Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-02
TINTED PAPER FOR BALLors-A SCRAP
OF HISTORY.

EDS. RECORD UNION: The people of this
State have been kept in a state of useless fer
ment and subjected to vast deal of vexa-
tious annoyance because of the fact that
Secretary of State some six or seven years
ago allowed either his stupidity or his cupidity
to be overreached by paper merchant in the
selection of a paper to be used for ballots.
Under the law the Secretary of State is re-
quired to designate paper uniform as to
texture, weight and COLOR" to be used for
tickets. The object of the law was to secure
perfect uniformity in the outward appearance
ofthe ballots when foldedin order TO protect the
secrecy of the ballot. If the Secretary had
at once designated clear white book paper,
say A pounds to the ream, every dealer would
have been able to supply the demand. He
himself could have found that description Of
paper always in the market, and could have
ordered it as needed. The requirement as 10
color refers only to the shade, because diff
ferent shade as between tickets reveals their
contents White was as much color as pink
or blue, within the meaning of the law, and
manufacturers do succeed in producing an
undistinguishable uniformity in white.
But in coloring the pulp for a pink
or blue tint it is simply impossible
to produce the same shading of tint between
any two lots of paper worked at different
times. The Secretary who acted first under
the law went to dealer, and that party went
East and engaged manufacturer to make a
pale plnk-tinted paper, as unlike any paper
in the general market as possible. The re-
quirement of the law was that the paper
should be procured of the Secretary of
State, or paper . in all respects like that des-
ignated by the Secretary When this
dealer brought back the stock of specially
manufactured paper he also brought large
private stock, and thus enjoyed monopoly
as to sale of ballot paper, except as to that
furnished by the State Secretary. The paper
was in 8 fiat cap form, and the first stock
was sold out at the very high price of 81 a
ream. Later, other dealers sent samples
East, and, as the paper appeared in general
stocks, its price declined until the stock on
hand at the Office of the Secretary was under
sold and dealers did all the business. The
tint then established has held its place as
ballot paper ever since, chiefly because dealers
kept it in stock, and it is-as it was originally
intended to be-almost useless for any other
purpose. The first lot imported was good
paper, but latterly the paper is thin and
worthless. The stock on hand now in the
Secretary's Office is so fiimsy and thin that a
printed ballot may be read on the back. In
the late city elections held in this city the
names of candidates could be read on a
freshly-printed ticket Il is folly to longer
perpetuate the gross blunder of the Secretary
who procured this paper and foisted it on the
State. 1t was most silly transaction, with
all the appearance of job. The common.
sense thing to do is to designate a standard
brand or description of paper found in all
stocks Of merchandise. Clear white, as every
body familiar with the subject knows, runs
more evenly than any other variety
PRINTER.