, 1874-01-09
olllcos hut au error In this respoot is very par
t,nhin fotttt



donabo fault.
THE STATE PRINTING.
Tlcro la no exigcncy Of tho public service
which has 40 many lcalts aid abuses M public
printing. Tile printing bllls Of tho Gonoral
Government In tho aggregate, have boon large
enough to run gootl.slzcl Republic, and tho !
chiof gain to bo derived from tho abolition Of
tho franking privilege, II tt Is allowed to etay |
abolished, will bo tho dccreaeo Of public doo1l-
monts, since thoy Gun no longor bo distributed
gratuitouBy about lie country. During tho dls- |
ouHsion over tho letting Of city printing in ohi-
cago TIM Tn1nuNE pointed out to the Council |
how 1t might save to tho city about $4,000
year by designating tho tStdats-zcitung, which |
prints tho proceedings In any case, to be tho
corporation newspaper. But the suggestion
waB not improved, bocauhe public printing
ia regarded hero. as elsewhere, In tho light Of a
political porqualte. And now comca tho report Of
tho 8ocretars Of stato for Illinois, showing tattho
oxponae Oh account Of public printing for little
mora than one year Is nearly 100000. Tho
slate printing iB not in 50 Ind Shape, perhaps,
as 1t was few years ugo. but thoro aro still op-
portunitieH for cutting 1t down. homo Of which
arc suggested by Mr. Harlows report. THO sum
Of sl8.075.73 WAS expended in tho single item Of
election rcgiHsors, or for tho purpose Of carrying
out a provision which is moro apt to DO an Access
sorry to than q preventive Of election frauds
Nr. Harlow suggests that the Legislature either
fix maximum price for thoHo registers or repeal
| tho law altogether. Tho latter would be the bet
| tor way to proceed. It alao cost 941 ,372,82 to
| print tho bills introduced into both Housos Of
tho Legislature, only d small proportion Of which
ever become laws. This Is the exponHe for
o single session, md 1t certainly appears
to bo exorbtant. II tho Legislature
would adopt tho practice Of not ordering bill
to 10 printed until after tho SECOND reading, or
after boing favorabyroporte1 from tho Commit
too, or until, iu some such way, tho bill is shown
to be worthy OF serious consideration with yiow
to it's becoming low, o largo proportion OF the
money thus expended might be saved to the
State. The sum Of SAL 900 for tho printing Of
bills that are introduced ia manifestly too much
and 1t may be cut down without detrimcult to ths
public interests, IL there IL disposition to do 30
Tho Secretary also reports TINT tllo Gomeral Aa
aembly ordered tho publication OF 5000 oopios O
tho laws Of tho session to DO distributed accord
ing to certaiu directions givon in the law. Afte
such distribution, the Secretary found 1,51
bound copies on hs hands. which, not knowing
what eise to do with tnom, ho distributed pro
miRcuonaly throughout the country. Now
why should the General Assembly order 1,6Q
more copies Of tha lawa thau they had adjulgo'
to be necessary, incurring tho expense Of papor
printing, binding, and distributing2 So til
General Assembly ordered TINT the Journals O
tho House aud sonato Tor an adjournod seaslo
should DO printed during the recoss," whic
WIS m unwarrantcl expenditure OF tho publ
money. as no number OF copies was specified
hlr. Harlow ordered 900, though 204 would liay
gone around, aud of these Ind 225 copies boun
in On extra stylo for the use of tho Legislature
AL these arc specimen items Of expense III til
state printing that might bo saved to tue psopl
Of Illinois With proper discretion. II there wcr
disposition to manage tho business of the poo
plo as closely as every member Of the Assembl
would manage his own, from $4,000 to 950,0o
q year might be saved in printing alone.