Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-01-30
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~Contracts" for State Supplies.

MONDAY EVENING, JAN. 30, 1882.
sContracts" for State Supplies.
When butter gets too dear to be used
as means with which to choke dogs,
some other instrument, cheaper but no
less effective, can usually be found to
answer the purpose. And SO when pub
lie officials are disposed to steal they can
generally circumvent laws which may be
passed to prevent them. The new con-
stitution lin directing that public supplies
should be bought by proposal and con-
tract, intended to stop the abuse of oftic'
ials purchasing these things for the pub
lie from themselves or from their friends
at unduly high prices. Very soon those
in charge OF the administration OF our
state affairs contrived to make the new
system obnoxious and as expensive in
the end as the old. They printed in
many newspapers elaborate and expen-
sive advertisements, setting forth line
upon line the most trivial articles, for
which proposals were invited, so that
much of this advertisement cost far
more than fair price for the articles
asked for, and the aggregate was vast
expenditure of the public money for the
benefit of favOrites of the state ring, a
political corruption fund distributed
among servile newspaper organs. Time
and again the INTELLIGENCEE pointed
out this iniquity and showed
how nearly all the money thus
wasted could be saved if proposals
were asked for in general way and
schedules OF the articles to be furnished
were supplied to persons desiring to bid.
This suggestion was enacted into the
law of 1879, which prohibited the useless
and expensive advertisement of the
schedules. This law directed that the
contracts before being awarded he ap-
proved by the governor, auditor general
and state treasurer the enforcement of
the contracts for furnishing and repair
ing the legislative halls and committee
rooms, and for the fuel, to he under
the control and supervision of the
board of commissioners of pubic grounds
and building the stationery and sup.
plies to be in charge of the librarian of
the Senate-%ho happens to be John {.
Delaney-ind the preparation of the
schedules on which bids and contracts
are basel to be entrusted to the Secre-
tary of the commonwealth, who happens
to be NJ. S. Quay.
If the schedules We're properly pre-
pared, the contracts honestly made and
enforced, the new law would be effect
i've probably 20 stop the stealing which
has for many years been going on at
Harrisburg in this branch of the
state government. But if the schedules
are made to include articles not proper
to bs bought and furnished by the state;
if bids for these supplies are accepted at
prices far above the retail value for such
articles a; and if the contractor does not
furnish or the state does not use the arti-
cles furnished, it is manifest that there
can be the same leakage and peculation
under the new system as before the law
of 1879 was in operation. The character
and reputation of the men on whose in
tegrity an honest administration Of the
law depends are not such as to
afford the state Il guarantee that
it will not be cheated in the trans
action, even if some ingenuity has to
be exercised to accomplish it. We pro-
pose to let some light in upon the way in
which the thing has been done, SO that
the public may Judge whether or not
they have been cheated, and whether
there can be any protection for them
against fraud in this respect, except in
the election and appointment of honest
and intelligent men to state offices.
A single example taken from the con-
tract made in June, 1850, for " brooms,
buckets, &c., Tor the Legislature and
departments, will show how the con-
tractors and those who are supposed to
supervise them, can cheat the state
1t is only fair to say that in the past
year some change has been made in the
form Of preparing the schedules and let
ting the contracts, which we will
refer to hereafter in detail.
But from June 1880 to June 1881, VIM.
NJ. Gray was the contractor to supply
the I" buckets, brooms, &C., He is a
brother-in-law of the notorious Sam |
Adams and, rs We have shown before,
from December l., 1880, to the end of his !
time of contract-abOut seven months in |
all-he drew $7Sl.s9 for :" supplies and
81 ,SS6.74 for " buckets, brooms, &c.
Upon examination in the Office of sec
retary of state, We find that schedule
for the following articles, no limit to the |
quantity, was submitted to the bidders
last year, to bid to furnish at percent
age below the maximum price fixed in
this schedule
Maximum
prices.
Rabbits best soap, per box 10
Patent three-string corn broOms, per
uOZen. .......................... ! W
Selected Dr1Stle scrubs, per dOE. ......... ) 60 |
Selected three-hOOp palls per dOZ. 3 90
Black enamel dust brushes, per doz. 90
II inch feattler busters, per dOZ 50 co
inch feather busters. per dozen ...... 20 %
Long window brushes, per doz ...... 80 90 |
Short window brushes. per doZ........... Is % |
ls inch sweeping brushes, per doZ. 20 90
Selected shoe brushes. Der dOZ .. % |