Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1877-05-26
State Census--.1S75.
CARSON, May 90, 1877.

which appeared in your paper of the
10th:
Ed. TIMEs:-T have sent you this day the
census report. which was procured for me. 1t
only requires very cursory examination to
show the gross imperfections and swindle.
Many names In this county are spelled wrong
ly, while many are left out entirely Hobart,
the Controller. tiled to avoid payment but
the Supreme Court Judges decided he must
pay. The bill is as follows:
Cost for taking census. ................S $500
copying ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 4,46o
Paper and freight :. . ... 43O
| Printing. ......... OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. l7,0l0
Total cost $29. 4OS
II is said $500 was ample for copying, but
McClinton. Clerk of the Senate, farmed it out
ftr a ,468. There are one thousand copies,
costing $40 each. as you will see. Did you
ever know Of more bare faced sw1ndlei
Carson, May IS, 1877. MAX.
Justice to myself, my friends and
the cause of truth, impels me to beg
sufficient space In your columns to
briefly reply to so much of the COM
munication of MAX" as refers to
myself.
The census was transmitted by the
Governor to the Senate a few days
after the commencement of the ses-
sion Of 1877, and then the Legisla-
ture, by an almost unanimous vote of
both Houses, passed a concurrent
resolution ordering 1000 copies to
be printed for distribution. There
upon the Senate, by resolution, au-
thorized the Secretary to employ suf-
ficlent additional clerical assistance
to complete the copying Of all the re-
ports, ETC., including the ensus, be-
fore the final adjournment of the
Legislature, at a compensation of
fifteen cents per folio-just half the
price heretofore allowed by law to
county recorders for similar services.
In pursuance to the orders of the
Senate l employed sufficient (and
only sufficiently aid to insure the COM
pletion of the work in time. When
the work had been copied and given
to the State Printer the bill for COM
pen ,ation, accompanied by an esti-
mate of the folios, was handed to the
Senate Committee on Supplies and
Expenditures, who, after careful
Investigation of several days, re-
ported in favor of the bill, and
the Chairman, Mr.. Farrell, stated to
the Senate at the time that according
to the estimate made by the Com
mittee the bill was about 500 less
than the actual number of folios IN
the work would amour 10.
But "Max" says sit is said $500
was ample for copying" Let us see.
The folio work done by the copyists
and paid for WAS, In whole numbers,
29,800. Divide $500 oy this number
and you have one and one one-hun-
dred-snd-torty-n ninth Il 1-149 cents
per folio, at which price an expert
copyIst might make, on difficult
work like the Census, from twenty
five to forty cents per day truly
magnificent compensation for first
class clerks where board and loding
cost SIS per week! Who said $500
was ample fer copying the Censusl
Certainly not Controller Hobart, who
was allowed $4O2 so for copying his
own biennial report containing less
than 2,700 folios; nor Treasurer
Schooling, nor the G 'vernor, nor any
State officer, all of whom were paid
at the rate Of fifteen cents per folio
for copying their reports for the
State Printer. The item of $1,000
for printing is probably just the COM
pensation allowed by law, and all
right, while 10 the estimation of
MAY the copying, though paid for
at only half the rates allowed by law
to recorders and clerks for similar
services, is "a bare faced swindle."
| You aud l are both old printers
and know what 1t costs to print and
bind books in San Francisco, and to
US mere glance at the rates allowed
| tuC ctatC iihtSi, aS GlNCu III tIiC
Compiled Laws, will disclose where
the most money goes for the least
proportionate service. But did any
one think of branding State Printer
Hill as swindler for taking simply
what the law allowed him and what
the people by plain implication
agreed to pay him when they elected
him2 1t is evident that Max" either
doesn't know the meaning of the
term swindler, or that he has said in
effect that the Justices of the Supreme
Court has decided that swindling is
lawful in this State.
In conclusion | will say that the
benefits Gf any to be derived from
the taking and publishing of the
Census of 1875, will not be an ade-
quate compensation to the State for
the great expense incurred, still l af-
firm there has been no swindling per-
petrated by anybody at any stage of
the proceeding. The Legislature au-
| thnriza1 tho tukipn nf tho caneus