New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-07
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
THR PUBLIc PRINTER sEEs Tr.
TO ne Editor or Ths Trf6wme

TO the Edtt0F or The Jfi0Hne
SIR: OF course was angry when wrote
the letter to which you replied recently mad right
10 be. TIE man who does not get angry on proper
occasion Is not worth bawbeei
had read TIE TRIBUNE from the issue OF the first
number and terms Of friendship and intimacy
with its great founder for than thirty years
regarded the great cxpounder Of the true political
faith Since Mr. Gresley's death, 1t had been conducted
with marked ability, and rejOiced at IL. Having so
much respect for IT, is it any wonder that on reading
such article as that which found its way into It's
columns the ESD ult, did show some little Western
or some other sort OF temperi
Let me bring thu matter home TO you By putting o
case In point, the lawyers say:
Mr.. Reid is the Editor Of THE TRIBUNE and its
manager for himself and other stockholders Sup
pose he falsely charged in reputable and respon-
bookkeeping" with Oyercharging and Understanding
at WILL and tnen OF covering up by double entry
principles" showing him 10 be utterly unit for his
position, what would BIO do Take l. quietly and turn
the OTTER cheek a second lekl Not exactly BE Is
not that sort Of man. Ho may be considerable OF a
saint land rather he s), but very much doubt
whether his pety would him from such an ex-
hbifion of lis Western mhrmity OF temper" as to
throw all the swearing done by the army in Flanders
ts always best TO put ones self into the other mans
place before denouncing what he may have saa or
Washington July 81, 1878.
four good but peppery friend is little out in his
illustration. The Editor Of The TRIBUNE ID very
much IN the habit Of paying no attention to lies
about himself He has lived, however, to write the
obituaries of good many of the more
active liars and TO have a fair share of the rest
come to him for the loan of So.
But dropping the illustration, and with it the
whole question of Mr.. Defreess provOcaton, let us
try TO impress upon him two or three points which
we think of real Importance
a. The whole Government printing business is q
mistake and wrong. Four-ffths Of the Government
pImtIng is a needless sacrifice to the vanity Of
petty Government officials, and most of the
other fifth ought to DO done by private en-
terprise. Nobody knows better than Mr.. De-
frees that the great bulk of what he
prints goes promptly to the junk shop, but not
until it has heavily taxed another department of
the Government by being carried in the mails half
way across the continent.
t2.) IL this monstrous waste must be continued,
it ought TO be continued at reasonable rates. There
is no sense in paying One-thIrd more than
the market price. We believe Mr.. De-
frees is now paying 80 cents per thousand
for plain straightforward. daylight book compost
ton. ThrtY-ive cents is a high rate for it in New
York. and New-York prices naturally the
highest in the country If the law cOmpes
such payments, then the law ought to be denounced,
and honest public servants, instead of giving their
influence to sustain it, ought to help make public
sentiment that would demand its repeal.-Edl