The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-11-30


THE GREAT DAlLaES AND THE PRINT.
!z.i INC LAW.
The mammoth dailies Of New Orleans
are not working I'm harmony, and im-
personal journalism appears to he in
danger of an overthrow. Banishing
the thought Of Eads' jetties, Of the
struggle for supremacy In supplying
commercial Intelligence, the run 70,
steamboat trade, the contest for insu.
rance work, and all the toll necessary
to secure the ear of the people, we lind
our metropolitan contemporaries en-
gagged in fierce discussion, about the
State printing. The painted warrior OF
the scissors and he Of the piercing lead
pencil have incontinently fled to thu
nearest free-lunch saloon; in mortal
trepfdation. There are no more hungry
appeals to the country press for local
items-and the rural editor has rest.
Commerce, coal oil, the Pacific railroad,
the weather, and the. biggest sweet
potato are all swallowed up In the
Titanic struggle now raging between
the Picayune, Democrat and Times for
the State printing. 4sssa t.. si
We have not the patience to tell our
readers what the printing law now is,
but we believe we can state briefly and
honestly that it is very lame law.
What is agitating the metropolitan
press, just now, is the State printing
for the next twelve months, which is
to be let by the Printing Board, COM
posed Of the Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, Speaker Of the House, and
two members, each, of the House and
Senate, by contract, during the lnontl,
of December, the Board having the
power to let the printing to whom it
pleases. The Democrat received the
contract last year by adjudication o,
the Board. Now come the Times and
the Picayune,. both bidding for the
State printing. The Printing Board
seems to be somewhat puzzled in con-
STRUNG the law under which the men,
bers must act. With them 1t is Il con-
fiict between the intent of the law, OH
the one hand-that is, to have the
printing done at tho lowest rates 5
and the plain interest of the State, Oh
the other-that is, not to make paper
like the Republican, for instance, the.
organ of the Democracy of the State.
And thus the Board is in a quand.ry
what to do-whether to be guided by
the lowest bid, or by the well-known
character Of the persons bidding.
When the present Printing law first
assumed shape we took occasion to ex-
press our dissent in more ways than
one. The learned members OF the
Legislature needed our protest SO far as
to make a small concession in favor OF
the country printer whose labor they
had reduced fifty per centum. The city
press, ready to steal u weather or crop
item from q rural contemporary, stood
by and calmly smiled when their coun-
try brothers were to he slaughtered.
The members of the Legislature, getting
IS a-day, did not call for reduction OF
their per diem. Their services were in
valuable, but the poor devil of II printer
for whose paper they were indebted
and to whom they he'd often appealed
for ga little notice. should be reduced
to starvation rates! Reform began, as
It always does, with the newspaper.
Now, the metropolitan dailies are
struggling with the printing problem,
aud the Governor, Lieutenant Govern
or, Speaker and others are caught in
the meshes of an unwise law. Ne s,to,
ultra crepiolnm. But the shoemaker
has gone beyond his last. The man
who climbed a corn-hill, and thought
1t the hill Of fame, has discovered his
mistake. s., flo. ,. f,.t-.t .n- .'aa To-
The printing business is unlike any
other business. The State printing viii
make newspaper, but will that paper
reflect the political sentiments of the
people? Here is printing law, which,
carried out to the letter, would resuscf-
tate the New Orleans Republican.
Would that be reform What say the
Picayune, Democrat and Times? And
yet the law, as it stands, is susceptible
of just such q construction. 30 is. df.Ie.i
There Is a power in the news, AMER