Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-20
MAINE LEsIstATuRE.

5000. Concerning this, / say, l under
stand there Is no dispute, SO it is safe to
take, at least, these figures as basis.
Now the committee on printing and
binding say that these contracts should
be awarded to these Augusta firms.
It may be prcsumptuous, yet 1 beg
leave to say that in my
opinion they have erred. 10 err
is human, natural, probable Commit
tees are not infallible. The committee on
towns unanimously said that Sullivan
should not be divided, still the House
thought differently, the Senate thought
differently. The committee on Maine
State college, believe. said that that in
stitution should have S25, 900 year for
10 years, still the House thought differ
emily and the Senate thought differently.
The committee on education said that
Pennington should have $50, 600, still the
House thought differently and the Senate
thought differently. The committee on
interior waters unanimously thought that
there should be sluice way
at Rumford, but the Senate
thought differently and the House
thought differently. Now this committee
say that these contracts should be awarded
est bidder / submit ordinarily that this
process is reversed, that ordinarily not the
highest but the lowest bidder receives the
work, and apprehend that at the start
this was the belief Of the committee, for
il not, what was their motive or reason
for advertising for bids? This was plain
business proposition. Here was direct,
solemn invitation of the Legislature of
Maine, through its committee having full
and COMPLETE control, addressed to the
people inviting them to prepare proposals
for the State printing and binding and the
presumption was and could be nothing
else that the lowest bidder should have
the work. Relying upon this promise,
the Lakeside Press carefully went over
the whole matter and investigated it in
all it's bearing in detail and went to the
great labor and expense of preparing bids
and contracts, and of coming here in per-
son to present their proposal in accord
ance with the terms of the committee that
invited them. Now, gentlemen, l want
to say right here, with all fairness and
kindness toward all, that if these Au
gusta firms have a lien on this State
work, if these contracts are not to be
awarded to the lowest but the
highest bidder, it is mean and cruelty I'M
fair to put other men to the useless
labor and expense of trying to compete
with them. 1 say in contracts such as
these the fair conclusion is that the low
est bidder should have the work, provid-
cd, of course, it appears that he has the
ability and means of doing the work sat
isfactorily and we'll Now here take it
is where the issue comes. Without doubt
the Lakeside Press is by $4,000 the lowest
bidder This being so, the question is,
has the Lakeside Press the ability and the
means of doing the work satisfactorily
and we'll. This question primarily inn
plies one location. 1t is claimed that this
work in order to be done well, best If you
please, must be done at Augusta. l admit
that. The Lakeside Press admits that
and has always admitted it. They stand
ready and have stood ready to come here
to Augusta and do that work which the
best interests of the State demands should
be done here. So, then, this question of
locality is eliminated and has no fair
place in this discussion. The question is
therefore narrowed down to this, has the
Lakeside Press the ability and the means
of doing here at Augusta the work salts
factory and we'll. Those of us acquainted
with their work know well that their
ability Is unquestioned, that the quality
of their work is unexcelled by any work
done east of Boston, and IL they do
such work, why cannot they do ordi-
nary work hereg True, they have no
plant here, but in short time at least,
machines, type and presses can be set
up and put in perfect condition. Now, l
suppose it will be claimed, and great
stress put upon it, that the character OF
this Legislative work is such that 1t re
quires exceptional skill and training
WE'LL suppose they have that, the entire
monopoly of it, are there not somewhere
men equally experienced and skilled and
in precisely the same kind of work. DO
not other states have printing and bind-
ing; do not other states have legis-
lative work, Australian ballots, II you
! D ease, printed laws and reports, and
do not printers in those states do
their work as satisfactorily and well as
these Augusta men do ours? And Is 1t
not probable that these men can be IN
duced to come here with their skill and
experience ? Is it not highly probable that
even these very employees of this Augusta
firm can be made to work for the Lake
side Press So, then, what becomes oil
the argument that unless these Augusta
firms do this work there will be inevlta-
BILE hindrance and delay? l say such
claim is absurd and ridiculous. Sucn
a claim has no more foundation than the
old Hindoo fallacy which claimed that
the world rested on an elephant
the elephant on turtle, and the
turtle on nothing. This mass OF
talk about the skill and experience OF
these Augusta people when you trace IL
down to its foundation rests on nothing
Concerning the financial standing OF the
Lakeside Press it has been inslnuated
that their standing is unsafe ana inse-
cure Who are the accuscrs, are they ac-
tuated by motives public and generous or
by motives private and selfish? The Lake
side Press is not perfection and does not
claim to be perfection, but men represent,
ing intelligence and honesty and good
Judgment, not inferior to any in Maine,
Men representing capital of hundreds Oh
thousands of dollars, say in this petition
which / hold in my hand that we
believe that the Lakeside Press is
able mechanically and financially to COM
plete any contract which the contractors