The Brookhaven leader., 1890-03-13
The County Printing.

our readers draw their own cOnclu-
sions as to why the work was placed
elsewhere.
Together with Mr.. Hobbs of the
LEADER, we were invited to make q
hid on Ike work with the understand
ing that the lowest bidder should
have the work, the Board holding to
the idea that their chief motive
should I've economy. (As matters
turned out wouldn't parsimony he the
better word p Both parties handed
in sealed bids, which is sufficient evil
dence that each understood such bid
would be final. But 10 and behold !!
When the envelopes were opened it
appeared that the Times had made q
bid of nine dollars while the LEADER
asked fifty dollars. WhereupOn Mr..
/ Hobbs asked leave to Withdraw his
bid AID offer another of one cent
which the board allowed, notwith-
standing that the sealed bids were
accepted with the very evident under
standing that such bids were to be
| final.
We are not kicking because the
LEADER gets the work. No doubt it
needs it. We should not have q
word to say if we had been beaten
fairly and sGnarely. But when it
comes to ringing i'll an amendment to
a sealed bid on us we beg to be
excused from such a competition.
! In justice to Mr.. Penn we would say
that he vigorously objected to ac-
cepting any amendments to bids
handed in sealed.
The late legislature passed n bill
requiring all local laws to be publish
ed in some newspaper in the county
affected by them, the paper to be Sc
lected by the Board of Supervisors.
The Times representative made a
proposition to this very economical (?)
Board that this paper would publish
the laws affecting this county gratis
as news, providing it was selected.
But when that question came up,
economy cut no figure and the LEAD
Err was ordered to do the work and
will be paid cent and n half per
word for it. The question of which
paper would best subserve the inter
ests of the people by giving the laws
the widest circulation was ignored in
the selection. How is that for econ
omy 9-LiHcoln County Times.
The old adage that one side is al
ways good enough until the other side
is heard, never had an apter illustra-
ton than is furnished by the Times
article. 1t is altogether so unjust
and misleading that we feel constrain-
ed to state some facts which will give
the public very different conception
of the subject from that sought to be
conveyed by the Times.
In the first place let it be under
stood, that the general law approved
Feb. Is, 1882, which authorizes Boards
of Supervisors to have their proceed
ings published, gives them full dis
erection in the premises. They can
publish or not us they sec fit,and they
can ask for scaled bids or open bids,
or elect any county paper they may
choose to publish their proceedings
and fix the price, without asking for
any bids at all. The only limitation
placed upon their power by the law is
that they shall not pay more for the
work than the rate fixed for publica-
ton of legal notices by the Code,
which is /! cents per word.
In this instance the Board gave
verbal notice to each of the county
papers that bids would be in order,
but the notice was entirely informal
and without stipulated conditions.
When the matter came up for
action, the editors of both papers
were present and an informal confer
encc ensued as to how the bids should
be submitted. The publisher of the
Times said that the size of circula ton
should cut some figure in the decision.
The publisher of the LEADER replied
that he was willing to have the
matter decided 10y comparison of
bona fide subscription lists, but
thought it was useless to insist upon
this, because he had done so on sever
al former occasions when the printing
was let out, and could never get a
Board to act on this idea. Mr.. Penn,
whom the Times credits with wanting
to do the square thing, here said that
circulation would cut no figure in the
matter, hut that tie Board always
let the work out to the lowest bid
der.
TO dispose of the matter bids were
then asked for, and quite as much of
their own motion as by request of the
Board, both publishers handed in
sealed bids. Whatever may have been
the inference of the editor of the
Times, it is certain that the Board did
not state that the mere submission of
bids, sealed or otherwise, was to be a
finality of the matter, and we did
not so understand them.
When the bids were opened, as the
Times states, its bid was $500 and
the LEADERS, 5000. The only thing
that had been definitely announced
on the subject being President PENIS
statement that the lowest bid would