The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-06-02
Che gutland gaily Globe
SATURDAY, JUNE2, 1877.
THE END OF A sWINDLE.

A Vermont publisher once remarked,
that after he hac obtained a monopoly of
the state printing and was making money
/" like Dirt" the legislature stepped in,
passed law requiring the printing to be
done by contract, opened the door to COM
petition, others underbid him and so he
lost the "fst thing" he had expected. The
trouble with this publisher was that be was
not Cup to snuff" for the law he COM
planned of permitted the state to be swim
died as outrageously as it ever was before
the days OF contracts. One difficulty with
the contract law Of which-he complained
was, that it did not cover all public Print
ing, and so allowed publishers to obtain
jobs by promising commissions, and this
was too often the case as the last legisla-
ture might have discovered if it had had
the spunk to order an invef tigation.
Another difficulty was that the manner
of the execution of the work was not spec
flied, so that printers bidding an apparently
low price were enabled, by spreading
the matter over large surface, TO actually
receive a much better price for the same
amount of work than was paid during the
era of high prices which ruled during the
years of the war. From one or both of
these causes,the expenses of the state print
ing and stationery run up from some eleven
thousand dollars in 1861, to nearly thirty
six thousand dollars in 1975-there being
two sessions of the legislature IN each OF
these years-whlle for the year 1876, when
there was no session of the legislature-we
speak of the fiscal years ending August /
these expenses am, ed to over ten thou
sand dollarsi 50 that the o, nual expenses
for this class of work and supplies, under
the contract system, had actually increased
somewhere from twenty-five thousand to
thirly-five thousand dollars.
The old law required but one contract
for all the printing which was to be done
by contract, and this opened the door still
wider for swindling-and, il is almost
needless to say, the opportunity was eager
ly seized, go that the public printing of
Vermont became, in time, one of the hugest
frauds and swindles ever practlced upon
the tax payers OF the state. One of the few
really meritorious acts of the last legislature
of Vermont was aimed at this swindle, and,
If the law is honestly executed, will put an
end to it. The law which took effect with
the incoming of the present month, pro-
vides for seven separate contracts for
printing; One for the journals of the gen.
eral assembly; one for the laws; one for
the reports of the state officers; one for the
registration report; one for the school re-
port; one for the agricultural report; and
one for miscellaneous printing, such as
letter heads, notes, orders, blanks, forms,
etc., ETC., including everything not speci-
fed under the other heads.
The law specifies the size of the page;
the kind of type to be used, and that the
matter shall "be set solid except in the
" title page, heads, running heads, and the
" division of subjects" and that all table
work, abstracts of orders, schedules, list of
names, etc., ETC., shall be, not only set
solid, but Sin as compact form as the page
will admit, and without unnecessary
blank space" These requirements, if
enforced, will reduce the size of public
documents at least one half, and will reduce
the expense of state printing at least one
third. In the requirements is, also, includ-
ed the registration report, which has, here
tofore, not been let by contract, and which,
hereafter, is to be published biennialy,
instead of annually, which alone-wlthout
reverence to the alteration in the STYLE of
printing-will reduce the whole cost some
ten or fifteen per cent.
In addition TO these contracts, a separate
bid is to be received, and separate con-
tract to be made, for stationery and "all
" that it implies" and it is provided in ref
erence to all of these bids that sealed pro-
posals shall be sent TO the secretary of
state on or before the fifth day OF July,
1S77-and every two years thereafter-and
that "no proposal or amendment to propo-
sails shall be received after that day" To
those who have been familiar with the let
ting OF this kind of contracts in Vermont,
there is considerable of the milk of the
" coccanut" in this provision. 1t will no
longer be any object for the state superin-
tendent of education, or other state officer,
In order to accommodate his fayorite printer.
to drop bid in the rtreets so that the fa-
vori'e may accidentally" pick it up and
underbid. No longer can legislative ofa.
GERS hint at commissions neither " i'll IL
be any object for publishers 70 offer them.
The swindle seems to be at an eud, and for
this, at least, with all its short comings,
let us thank the last legislature of Yer
mont.