New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-23

Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi
may be that of our OWL.
THE SUPREME COURT REPORTS.
There is an old maxim which atirms
that any thing that is worth having is
worth paying for. This is a rule that can
not safely be violated by the most careful
business man, and it is rare that a State
or a city or corporation of any kind ought
to adopt the very doubtful experiment.
Yet We find that when a party, i'll his own
interest, or that OF a Massachusetts, or
some other Northern printing establish
ment, comes forward and proposes to pub
lish the decisions of the Supreme Court
for nothing, and give the State $50 copies
for the privilege, Mr.. Levisse, on be-
half Of the State, is ready to accept the
offer. The gentleman from Caddo should
"beware of the Greeks when they bring
PRESENTS" and he should also be cautious
about accepting statements from interested
parties, and relating to the House on no
better evidences matters which rest on a
very airy foundation. We copy from our
report OF House proceedings:
The bill contracting with b. Bloomfield
& Co. to print the Supreme Court reports
came up.
Mr.. Walker objected to it, considering it
a Job. 1t had been sent to the Committee
-, T,J:a,n-- h,,t no - oorSa;no No =. ,aoti>r
of law be wished it sent to the Committee
on Retrenchment and Reform.
Mr.. Young said the bill vas designed to
prevent q Job. 1t would save the State
from 5000 to $4,000.
Mr.. Levisee explained the bill. 1t was a
contract with b. Bloomfield 4 Co., for them
to furnish gratis $50 copies of each report
to the Secretary of State, for the privilege
of publishing and selling the balance re-
quired by the trade. They would be print
ed equal to the Civil Code, and a bond of
$1,000 given for faithful performance.
Since 1865 SIC had to be paid for them; By
this bill they would be sold for $40.
Mr.. Elliott said the $l2 was when they
were taken by numbers; $40 had been the
price for the volume.
Mr.. Levisee said the T~wenty-sixth Annual
had not vet been furnished.
Mr.. Hall said he had got his six months
since.
Mr.. Levisee said of the 400 hat should be
furnished the Secretary OF State only goo
had been: the balance we're sent to Greah-
AIMS, and instead of the proceeds going to
the treasury not one dollar had been paid.
1t had been a job in the past, but this bill
was to prevent one in the future. The Re
PUBLICAN had had a slurring article on
Messrs. Il. Bloomfield & Co. saying that
they wished to do the work on terms that
- -.,o - <ho rr0~1I a1,lI oAar with
profit. There was not a volume of the
Twenty-seventh Annual in the office of the
Secretary Of State. At present the cost to
the State was not less than $4,000.
Even Mr.. Young, who is usually so
careful in making statements, has faiien
into the error OF xaggerating the cost Of
this work. TIL actual cost of printing
1000 copies Of t : Twenty-sixth Annual,
and binding 400 copies, was $500, and
not from SO, 100 to SIS, 00O. The
Twenty-fourth Annual cost $3.50; the
T%wenty-ffth $1,000, the T%wenty-sixth
$500. The average for the three years
less than $3.50. In estimating the cost
of the volume, however, the law re-
quires the salary Of the reporter Of the
Supreme Court, $4,000, to be added to the
cost Of printing. AS the edition is small,
and the number Of pages great, the work
is necessarily expensive. The Twenty
fifth Annual contains S24 pages, and the
Twenty-sixth 93c, both Of which, as will
be seen, are very 'arge volumes.
Mr.. Levisee is also misinformed about
the delivery Of the Twenty-sixth Annual.
Of the 400 copies required to be deposited
with the Secretary of State, 1896 were
delivered in August last, and the remain
ing four copies at a more recent date.
The reporter, under the law, furnishes
to the trade loose sheets from time
to time as they come from the press in
multiples of 100 pages. These are not,
however, deducted from the thousand
copies furnished the Secretary of State.
As for the Twenty-seventh Annual, the
copy is hardly yet out Of the hands Of the
Judges. The reporter has not had time
to examine the opinions and prepare the
syllabus. 1t will no doubt be ready for
delivery according to custom sometime
during the summer.
There is something in this thing more
than natural, if Mr.. Levisee's philosophy
could find it out. The party who de-
ceived him as to the delivery of the
Twenty-sixth Annual, and persuaded him
to make the ridiculous blunder about the
Twenty-seventh, would as readily deceive
him about any other matter. The man
who told him that the printing of the
ANNALS, under present arrangement,
costs s13, ZOO, when they only cost a little
more than $4,000, can not be implicitly
relied on for future estimateA, if the a
agement OF the whole business be given to
him. We are thoroughly familiar with
the history of that wonderful book