Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1882-08-22
THE OLD, OLD STORY.
Tho Legislative Investiga-
tiOn which is Petit
crews Chief
Capital.

What the House Committee had
to Say After Enquiring
ntO the Subject.
1t will be remembered that Delegate
Pettigrew has for years been subsisting
upon charge, preferred by himself, of
Official crookedness on the part of Secre-
tary Hand. It has been hob
by of his which he has
ridden to death, and this year he has
trotted out the antiquated skeleton of
his favorite steed and is again endeavor-
ing to run it over the course. During
the Legislative session of 1879, he got
himself and two others appointed q
council committee to investigate alleged
charges against the secretary, the audi
tor and the school superintendent. and
his report showed 80 much vindictive
bias that the lower house at the same
session took up the subject and made a
a rigid enquiry into the facts. The fol
lowing is the report of the house commit
tee on the charges of MIR. Pettigrew:
Mr.. PRESIDENT: Your special COM
mittee appointed to examine the books
and accounts of the auditor of the terri
tory and expenditures on account of ter
ritorlal printing, have performed their
duty and, after examining the witnesses
and taking their testimony under oath,
and having also examined the books,
vouchers and accounts of the auditor,
beg leave to submit the following report !:
The first item of expenditure examined
by your committee was for the publica-
tion of the revised codes of Dakota
passed by the legislative assembly of
1877. This work was performed under q
law approved February 18th, 1877, and
which reads as follows:
lie it Enacted By. tile Legislative Assem-
bly, Of tile Territory of Dakota, There is
hereby appropriated from any funds in
the territorial treasury not otherwise
appropriated, the sum of five thousand
dollars, the same to be paid in territorial
warrants at their par value, for the pur-
pose Of printing, indexing and binding,
one thousand copies of the laws of the
territory OF Dakota passed at the twelfth
session of the Legislative assembly, and
the printing of said laws shall be under
the sole and exclusive management and
control of the secretary of said territory,
and any and all moneys which may be
appropriated by congress for the purpose
of printing said laws, shall be used for
the purpose Of reimbursing the territory,
and shall be paid into the territorial
treasury for such purposes and no other.
/ oI,,h I, 4
the general laws and public acts OF the
of the Legislative assembly, after the
governor.
1t will be observed from the language
of this law that the legislative assembly
had in view the refunding of this money
by the general government. 1t had been
before tho invariable custom of the
government to pay for the printing OF
the laws of Dakota, but the Legislative
assembly of 1877 having information OF
the fact that the government appropria.
tion had been exhausted, and that body
having enacted an entire new code oi
laws and 1epealed oil former ones. ii
became ansabsolute necessity that means
should be provided to publish the new
code. Under these circumstances the
law was passed and the secretary of the
territory proceeded with the printing
The law above quoted gave no instruc
tiOns as t. the manner in which the sec
retary was to perform this duty, from
which fact your committee infer that the
Legislature of 1877 intended that the sec
retary should be governed by the rules
received from the general government
The law says briefly that the printing
shall be under his sole and exclusive
management and control, and it wa.
therefore very material and very prope
that in the performance of his duty th,
secretary should adopt the rules an,
regulations laid down by the nationa
government for his guidance. This h,
did in every particular. These rule
prescribe the size of the type to be uset
IN printing the laws, te wit: Small pic,
} type; the price to be paid per thousant
ems for setting the type; the price pc
token for press work; and, in short, fo
each particular kind of work connected
with making complete printed an.
bound book.
The secretary faithfully observed thes
instructions in procuring the printing O
the revised codes.
He employed the same printers VIII
had done the incidental printing for tn
, legislative assembly that enacted th
law.
He was not authorized to advertise fo
the lowest bid and to require bonds fo
the faithful performance of the work, a
should have been the case had he left
to outside parties. He was not author
lied to transcribe the whole volume @
laws which would have been require
had he sent the printing abroad, an
which, Of itself. would have exhauste
one.sixth at least, of the whole apprc
priation.
He had no authority to do anvthir,
outside of the rules aud regulation
which are given him from Washington
and under these he procured the print
!. ing Of the revised codes-allowing til
same prices as those prescribed at tha
TINA by the government.
Adopting the belief that this five thou
and dollars was appropriated by Dakot
as loan to the general government wit
B the expectation that it wonld be return
ed to the territory, we find that the sec
retary Of the territory has pursued til
only safe and consistent plan open t
him to protect the interests OF the terr
3 tory.
: In case the general government shoul
. make an appropriation to reimburse d.
kota for this outlay, the money will L
repaid to the territorial treasurer throug
D the same channels as all other none
, TINT cOmes to the legislative assembly.