St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-03
THE COUNTY PRINTING.
A Lengthy Statement Made by
T. F. COOtey

the meeting of the board of county COM
missi0ners last Tuesday to James II.
Burns in spite of the fact that the
county expert reported that L. Il.
Cootey, of Brown. Treacy q Co., was the
lowest bidder. In view of the discus
sion that has arisen, Mr.. Cootey desires
to make the following statement. He
says:
When we were invited to bid for
the county printing and stationery, we
had every right to expect fair cOnsid-
Grafton of such bid, and therefore acted
in good faith in making our estimates,
the result being. as reported by the
county deputy printer, Martin Drels,
that ours was the lowest of the four
bids presented.
The specifications, as furnished to
each bidder by the county auditor, are
blanks compiled and printed under the
supervision of the committee on print
ing, and bidders are requested to bid
strictly in accordance with these SpecI-
fieatiOns in order that all might be con-
Sidered alike and figured on the same
basis.
The county expert printer, who lis
elected by the board of county commits
siOners for the purpose OF compiling the
bids, as well as to check the bllls,
stated to the board that he had made
his computations alike for all bidders
and ON the same basis as he had fig
ured last wear when the contract was
awarded to Mr.. Burns. and the same as
he and all of his predecessors had fig-
ured all previous years: yet, in the face
of all this, and the fact that Mr.. Dreis,
VINO has been county expert for more
than two wears. during which time he
has checked and O.K.'d nearly $40, 900 in
bills. a majority of the board voted that
his figures were not worthy OF consider
alton and accepted in their stead Mr..
Burns own figures and awarded him
the contract.
After the'matter had been fully dis
cussed at the meeting of the board and
we had substantiated our position, we
offered to abide by the decision OF any
disinterested expert to whom they
might refer the entire bids IN case tney
took exceptions TO those made by the
county expert; but to prevent this be-
ing done, and before the board had de-
termined which set of tlgureS 10 accept.
Commissioner Martin. who acted at
every meeting of the committee
and the board more like a paid
attorney for Mr.. Burns than a
commissioner, very conveniently made
a motion to award the contract
to MIR. Burns, Commissioners Layallee
and Leidman voting No" and Com
missIoners Martin and McCarIon
Yes" Commissioner Wright stated
he would s.yote for the lowest bidder"
showing conclusively they had not
proven their figures to his Satisfaction,
but a moment later and without any
further discussion the motion was again
put, and instead of adhering to his posi-
ton and making the board decide Whicn
set of figures were to be accepted as
lowest before voting on the award OF
the contract. he permitted hlmseiI 10
be whipped into line and voted y eS,
as also did Commissioner Mltch. the
chairman, his honor Mayor Smith yot-
ing No"
The technicality introduced by Mr.
Burns to make his figures appear low
est was one that was brought up TWO
years ago, and to take eOgnlzance OF IL
1T would be necessary to go OUTSIDE
of the specifications, which the pOard
ruled il could not do, in which event we
would have been several hundred dol
lars lower than the Dispatch Prlntlhg
company, to whom the contract was
awarded at that time. Commissioner
Mitch, who was then member OF the
board, voted against the technically
and now, under precisely the same clr-
eumstances. and on the very same item,
he votes directly the opposite way. we
leave him to explain his position to his
constituency.
Every question. statement or aFgu-
ment made by Commissioner Martin be-
fore the committee or the full board,
was for MIR. Burns; it was Buns first.
last and all of the time with loyalty
that was never equaled since the
famous ''306,"
When Mr. TAFT and MFR. Collins. the
other two bidders, were asked before
the committee, and after they had con-
coded that they were too high in their
bids to hope for any consideration.
what Interpretation they had placed on
the specifications in regard to the finan-
cial statement and court calendar, Com
missioner Martin rushes to the fore
with Mr.. Burns set of figures % aid
them instead of handing them the spec
ifications.
Commissioner Martin very ingen-
iouSly selects two items, on which the
former happens to be lowest. to sup
port himself in his untenable position,
but overlOoks large number of items
in our bid on which he was from 100 to
600 per cent higher; he prates about
economy, but when his attention was
called to several items in Mr.. Burns
stationery bids where the price was be-
yond all reason and higher than Ram
Sey county has ever paid, he braZenly
asserts that he did not examine the
stationery bids but accepted the eX-
pert's figures without any question, the
only presumption being because
Mr.. Burns was reported lowest.
a zach
show the iallacy of his arguments, the
one on the printing bid being fifty-fve
books, which we agreed to furnish for
$50, but EeonomiZer Martin prefers
awarding the contract to Mr.. Burns at
$500 on the same item, so Ramsey cOun-
ty will, if it uses 100 books during
the coming year, it having used more
than this number in some previous
years. pay for this single item nearly
5000 more than our bid; on his
stationery bid we find blotting
paper Q20 pounds to the ream1, 80
cents per pound, or sos per ream,
and Commissioner Martins attention
was called particularly to this item,
which, If Ramsey county uses the same
quantity as last year. Will cost them
81, 30O50, or S939.25 more than it would
cost the county under our bid; but
COMMISSIONER MdILlfI ODcHS HOb HIS
mouth, the question being on Mr..
Burns bid, which is above reproaeh.
AS no blotting paper is made silk
finished, satin lined OF hand painted
we presume this must be price
blotting and would suggest the pro-
prety of each county official insisting
on ''gold watch with each package"
He used the word ''steal'' several
times III connection with our bid (the
word having been spoken by one of the
other bidders with reference to his own
bid. and he spoke it as if he fully I'M
derstood its meaning probably from
long familiarity-but we will dismiss his
senile and aSsinine remarks by simply
saying when we get ready to work
..steaP' we will see that it is done be-
fore his term expires.
The Ramsey county taxpayer will
please paste this in his hat, as it is re-
ported that this dual expert and states
man in embryo threatens to inflict him
self on suffering public as a candidate
for higher political honors, but we conf
IDENTITY hope the delegates Nill-no be
Dat FO,