St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-06
COUNTY CONTRACTS.
Commissioners Of Ramsey
County Reply to Mr.. Coo
tey'S Attack.
There Was Nothing Crooked
in Awarding Burns the
Contracts.
His Printing and Stationery
Bids Were Unquestion-
ably the Lowest.
Messrs. Martin ct AL. Are
Quite Prepared to Face
Their Constituents.

Quite Prepared to Face
Their Constituents.
To the Editor of the Globe.
In the issue of the GLOBE of the Sd
inst. there appeared what purported to
be statement of a gentleman named
Cootey criticising the action of the MEM
bers of the board of county commission
ers who voted to award the contract
for the county printing and stationery
for the ensuing year to James II. Burns.
This gentleman consumes column Oh
your valuable paper with an unwar-
ranted Screed upon the four members
whose names are signed hereto, and, by
misstatements and vain attempts at wit
and cheap sarcasm, to miSlead your
readers into the belief that something
unfair. crooked or unjust had been done
by the undersigned in the letting OF
these contracts. 1t is not our purpose
or desire to afflict your readers with
anything like a repetition of the
article referred to, but will be
content with making a plain
statement of the facts concerning the
letting of the contracts for stationery
and printing to James Ii. Burns and not
to Mr. Cootey. We do this so that the
taxpayers and voters of Ramsey
county may know the full truth and be
able to Judge for themselves as to
whether the commissioners acted in the
interests of Ramsey county or not.
A short time ago the board adver-
| tiSed for bids for printing and station
cry. The bids were made on blanks
furnished by the county. The blanks
for the printing comprised some eighty
different items. Bids wers received
for stationery from L. E. COotey, Fred
A. Bristol and James H. Burns; and
for the printing from L. E. COotey, l..
II. Collins, the American Printing COM
pany and James Ii. Burns. The bids
were referred to the committee on
printing, which consists of Commission
erS Lavallee. Mitsch and Martin, with
the county expert printer. The expert
reparted the following result on sta
tiOnery: L. Z. COOtey, S39.05; Fred A.
Bristol. SSH; James II. Burns. S7S.36.
On printing, Il. Z. COotey, $l,992.l4; l..
II. Collins. So, 1889; the American
Printing company, S2,9SS,73, and James
H. Burns. S2.3l1.S5, thus reporting l.
E' OOOlty Il6
Lowest Oh Printing,
and James II. Burns the lowest on sta
tionery. AT the meeting of the board
held on the 27th of July, Commissioners
Lavallee and AIitSch reported in favor OF
giving the contracts to the parties re-
ported to be the lowest by the county
expert. James II. Burns appeared be-
tore the board with his expert, George
&. Pound, who said he had figured the
bids and found James II. Burns to be
the lowest; that he could prove con-
clusiYelY to the committee that the
county expert had made some mistake
Or mistakes in his computation, and
that he was prepared to prove his state
ments, and, as a matter of fact, did prove
them. Under this showing the board re-
referred the matter to the committee.
The next day the committee met with the
county expert, Burns expert, l. u. COotey
and all the parties interested. The COM
mittee had the experts compare item by
item, so that they might find the cause
of the difference in the experts claims.
The result of this comparison was that
the county expert was compelled to
make some seventeen corrections on
his report, and the same is now on file
in the auditors Office. After said cor
rectiOns were made the experts agreed
Oh all the items with the exception OF
the financial report and the court cal
endar, leaving these the only questions
for the committee to decide upon. The
blank for the bid on the financial state
ment was as follows:
Financial Statement-Pamphtet or
book form, per page, on 50-ib. book, in
Guiding cover and binding for 800
COPIES. r. Z. CoOley'S bid, $3.50 per
D,,rpc1 hid M
The county expert claimed that one
page only should be figured OH, since
there was no number of pages specifi-
cally stated in the blank. Last year
the financial statement contained $50
pages. 1t grows some fifteen or twenty
pages each year. The undersigned
contended that, since the county
would be
Compelled TO Pay
for the full number of pages, and as
the number would not be less than $50,
this item should be figured On that
basis. They found that under L. E.
Cootey's bid the book would cost S455,
and under Burns $3.50, thus finding
Burns Sl95 the lowest on this item;
while the county expert made him but
$50. When the committee had the bid
of L. Z. Cootey Oh the financial state
ment under consideration at their meet
ing on Tuesday, Mr.. TAFT, who was
called as an expert by MIR. Cootey, said:
| 1T NAV be steal, but what can you
do about it." Instantly Mr.. Martin
| called his attention, as we'll as those
! in the committee room, to his statement.
| In Mr.. Cootey's interview he says that
! Mr.. Martin used the word ''Steal." He
! did use it. He uses 1t now, and he
used it at the meeting of the
! board when he pointed at Mr.. TAFT
and called the attention of all
present to the statement OF Mr.. TAFT
| and challenged him to deny it. Mr..
TAFT stood there and did not open his
/ mouth. So much for the financial state
ment.
! The court calendar is issued nine
months In the year. Under CoOtey's
| bid it would cost S4S6.41, and under
| Burns $34250, Burns being S146 per
month. or Sl,314.99 for the nine months
lower than Cootey. Thus it will be seen
| that the county makes a saving of over
| $1,000 by giving the contract to Burns,
| for it must be remembered that the eX-
perts agreed on all the items except
! these two.
The stationery contract was awarded
| to James II. Burns by unanimous vote
of the board, because it was admitted by
experts and all the bidders that he was
the lowest, and not word was said till
The Last Minute
when one of Mr.. Cootey's friends OBJ
| jected, apparently more through spite
and malice than anything else. Mr..
| CoOtey talks about disregarding prece-
| dent as though it we're something awful
| to get out of a rut; it will always be a
| pleasure to US to disregard bad prece-
| dents and correct abuses, no matter how
hoary they may be with age. Mr..
! Brown, of the firm of Brown, Treacy &
I fOy-