St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-15
THE COUNTY PRINTING.
Pointers on the Subject Which
Will Come Up To-Day.

A GLOBE reporter halted Mr.. Brown,
of Brown, Treaey & Co., after church
yesterday, to see how he was feeling
over the subject of county printing,
which he was informed would come up
at the meeting of the board early this
morning. Expecting wise decision of
the board-to the lowest bidder should
belong the work-he seemed to be in a
happy state of mind, but called the re-
porter's attention to some statements in
Sundays GLOBE that needed little
correction, and proceeded to state that
his firm were contractors for the county
printing tor three years and four
months, during which time he thinks
the county had the best work the market
affords, at price which afforded
only moderate business profit; and as
this statement has not been disputed,
the reporter had no reason to take issue
with him. He said that the total amount
of printing and blank books, repairs
and all extra time work rendered the
county under this contract, which COW
cred in the aggregate three years and
four months, was as follows: From
April l, 1885, to April l, 1886, 1897;
April l, 1856, to April l, 1887, S6,475;
April /, 1887, to April /, 1888, S7,027; and
from April l. 1888. to Aug. 81. 1888,
50, 236, making total for the coupty's
work i'll forty months S20,635 or about
S515 per month The stationery bill
from Nov. l, 1885, to Aug. 81, 1888,
was about 1891, or S113 per month.
Mr.. Brown said the method adopted this
year for bidders was about the same that
has existed for the past nine years.
during his residence in st. Paul, and if
there has been any great great decep--
ton" practiced the printers have failed
to take advantage of it. He thought it
very natural to sdo as he was bid"
when the bids were before him. He had
no personal knowledge how much Hen
nepin county was paying per annum for
its printing, but if they paid $4,000 for
one year and Ramsey county only S2O,6
in three years and four months, the de-
mands of our neighboring county must
be many and great, and, as taxpayer,
he thanked good government that Ram
Sey county was not more extensively
afflicted that way. With these figures
the statement of saving of $4,000 per
annum to Ramsey county on printing,
by Auditor Kahn and Assessor Harroun,
is more elastic than reason will permit.
At any rate, at this mornings meeting
of the county commissioners the mat
ter of bids for printing Will DE
determined, in that the board will either
advertise for new bids or act upon the
conviction of a majority of its members,
that the lowest bidder should have the
contracts, notwithstanding Commits
sioner Boyd's strong opposition. More
over, the statement of Auditor Kahn,
published in yesterdays GLOBE, shows
the amount expended for printing during
1888 to be S9,457.75. In 1887, during the
wild real estate boom. when the county
officers were consuming forms which
have since been decaying upon sta
tionery shelves, and blank volumes, the
money paid to Brown, Treaey u Co. was
but ST, 1927. In 1888, when all is dull,
and the Dispatch Printing company is
contracting printer, the county pays
S9,457. Why this is SO, is matter of
speculative conjecture.