The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-02-13
The Public Printing.


THR CLARION has had very little to
say on this subject. Its proprietor IS
content to leave the matter to the inves-
tigation of the capable Committees Of the
Legislature and TO the wisdom of that
body. We have the satisfaction of being
able to state that the average annual cost
Of the printing has been less since our
connection with it than at any time in
the previous twenty-five years, and We
cheerfully admit that in several classes
of work still further reduction can be
msde and saving thus effected without
entering upon the experiment of letting
the work out to the lowest bidder under
the direction of a Board of Printing
Commissioners.
From the many expressions of the
press in opposition to that proposition,
we copy the following:
American Citizen
The Meridian Observer, yicksburg Her
aid and some other prominent Mississippi
journals are urging the abolition of the
Office of State Printer, and the letting of
the commemorative printing to the lowest
bidder. This question, like most others.
has two sides. We favor the election of a
State Printer by the Legislature, whose
members will have number of good men
to choose from, and We doubt that any I'M
provement in the public service would be
made by a change from the present very
worthy and conscientious incumbent OF the
Office. The Lowest bidder plan some
times cuts backward, like a boomerang,
and in many instances results IN sending
the work out of the State, and depr1ves
home mechanics of their daily labor. fore
ing them to seek 81 tort for themselves
and families in other communities. Let
the State work of Mississippi be done II
Mississippi, and if all things are equal, al
the Capital.
Port Gibson Reveille.
The public printing has been well done
| and has given satisfaction to everybody
we believe. Now and then We read unfav
orable comments, usually more caption:
than wise or just, but, as a general thing
! the people are satisfied, and there has beer
| no official complaint.
One suggestion is that the publication O
the laws in the official journal, is a useless
;pense.
/ 1t Is well known that the pamphlet act
cannot be published in book form unit
after the adjournment of the Legislature
| 1t is equally well known that many law
are passed at the beginning of the session
of the Legislature, many of them to TAX
effect from and after their passage. Thi
| being the case it is an imperative duty Il
! have them published simultaneously witt
their enactment. that the people may no
be, uneonsciously. offenders against tn
/ law. for ignorance of the law is not a plei
in justification.
If the State were only fraternal brother
hood, or benevolent organization,
would do no harm to defer the PRONUNCIATION
of its orders and deIiverances, but as thu
embodiment of power, the organism of Law
with penal correctives, and punitor
statutes, the case is different. 1t would b
cruel to pass laws forbidding offenses, an
hide the laws from the people, yet holc
them amenable to such laws.
Another proposition just as absurd, an
unbusiness like, is that the public printin
in the State journal, and in the forI
known as pamphlet acts, should be let on
to the lowest bidder. The most capabl
bidder. thee one who is likely to do tn
work best, and the most likely. all thing
considered, to carry out his contract, i
good faith, should have the contract, at
fair lEice.
1t is not the policy of the State, in giy
ing out the work, of all others most in
portant, the publication of the laws, to see
cheapness. and to invite competition, froE
parties both incapable and irresponsible
as many bidders would be, any more tina
it is to hire a cheap lawyer, and do ava
with the Attorney General, or to hire
quack doctor for the asylums, instead G
one skilled in his profession. The loves
bidder, as a safe rule, is not the bidder t
employ, either in a private or public con
tract, and as another rule the highest bid
der, within reasonable bounds, is the loves
bidder at last. 1t frequently happens tina
supervisors let out contracts for county ad
vertising and for printing. If a publishe
with a paper of a hundred or s.
subscribers, bids less than on
with five or six times the circulation, he
the lowest bidder, in figures, but in fact tn
highest bidder, by all odds, hence the ques
ton of circulation and responsibility shout,
always be considered. If you advertise
advertise.
The State wants fairness Justice in tn
fulhllment of contracts-not cheapness
In the purchase of commodities the best i
the cheapest, at higher price, and so il
building a house, the best workmen and tn
best material are always the cheapest, tho
costing more money.
To sum up the the whole matter, we hav
to say that the publication of the law
without the possible danger of mistakes o
delay, is too important to be hazarded q
o,,Afi,o