, 1882-02-18
THE OFFICIAL CITY PAPER
That Raseally Petition.

That Rascauy Petition.
An attempt has bsen made to gull the
Honorable Board If County Commission
era to're-letsthe contract for the county
printing by. means Of petition which
was represented to have received the as
sent of all the printing Offices in this city,
when In point Of fact the signature there
TO Of one Office vas obtained by false pre-
tenzes and another Office was totally ig-
norant that any such scheme was sprung.
The statement of the morning paper that
We refused to sign the petition is false in
every respect, for.the simple reason that
we were purposely kept in absolute i.nor-
anes of the whole matter.
IL the petition had been presented to
Us for signature, we should have refused
TO sign it as being entirely supe:fuous.
There is nothing in the advertised calls
for bids for county printing TO prevent
any bidder from specifying in detail the
price Of every item Of work embodied in
the petition As a matter OF fact, the
STATESMAN has obtained the county
printing for many years on the very basis
for which the petition prays. On each
and every occasion when the county
printing has been awarded to the STATES
MAN, its bid, in addition to being the low
est, has also specified, detail by detail, the
prices of each and every kind of work re-
quired by the county In short. We have
presented an iteui-.d bid, wherein there
is no room for fraud. TIE STATESMAN
has never proceeded on the principlc-or
the lack of it-of putting in bid at
starvation rates on one class OF work III
order TO make its loss good ON work Of
another kind.
The petition in question is crafty be-
cause 1t is evasive; it is dishonest be-
cause il entertains the idea Of "getting
even" a. stated above. There are certain
kinds OF blanks, etc. in daily use by the
county of which many thousands are all
nually used, and the petition. to have
been explicit, should have called for bids
on a single 100, on 500, and on 1000, with
so much added for each additional thou.
sand, for each kind Of work. The peti'
ton calls for separate bids for ad'crtis,
ing On such and such basis. In print
er's language, the columns Of the UnIo'
are . "pica em" narrower than the col,
umns Of the Watchman and STATESMAN
ten lines Of nonparell type, making !
"squars" In the latter papers, would ex'
cesd Square" In the former, SO that II
Is possible for the iOlnest bid to be Tho
most expensive to the county. But the
petitioners appear to have been more anx'
iow to parade their ignorance than It
have looked up the law bearing on this
subject. Sec. Of an act regulating the
publication Of legal notices, approved
Nov. IA, 1873, says: at shall be the
duty of all county officers where the
printing is contracted for in accordanc,
with the provisions of this act, to cause
all legal notices, ard delinquent tax lists
to be advertised in the paper designated
by the county commissioners.
There is q lurking suspicion in our mind
that the scheme of the petition WIS con
cocsed by so-s-heads who cannot lrgiti'
mately compete with the facilities possess,
cd By the STATESMAN for doing cheap
work. Why was it not thought OF before
Why were lying representations made to
Mr.. Bessercr to secure his signature under
the plea that it was to be presented Il the
STATESMAN for approval alsol Why was
the STATESMAN kept in utter ignorance OF
the whole subjectl
The STATESMAN lends its sanction to
no halfway doings Ii the county print
ing has been Illegally awarded, the sub
ject demands investigation at the hands
Of the grand jury. If the existing Law is
not satisfactory to all who desire to BIC,
10, it be changed at the mex, legislative
session. II the county commissioners
have not complied with the requirements
of standing statutes, let the subject be
brought before and tested by the courts
by formal legal process and the STATES
NAN will stand pat for the rights Of the
people and justice for individuals.
We fear no open, honest competition,
hut our contempt for conspiracies. Matched
in the midnight hours is too deep for ut
terance.