxter says he speaks from
personal examination of the books, il must
be ,wllfully false. The Comptroller,s
books show that we have received for pub
nc printing warrants on the Treasury
calling for SOS, 1873 80. Col. Baxter asserts
that he Is prepared to say from a person.
al examination of a portion" of our ac-
counts and receipts, that fifty thousand
dollars SO drawn from the Treasury by us
rs fraudulent and ought not to have been
| paid" This would leave as the legitimate
pay for the public printing SIS, 13S. Can
amount less than we have paid our printers
Tor composition, to say nothing of paper
ink, press work, wages for foremen and
proof readers, room rent, our own time
ana labor, etc, etc.
1t will be noticed here that they do not
say that SOS, 1850 is oil they received.
Another specification of Col. Baxter is
as follows:
For LIST Heiskell's Reports they have
charged for one million eight hundred and
eighty thousand ems of composition three
hundred and thirty tokens of press work
ana seVenty-seven reams of paper; where
as, by estimates carefully made by compe-
tent practical printers, | have ascertained
that there are only one million two hun
dred and sixty-four thousand ems of COM
position, one hundred and fifty-six tokens,
eight reams of paper. For 9th Coldwelis
reports, like overcharge was made.u
In relation to LIST Heiskell we have to saw
that when we presented our bill for it to
the Comptroller, that officer, villa. in all
our transactions with him, has shown an
earnest desire toperform his duties accord
ing to law, received from some person,
whom we do not say, perhaps some striker
Tor Col. Baxter, or some one seeking his
own ends,) an estimate of the Typography.
press work and paper differing from our
bill, and very properly desired an explain
alton. Whereupon we wrote as follows:
NASHVILLE, Tenn, March 20, 1871.
H. IL. Penne6dker, Esq, Comptroller, etc.,
State Of Tennessee:
DEAR SIR-Complying with your re-
quest, the following statement is submit
ted in regard to the printing of Heiskell's
Reports:
The allowance for the waste in paper, by |
uniform usage throughout the country, is |
10 per cent, which covers paper for proofs, |
Dlnders Hy leaves, etc, and for waste in |
printing. In the case of Heiskell's Re |
ports, in some instances as many as seven |
proofs to the form were furnished the Re- |
porter. The ream is, therefore, according |
to rule and usage, 432 sheets instead of $50. |
Our charge of II reams, medium is 36sheets |
short of the amount actually used, there
being 2IS sheets to the book instead of 27J,
In relation to composition, we have to
say that the pages are interspersed with
BREWER and Nonpareil type, running
heads" text captions ETC., different from
the body, which is Small Plea, and were
averaged at 1000 ems to the page, which
has been the uniform charge for the same
work 10y our predecessors. In this average
Is included alterations from copy, taking
proofs, time charged by printers, etc,
which is the only method the Public
Printer has of being paid for such eX-
ira services This was done in printing
9th Coldwell's Reports, the only book of
similar Kind which has been done by the
present Public Printers.
For press work the law specifies and pro-
vides that 30 Impressions on medium
sheets of eight pages shall make a token.
There werein this book 10 medium forms. n
3 tokens to the form, which made the $50
tokens charged for by us. All fractions of
q token are charged rs full tokens, which
has always been customary.
Very respectfully,
JONES, PURVIS d Co.,
Public Printers, etc.
We now add that upon our explanatory
letter, above given, the Comptroller issued
his warrants upon the Treasury to the
amount of the bill Our accounts on file {
N the Comptroller's office, which are ac-
,essible to any and every citizen of the
State, will show that, in all our charges
or public printing of every kind, we have :