Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-20
THE BREEZE OVER THE STATE
PRINTING BILL.

county and elsewhere, have suffered
themselves to be arrayed against the
bill which passed ithe Assembly on
Friday, looking to the abolition Of the
Off go Of State Printer and providing
fer The ,;uin- of the public printing by
contract. AL concur, we believe, in
ne prnuos ition that the present law is
piece of folly needing radical amend
mrnt. and that the printing as at pres
enr it is conducted is done in utter dis
regard Of all rules of business govern
ing private enterprises and individual
prudence. Let us present few of the
feat ures of the present law; let US
look at the rates of prices to be paid to
ne State Printer and compare them
with the rates possible of being OBJ
tanned: First, as to the rate OF plain
composition. The present law gives
the Printer 81 60 per thousand "ems.'
The price of composition in this State
is 20 cents per thousand SENS" The
price in California varies from 30 to TO
cents. The present law has been in
| existence since January 10 1865. Never
during all those years, even at the
| present rates, has any incumbent of
| the State Printers office had the Stat
utes or Journals printed in this State
and as rule all the "Reports " of De-
partmest officers have been printed in
California. Why? Simply because it
is more profitable to have the work
| done i'm the city of San Francisco
where there are large printing estab-
| lishments and book binderies and
| cheap rates of labor than to have the
| work done here. Even if the State
| Printer had all the facilities for doing
the work, he would be foolish to have
| it done in this State; for by so doing
| he would incur the loss indicated by
| the difference between the rates Of
printers wages here and in California.
| The fact is, the State Printer is merely
a contractor to do the printing and
book making for the State at exorbi-
| tant prices. OF course he sublets his
| contract, as he is quite right in doing,
| and thereby makes a very handsome
| profit. Here is another item The
present law allows the State Printer
500 for binding each. volume Of the
Statutes. 1t can be done for less than
| 30 cents. This gives the Printer
profit of more than Sl.50. The abso-
Lutte monstrosity of the present rate is
apparent when we state the fact that
the last volume of Nevada Reports
cost the State, per volume, printing,
binding and all, exactly the same price
allowed the State Printer for merely
binding the Statutes. In fact, the Re-
ports have always been printed by
contract, and an examination OF the
price and manner of their execution
will bear a very favorable comparison
with the Statutes. And now with re-
gard to the hue and cry raised against
the Assembly bill because it provides
for bids from the California printers.
Why should not the State make di-
rect contracts instead of paying State
Printer preposterous bonus for act
ing as middle man And further, with
regard to the objection urged against
inviting competition from abroad, let
us remind the journeymen printers of
this State that if they would retain the
present high "Union" prices, they
had better not invite the sharp
job-printers Of San Francisco and the
Rats " of the East and West to come
here and break down the tariff. Let
the Legislature FIX the law so as to
compel the work to be done here by
the lowest bidder and it will only be a
question of time when there will be a
scramble between Croker Il Co., Ban
croft, theWomsn's Cooperative Union,
Chicago printers and printers from all
over the cheap-rated States to come
here and start an establishment which
will cause the typos of this State to say
Sc good bye" to their present rate of
wages. Finally, if the laws should be
fashioned for the best good of tho State
rather than for the opportunity of Civ
ing, once in four years to one of its
citizens the right to exact an exorbi
tant rate of prices for work he makes
no pretense of doing himsolf, this law
should be passed. As to the personal
motives of the author of the Bill in
question, he lis perfectly willing to
have them scrutinized as closely as
his hasty and not over-charitable crit
les may choose. But why the State
should deny itself or be denied an OPP
portunity to make as good bargain
for itself as the State Printer may
make for himself, the author of the
bill is at loss to guess.
"Couldn't you give me something to
io?" asked poor boy at Michigan
4. s., 81, /