The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1880-12-16
STATE PRINTER.

This is the question that is now principally
ncitating the peopie of Kansas who are interested
in the matter |; seer.s TO he contest in which
two or three men who are not printers, are
trying 90 get the Office away from man who is
printer. II was the understanding, when the
ofice of STATE Printer created, that soi;;e
printer who could do thr state work wogld fill
the Office; not that il was a place to put some
fayorite, who. should make a fat thing Of the
profits, while others should do the work, at the
very lowest price that the occupant Of the Office
could hire them to do it for. When the State
wants Attorney n Judge, it elects lawyer
to the position-not scheming politician,
who takes it for the salary, and employs some
poor lawyer to do the work, and pays him pit
tance of the salary. There is no reason why the
Office of State Printer should not be governed by
the same rule. The State Of Kansas is now hav-
ing better work done than any State ever had.
II is the best State work in the United States,
and done conscientiously, without any sighting
of work. any unnecessary ''fat, or any stealage.
Mr.. Martin does work that takes the premium
over the whole world-he has done it, and has
the medals to show for it. He has well ap
pointed Office, and force of hands, to do this
teal printer, who can oversee and direct the
work. Why should he be put ont, and another
person put in, not for his qualifications for con-
dncting the business, but for his alleged services
to the Republican partyl
The principal competitor of Mr.. Martin is I.
Dwight Thacher. He is not printer and never
set type. 1t is the general understanding, that
if Mr.. Thacher is elected, he will farm out the
work to the Topeka Commonwealth, the proprie-
tors of which will pay him per centage for the
privilege of doing the work. The prOprietOrs of
the Commonwealth are not printers. 1t is reduced
down to a scramble for the fat there is in the
Office, to be divided among select ring. That
being the prime object, the public can imagine
how the State would be skinned, and every
''trck of the trade" resOrted to. Ohm s. Gilmore,
of the Fredonia Citizen, is said TO be a candinate.
He is practical printer; but as he appears to
be making no movement for the Office we sup
pose that he does not consider himself really in
the race. Others may be encouraging him to be
q candidate, in order to increase the opposition
to Mr.. Martin, hoping to be able to unite all the
opposition, in the end.
Since Mr. Martin has held the Office, he has
saved the State from % to 80 per cent. on every
job, compared with former prices, simply by
fusing to take advantage of tricks Of the trade,
such as making unnecessary ''fat, - and the many
other devices known to printers. The very first
job that he ever did as State Printer, was a VOL
ume Of the school laws. His price for IL, 600 cop
les was Sl3aS less than his predecessor in office
was paid for 900 cOpies-and it was the same
copy, to letter. the same style of book, the same
Secretary of State TO measure the work, and the
same scale of prices. All his work is on the
same principle. II the saving on that one small
job was great, simply by discarding technic-
al tricks of the trade, what has been the saving
on the immense amount of printing that the
State has required of him'
The only objection made TO Martin is, that he
has held the office for eight years, and the old
cry arises, eve want change" In many Off
ces, rotation is a good thing, while in many
others, it is not. This is of them. If service
to the party is the highest claim, there are a
number Of other persons who would have good
cases. We have worked longer and harder for
the Republican party in Kansas than either Mr..
Thacher or Mr. Baker, and we have never held
o lucrative public Ofliee-neither Supervisor of
the Census, Revenue officer, Commissioner to
Paris, Postmaster, or levied contributions upon
a postmaster TO the amount of $1,000 a year.
Yet we are not asking for the Office, nor do we
think it would be to the advantage of the State
to elect us in place of Mr.. Martin-and we a
practical printer, which Thacher and Baker are
not There are others in the State whose claims
would come in ahead of these gentlemen. But
the long and short of it is that the interests of
the State would be greatly promoted by the re-
election of Mr.. Martin.