Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-09-30

who had limited at permanent employ
ment, and friends Of the struggling
organ had allowed the report Of a
100000 job secured for the organ 10
come via GAINESVILLE. Later The Times
published an editorial cougraulatory
to both the state and The Times upan
the letting of the contract. and contain
ing the cheering assurance rhat this
evidence Of the governors confidence
in The Times was not misplaced.
Now The Times outfit was no better
adopted 10 printing this roster or any
other book than a farmer with a cider
press. 1t had NO presses upon which
the work could be done, no s~tcrcotyp-
ing facilities for il, not even the tyne
necessary to set mp matter of the kind
II a publisher looking for q roster.
printing plant had been turned loose
IN The Times office with The Times
contract, all that he could have found
OF very material use would have been
The governors good Will. There had
been no preteuse of calling for bids for
the work. There was a plainly studied
Ignoring Of the fact that the contract
with the state printer called for his
execution Of such an order at prices
which would bring the cest TO The
state lower than wcll-cquipped houses
could afford to contract such a lob for
That Hhe Times could put I'm a plant
especially for the job and do the work
at 81 reasonable figure was a manifest
~abSunlity.
GOV. Peck was seen with reference
to the matter 10y The Sentinel CORES
pondcnt and refused to say anything
about 1t further than TO instruct Sccre-
t1ry Clark that he could ten MS much
as lac pleased, Col Clark did not de
cline 10 talk, hut he did decline to give
facts, and refused 10 exhibit the con.
tract, or TO state the price to bc paid.
Atty.Geu. O'Connor, who is one Of the
printing commissioners, rs we'll as
the legal adviser of the state, veugh-
s1tcd the information tina, the con
tract had been submitted to him To
determine rs to its being iu due form.
W1J to be sure that the states interests
werc duly protected I'm the terms OF
the contract under the special act
which authorized il; but that ne had
H1t been asked 10 pass upon the con.
sututionnlity OF t1c law. McluWhile
the public printer interested his at
toruey in the affair. The mttcrs
formal demand to see The contract in
behalf OF the publi' printer was met
by the governors secretary with am
expression of profanc indifference for
the public printer. The attorney saw
the governor and after a brief dis
TO consider. When the time expired he
asked for more, ana was given tin =
o'clock in the afternoon. Just before
that hour he sent a messenger TO the at
tolHey with q note, and when the
press representative asked Gov. Peck
for information he referred him to
Secretary Clark who handed out q slip
of paper containing the following:
Since making the contract for the
publication of the roster of Wisconsin
volunteers under chapter 80. laws of
1887. the governor has been led SO
seriously TO doubt the constitutionality
OF that law, to which his attention was
not called at The time, that ne has
revoked aud cancelled the contract on
the part Of the state
The contract, or record of it, has
never been filed with the secretary Of
state, as the law requires that the OIL
cial acts of the executive department
shah be filed, and 50 far as the state
officers are concerned the roster con
tract has remained a state secret.
The contract itself Is short and in
some respects explicit. With the docu
mcnts which have accompanied MI,
McI'ail's copy Of it, in connection with
other relative facts, it VIII be Of o
general public ipterest probably than
Secretary Clark could have suspected
when insisting that it was not nee
essary 10 publish it.. Written on a
typewriter it occupies but two sheets
Of legal cap paper IN space. II Is
signed by Gov. Peck for the state and
by Mr.. McFail ostcnslbly for himself
alone. 1t vds Witnessed by Werner
Pressctlu, the executive clerk in Gov.
Peclts office, and by oscar X. Schubert,
the messenger In the same Office. It
provides that the contractor shall re
ceiye $40 per volume on all orders for
rosters; and provides that no order
shall he for less than 1000 sets, g. O.,
1000 volumes. The only other import
ant provision is a very funny one. by
reference 10 the law under which the
contract was drawn it viii be seen that
the governor is only authorized to CON
tract for the work provided that the
state printing contract shall not speci
tically cover such method and material
Of printing and binding as the governor
shall select. Notwithstanding that the
law expressly provides that they shall
be bound in cloth, the private contract
provides that they shall be bound in
cloth with buff bands ana corners. It
was the understanding, as explained by
a party Interested, that this buff