The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-13
SENATE PRINTING COMMITTEE
THINKS TT HAS DISCOVERED A
NEW COMBINATION.
1T WILL NOT BUY ANY PAPER
A METHOD OF SECURING
PRINTING.
NEW TwEa.F'rH DISTRICT JUDGE.
Gossip as to Who VIII Be GOrham
Powers Seatmate In the
Far West.

If the senate committee on printing
has been as successful as it thinks it
has, it has practically prepared a bill
which will prevent recurrence of the
SIS, 900 deficit in the state printing fund
which now eonfronts the taxpayers Of
the state. While there are still some
finishing touches to be made upon the
measure, for which it will meet Mon
day, the general outline Of the new
measure is determined upon, and it will
no doubt be ready for presentation to
the senate by Tuesday at the outside.
There has been a suspicion that much
of the deficit in the fund has been
caused by the accumulation of paper
in the basement of the capitol, during
the Stevens regime, long before it was
needed, or even available for the pur-
poses Of the state, This, it is hoped,
will be avoided by the provisions Of the
new bin, which, 1t is reported, will pro-
vide that the state shall buy its print
ing from the printer just as any other
purchaser does, the printer to furnish
the paper as needed. The proposition
to make this change was met by the
contention that the printer would
charge profit on the paper, which the
state would evade by purchasing it's
own paper, but the majority of the
committee, so the G o b is informed.
have decided that the printer will deal
as generously with the state as it could
do with itself when 1t Is understood
that the contract Is to be awarded to
the lowest bidder. This would. of
he inc iUn {,1 OF
combination Of printers, but the ma
joT1ty OF the committee claim that II
this Is to be counted upon, the print
ers would have things just as much
their own way figuring on printing
alone as on printing and paper COM
bined.
A second important change in the
state printing system that will be made
in the bill which will be submitted by
the committee will be to abolish the
present system of contracting AS 1t
is, the state, by legislative enactment,
provides maximum price for a num-
Der Of different classes of work.
Persons or firms desiring to do bust
ness with the state bid fixed per cent
below this scale, and the lowest bidder,
acceptable to the commission is
awarded the contract While it will be
imperative that the commission shall
maintain some classification, the pro-
posed law will leave it absolutely I'M
hampered in this respect, so that 1T
may go into the open market and con-
tract for the printing to the best ad-
vantage of the state. No maximum
figures will be named, and each bidder
will have to fix his rates in fat figures.
The provision Of the present law
which allows the commission to run in
debt indefinitely, and cOmpels the state
to pay interest on all debts incurred
by it, the committee has endeavored to
correct, but a difficulty has arisen III
that the appropriation needed for
printing is an indefinite quantity. Con-
tingencies are imaginable in which the
state might be compelled to secure ad-
ditiona1 printed matter, or seriously
cripple the work of the departments,
whereas the state institutions can with
reasonable accuracy compute the maxi
mum expense of any of their depart
mcnts, and thus draw up a bill COM
mensurate with their demands The
printing committee, on the other hand,
has no fixed basis of computation, eX-
ccpt the experience of former years,
and these figures are so variable as to
be of little value as criterion of
future needs. AS a result of this stu
alton, the committee, so member of
it stated last night, has practically
which will remain as at present con-
stituted, the power, If need be, to eX-
coed the appropriation made to 1t, as
Stunning that the three state officers who
constitute it will be sufficiently trust
worthy that no unnecessary expense
will be incurred
The committee had hoped to get to-
gether yesterday, and, indeed, Chair
man Miller called a meeting at the
adjournment Of the afternoon session,
but it fell through. A meeting is ex-
pected Monday surely.
Senator Dunn, who is chairman OF
the senate committee for the investi-
cation of the labor bureau, announces
that the committee will meet Tuesday
evening to hear further testimony in
regard to the alleged violations Of the
letter and spirit of the law.
The passage of the bill creating an
additional judgship for the Twelfth
judicial district has stirred up con-
siderable gossip as to who is likely
to be appointed to the new place. s.
H Hudson, Of Benson, and G. E. Quaie,
Of Willmar, are being urged by their
friends for the appointment, s. A.
Flaherty. Of Litchfeld, is spoken Of
and a petition has been circulated In
the interest Of T. r. Young of Ben
son, a Democrat who would like to be
appointed as non-partisan.