The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-12-10

most exorbitant in their demands, }
has that fact any legitimate bearing
upon the propriety OF my conduct, when
81, officer of the State The Execu-
tive argument applied to each class OF
the accounts which he discusses, 10,
that they must necessarily De
fraudulent, because, some OF the
items exceed the lowest prices contain
ed in the late bids for the printing. Yet
il is a matter of notoriety that Cover"
nor Jacob is now paying for the print
ing ordered for bis department, not
only larger prices than he is authorized
by the legislature to pay, but much
greater rates than even the highest OF
those competing for the recent award
When therefore he asserts that the
moderation of my demands as cons
tractor, is evidence OF my rapacity as
an officer. 1 have a right TO reply that
the unlawful extortion at which ne 10
Gonniving as Governor, is equal eVl-
dence of his want integrity as man. .
Mr.. WALKER then explains that In
accordance with an arrangement made
with the printers in his office in con-
sideration Of guaranteeing them steady
work, he was able to contract to do the
State printing at price much below
what it had formerly cost him. The
advantages of this arrangement had
been offered to the State, and his 3D.
which was $4,000 lower than any other
had been accepted by the Printing COM
missioners but disapproyed by the Cow
ernor. 1t is manifestly unfair to use
this bid as basis for judging Of the
correctness Of former charges, and Mr..
WALKER remarks: Iii is concession
that could not have been anticipated,
when the Governor OF the State admits
by the very strongest implication, that
the charges which he has so loudly
paraded for the past two years, cannot
be supported except by the irrelevant
testimony which he EFFORTS from my bid
for the public printing, some seven
weeks ago"
"Governor Jacob passes in review,
his last years report OF overcharges
for printing the Acts OF 1871, and the
House Journal of the same year. lie
reiterates his declaration, that the over
charge on the first OF these books,
amounts to s2175.33, and on the sec
ond, to $l,627.52. As he simply repro
duces charges which have been hereto
fore considered, l can dispose Of them
quite briefly. lst, They were not
founded upon competent or concurrent
testimony, every witness before the
Jacob commission, having contradcted
every other. Governor Jacob said,
in his report, from which he copies
these charges, that "the witnesses differ
widely in their measurement OF work ;
consequently, when overchargess
are reported, an average OF
the different estimates IS taken
as q basis OF calculation" Tha: is, the
Governor rejected every statement
made by every witness, and adopted
estimates, TO whose correctness not 8
single witness testified. If Governor
Jacobs case last no longer in court,
than would such testimony as that,
its little life will soon be rounded with
o sleep.
"2d. Ny charges, for the work done
on these books, were fully sustained by
the testimony taken before the House
Committee, and the witnesses did not
destroy each other. Their testimony
showed that l had charged in the one
case, S97.57, in the other, S437.64 less
than was entitled to receive. With
this evidence, which can be corroborat-
ed to any desirable extent am always
ready to confront His Excellency in a
court of justice. With characteristic
prudence, he has preferred to present
his case at the bar OF public scandal"
In relation to the printing for the
Convention Mr.. WALKER shows that
the assertion that he charged 50 60 per
page for copies ofthe journal furnished
to the Senate, 50 % per page for the
copies furnished the House and s. W
per page for the copies furnished the
Convention, is untrue, that the Con-
vention had received the benefit OF a
reduction in price; and that the House
Committee which examined the matter
last winter had reported that the
charges for Convention work were ST.
S4S lesa than might have been legal
" exeCted.
In regard to the legislative printing
generally and especially to SENATE Bill
No. 9S," which had been used, by the
Governo. as an illustration OF improp-
er charges, Mr.. WALKER shows that
the bill in question contains
fory.tiglt p Iges instead OF only forty rs
asserted by the Governor, and says;
The same falsehood that appears in
his count of these pages, appears in
every item OF his estimate.
LET US now hear from Governor ia.
COTS last report In his report to the
House OF Delegates last winter, he pro-
fessed to have paid special attention to
the subject of printing House and Sem
ate bills. On page 5 OF that report he
fixes the following as the rates at
which he thinks the Senate and House
bills should be charged-2jO copies:
For a one page bill, So 80; for o
bill exceeding one page, and not more
than four. per page, 1925; for a bill
exceeding four pages, per page, $. 30.
All these rates include the cost OF pa
per"
That is were but go copies OF each
bill are furnished. Where 500 copies
49, .l L. ol,o loEro, L., -.