, 1874-06-11

SEC. 2. They shall at their Meeting
IN May advertise for proposals for all
the public printing for the term of one
year. a 4 = a -.
At the regular May term Of the Court
no action of any kind was taken in this
matter; no advertisement for proposals: !:
ne official notifcationt to publishers then
or subsequently. MI. r.Andrews did ask
us, in oar own Office, if we proposed to
bid for the work, and we replied, not
unless the letting was fairly conducted,
and not as heretofore, when the bid was
awarded upon special specifications for
work over which the Commissioners had
no control, and the County was charged
double rates for work not specified i'll
the proposals issued by the Auditor.
That private conversation was all the
notification of any kind We even had,
and no order of advertising proposals
was made by the Court at that session.
At the same term we called upon the
Court, in session, and were distinctly
informed that no action would be taken
in the matter at that session. and we
heard nothing more of it until our at
tention was called to the publication Of
the above order, made at an adjourned
meeting, without official notification to
any party interested, or any attempt to
comply with the law, except the false
pretence that the Court had notified the
publishers of beth newspapers in tie
county to present proposals for such
printing; when the fact is, the. Court
had taken DO action whatever IL the
matter, and the records do not show
movement of any kind to comply with
the mandatory law which distinctly says:
.sThey SHALL at their meeting in May
advertise for proposals." etc. ei tHe
We do not believe the County Com
missioners had any sinister design in
this matter, but followed the established
precedent of trusting everything of this
kind to the Auditor, who in turn has
followed in the footsteps of his illus
trious predecessor." in regarding Office
as "prerogative" to- be exercised for
the exclusive benefit of a ring composed
of self and friends. The Intslligencer
was the adopted organ of the old ring,
and not only the county treasury but
tax delinquents were bled unconsciona'
bly, for its support The present Audi
tor, while acknowledging that he owed
his election to our efforts for reform,
has used all the influence and patronage
of his Office in sustaining the organ of
the abuses which we assailed. Under
the old ring management delinquent
tax payers were forced to pay 50 30 a
description, of one line, for advertising
the tax sales in the Intelligencer for
three weeks. Last year the publisher
was awarded the county printing under
contract to publish the tax sales at the
rate of 72 cents for three publications
of each square of 10 lines. One dollar
a description has been charged to every
person who has redeemed land sold for
taxes, and advertised under that con
tract. The whole advertisement would
average not less than six descriptions to
square of - lines; the contract price
of which would be - cents descrip-
ton; while the price demanded and re-
ceived by the collecting officer is one
dollar.
This is but a single specimen of the
manner in which old abuses have been
perpetuated in our county affairs. We
have heard many other complaints, all
of which we shall attend to in due sea-
son.