The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-09-14

Il y -
at, but not on, the caudal continue.
ton of printing frauds, beware
That bug is a very tropical growth
-red-hot. Ii il do not burn we, my
word for it your legitimate sphere il
buCklng against the lottery, for you
were born under lucky stars. This
statement is based upon sad expert.
ence. 1t was the writer who, once
upon time in the poetic past, ran
up against the sting-end of the state
printing bug, and oh, myl how he
did get burnedl Regard for his
own ducats, as well as those of his
bondsmen, prevented further expert
ment. But this is a depression
Now for something more practical.
The printing board expert should
not be the point of attack. No ono
is surprised that a case was not made
out against him. Ii the spokesman
OF the printing board had been in.
terested personally in keeping Mr.
Moore as expert, he could have done
no cutter thing than demand in his
peculiarly patriotic style, au investi
CATION. The attack should be made
upon the present system of doing
the state printing. 1t matters moi
who the expert of the board may
be, he has power that should not
be given any man, especially as nc
bond attaches to his office, and those
upon whom he sees tit to exercise
his authority have no recourse. APP.
parently only the tail of the printing
board, he Is, as matter of fact, it,
head and center. The board know
nothing personally about the mat
tiers that come before them, and their
other duties preclude the possibility
that they will give this outside mat
ter very much attention. They, OF
necessity, relegate the whole thing
to the expert, nominally signing
their names or passing their decis-
ions, but they do so really under his
direction. If the expert should say
ray five prices for an article, the
board could o. k. his say, and be
none the wiser. On the other hand,
If the expert should recon-
mend what is in fact a gross and
oppressive outrage, the board is
none the wiser, and may say, as one
of the old board once sald) substan-
tally: "Well, 1 don't know any
thing about these matters, but Mr..
Moore, the expert, does. That's
what he's paid a salary for. We
have confidence in him, and of course
must be guided by what he SAYS"
To appeal to the boards common
sense and right judgment would be
folly because in the matters coming
before them they have nor sense nor
judgment of any kind.
Based upon an observation of the
system, and upon many facts known
to myself, (some of which, like the
charge upon which Mr.. Moore was
held, could not be established by
law proof, draw some conclusions :
l. The present system is an out
rage upon the deaf mutes who are
roped in to do the states work.
The nucleus of the present big state
printing office was with a view 20
aid in educating the mutes and TO
teach them a useful trade. AS a
process of education. all printers
know the business is conspicuous
failure. A printer who does not
seek other sources of information is
the extreme of superticiality. In
addition, the reading matter coming
under the printers eyes being
often sentences and parts of SEN
fences in which there is no mean
ing, he is hereby educated to a care
less habit in reading, until it is only
by laborious effort that he can con-
centrate his mind upon any subject
he desires to study. Following these
causes, naturally results an impaired
memory. AS a trade for the deaf
mute to follow the printing business
will not do. 1t is doubtful if any
mute can be made competent
printer. Granting that it is possible
if he ranked with the very best
workme9 in competency, he would
be nuisance in any first-class print
ing office. If all printers understood
the sign language and each had two
pair of hands and like complement
of eyes, this objection would not be
so fOrcible. The conclusion follows
that the state is not only impairing
her wards education, but robbing
them of their time.
2. The present system makes it
possible for the party in charge of
the state printing Office to rob the
state by COLLISION with any one con-
tractor. There are many ways this
can be done. The following will be
readily recognized by bidders /:
There is no stipulation as to what
work the state office shall do. If a
contractor whom the expert fancies
gets class of work, he can do all the
poor paying printing at the
deaf and dumb Office and give
the "fat" to the contractor. On the
other hand, if he does not, for rea-
sons satisfactory to himself, fancy
the contractor, he can reverse the
tactics. Or he can take all the work
or none of it, as may suit his whims.
s What is to prevent the expert
getting a whack-up on all presses,
type. engines and the. thousand and
one items entering into the makeup
of a printing office? Perhaps the
board can tell where there is check
upon him.
4. Let us suppose there was some
very shrewd and slick party at the
comptroller's Office, or in other de-
partments, who controlled the or
ders for printing. What is to pre-
vent COLLISION in that directiOn9 Ii
thing existed the state might be
swindled out of thousands of dol
lars by means of short counts, over
measurements, etc.
To make a long story short there
are numberless ways in which the
party, whoever he may be, in charge
of the state printing Office could rob
the state. 1t is too great tempta-
ton to place before even the child
like and bland party liable to be Sc
lected. Otherwise, Texas may be
made responsible for sending the
soul of some poor printer to meet
that of Guiteau.
The state ink-spreader has grown
from what was intended CO as an aid
in educating mutes to q well-appoin-
ted printing establishment. The
next step for the benefit of the mute
(that is, for the fellow that keeps
mum) will be to induce the legisla-
ture to have all the state printing
executed by the state office-"by
adding a few thousand dollars
of course. When thisis accomplish
ed, under the present manner OF
manipulation, the party in charge
will have bonanza, the extent of
which viii be limited alone by the