St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-30
RAISED A RUMPUS.
Lively Meeting Of the County
Commissioners Over the
Printing Contract.
James II. Burns Awarded the
Plum in Face Of Fierce
Opposition.
The South st. Paul Distillery
Will Be ReOpened Early
in September.
The Whisky Trust Proposes
to Enlarge It's Operations
in the West.

L CobNAlNsl h4INAAiAS VI lilC bOclQ
county commissioners was surcharged
with a warmth of discussion. The
meeting is said to have been more ami
mated than any other gathering Of the
| county house of lords in years. The
matter grew out of the letting of con-
tracts for county printing and furnish
ing stationery for year. Bids were
received for the county printing some
time since from I. E. Cootey, represent
ing Brown, Treacy & Co.; J. II. Burns,
the contractor the past year; II. l.. Col
Inns and the American Printing COM
pany. The bids for stationery were by
Cootey, Burns and f. \. Bristol. All bids
were referred to the committee on
printing, consisting Of MItsch, Lavallee
and Martin. and Martin Dreis, the
cOunty's expert printer, for classical
ton. AT Tuesdays meeting of the
board of commissioners a report was
submitted by a majority of the commit
tee and the expert printer, which de-
clared that CoOtey was the lowest bid
der on the printing and Burns as to the
stationery.
Commissioner Martin asked that the
report be referred back to the commit
Tee, and after considerable discussion
such course was taken.
At yesterdays meeting Commissioner
Martin, member of the committee OH
printing, submitted a minority report,
which stated that after listening
to all the statements of the
county expert and other experts,
and weighing well the manner in
which they arrived at their conclusions.
it was found that J. II. Burns was the
lowest responsible bidder on the print
ing and stationery. and that he he
awarded the contracts for Il year Begin
ming July q. 1891.
After the reading of this report the
discussion warmed up rapidly.
There were present, besides the full
board, County Expert Printer Martin
Dreis, Messrs. J. +. COetey and Brown.
representing Brown, Treacy q Co.; q.
ID. Taite, of the Dispatch; Johnson, of
the Pioneer Press, and Ii. p Hall, of
the News.
Commissioner Martin made a speech
in which he Waded into the figures of
Mr. Dreis, the cOunty's expert, and pro-
ceeded to show that, whilst he had de-
clared the bid of COOtey the lowest. yet
as matter Of fact. when the aggregate
for printing was considered, the Burns
bid would save the county about 81, 800.
He then went over the report and showed
number of errors in the calculations
which were favorable to Cootey and
made bad showing for Burns, who. he
claimed. was actually the lowest bidder.
He showed that the bid of Cooley was
for $3.50 a page, whilst Burns bid
was 81 page; that when the method
of computation could be used to
advantage in favor of COOtey one sys-
TEN was used, but when the same
system was to the advantage of Burns
another tack was taken. When it came
to figuring upon the court calendar he
claimed that the Burns bid would save
the county Sl46 per month, or about
81, 300 for the year.
Mr.. Brown became animated over the
statements of Commissioner Martin.
and made some rather pointed remarks !
on the subject in hand. concluding with |
the statement that he would henceforth |
keep an eye on the commissioner.
MIR. Burns also took a hand in the dis !
cusSiOn, and. placing a court calendar |
on the table before Mr.. DreiS, the |
cOunty'S expert, said:
If you can figure ont the cost Of that work |
l vii: Withdraw my bid."
Mr.. Brown said that he had been the |
lowest bidder on the cOunty'S work for |
three years. and had failed to get it.
Commissioner Martin said that he had |
not been on the board previous to this
year, but his intention was to save eX- |
pense to the county. He would use his |
influence in favor of the lowest bidder |
Mr.. Burns said to Mr.. Brown:
IF you can show that my bid was not /
$1,000 lower than yours last year, l will throw /
up my contract"
After a heated discussion of two |
hours, vote was taken on the minority |
report, offered by Commissioner Martin, !
and it was adopted, Burns being award |
ed the contracts for Doth printing and |
Commissioner Mitsch, vino had signed |
the majority report of the preceding |
day, supported the minority report.
The vote Of awarding the contracts to |
Burns was:
Yeas-Martin, McCarron, Mitsch and
Wright.
Nays-Mayor Smith and Commissioners
Lavallee and Liedman.
A bond of s. 600 for each contract is
required from Mr.. Burns.
During the meeting of the board the /
following communication from the
preSSmen'S union was read:
Messrs. Dreis, Layailee, Mtsch and Martin,
Committee on Printing: By request of the
union we hereby protest against the cOnsid-
Grafton of bids or letting Of county printing
to other than fair oIices-those employing
union preSsmen and paying union wages.
The following are the only firms employing
union pTessmen in Ramsey county: Brown,
1reacy n Co., Pioneer Press company;
George A Pound, Price, McGill q Co, II.
Paul Daily Record. Smyth Printing company.
West Publishing company, We will gladly
note justice shown these union employees.
THE PREssMEN's UNION