The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-05-23
GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING RATES
An Old Law that Upsets the Administra.
tion's Advertising Patronage

An Old Law that Upsets the Administra-
tion's Advertising Patronage.
WASHINGTON, May 2O.-An old law.
passed in 1858, which Republican admin
istrations have been grossly ignorant of, or
have wilfuliy disregarded, has just been
discovered by the accounting officers of tie
treasury department, and promises to MP
set all the advertising patronage of the ad
minlstration. For years past the treasury
department has paid eight and three
quarter cents line, and the other depart
ments twenty-five cents line This has
been the practice For years past this has
been the law:
Revised Statutes, Section s5S.-For publishing
any notice or order required by law, The lawful
order uf any court, department, bureau. or other
person in any newspaper. except mentioned in
sections (the law refers to three sections lb-
fishing the laws forty cents per folio for the first
srtiOn and twenty cents per folio for each
quent insertion The publication herein provided
snail include The furnishing of lawful evidence,
under oath, of publication be mad and furnished
| by the printer or publisher making such publica-
| tion.
A section immediately following defines
a folio to be one hundred words; and there
this peremptory mandate ends. 1t puts
all government advertising at three cents
a line for the first insertion. and halt that
for the succeeding insertions. The highest
official authority exists for the statement
that the accounting officers of the treasury
will refuse to audit bills over these rates.
Hundreds Of advertising contracts. all over
the country, will be annuled by the deci
sion. SchuIz's pretege and w NJ Gros-
venor's friends, Messrs. Mack and Shinn,
who have contracted with a number OF pa
pers at quarter off the usual rates, and
ul,n nhf Thn u 80
ever three cents line, are caught III
trap from which there is 20 escape except
through heavy loss Under this law gov
ernment advertising becomes impossible
and such newspapers as have made inser
tions, or agreed to make them, will be
forced to put up with heavy reduction il
their bills, 1t is question whether, un
: der recent ruling Of the supreme court
: which decided that the government coul(
recover moneys paid under misconcep
lion of the law, any newspaper which ha
obtained over these rates is not open to
suit for the recovery of the over payment.
The discovery of this forgotten para
graph has led to serious consultation au
to careful examination Of the laws, 10 th
D hope OF finding some repeating clause. Tn
s search has tailed. Laying his finger on tn
:, section yesterday afternoon, high officer
G the treasury department said to prom
: nent journalist in town that he saw no pos
e sible escape from the plain letter of tn
law, and that he should not encourage th
l. accounting officers of the treasury to ru
: any risks by overriding its plain provision
|. Secretary Sherman has been asked to issu
Il circular on the subject, but he has d.
II clined. alleging as reason that each ofict
C OF the government should assume the n
sponslbility of executing the law within II
= limits of his own department.