The record-union., 1897-02-10

| The work / have had done includes
| the binding Of a complete set of reports
of all of the offices and institutions of
| the State from the beginning of its
| history. This is an invaluable collec-
| ton and remains for the permanent
use of the Governors office. The re-
naming work done for this office has
been, in my Judgment, necessary. 1
| submitted a statement of the work
| done for my office, not including the
binding of the books above mentioned,
| for which l was charged 81 625 So by
the State Printing Office, to an expert
printer connected with one of the lead
| ing San Francisco printing establish
ments. The expert was employed by
| James H. Barry of the star and he
| was furnished with the necessary de-
| Scription and samples for making an
| estimate of the cost of the work. He
was furnished no information as to the
! prices charged by the Superintendent
| of State Printing, and where no sample
of the work was supplied l have al
| lowed Mr.. Johnston's prices. For the
work upon which | asked for estimates
| Mr. Johnston had charged me 81
| go 50; the amount at which the San
Francisco printer estimated it could be
done was S2013 30-or considerable
less than one-half of the State office /
will not attempt to locate the reason
for such excessive cost. That abuse eX-
lists, there can be no question.
On June TO- 1898, the State Board of
Education passed resolution directing
the superintendent of State Printing
to print no more copies of a certain
| mo +Io n Of 10
board. The State Board of Education
is a separate constitutional body, with
full power and authority to adopt such
resolution, and the Superintendent was
IN law bound by it. The reason of the
resolution concerned only the board,
and the responsibility rested exclusively
with it. But Notwithstanding this reso-
luton, by which he should have been
legally bound, and in violation of it,
10000 copies of this grammar were
printed after September, 1895. new
| grammar has since been issued but
few of the old grammers are being call
ed for and there were on hand Febru-
airy l, 1897, 1,619 copies of this book,
according to the official report of the
Superintendent of State Printing for the
month of January, 1897
During the time from November
1891, to December, 1896, coal of the
character and grade used at the State
Printing Office was being purchased
under contract for the use of the En-
gmeer's Department at the Capitol
building at prices ranging from 50 -
to 50 80 per ton. During this time the
Superintendent of State Printing was
purchasing coal of no greater value, at
open market at prices ranging from
$40 to S11 per ton. In May, 1896, the
Board of Examiners insisted that the
superintendent should advertise for
coal, in addition to other supplies. Bids
were received and opened in his office
June II, 1896 he being present and act
ing with the board, to award the con-
tract, he being a member of it for that
purpose. The contract was awarded the
next day, to take effect July 1st. The
person from whom the coal had pre-
viously been purchased did not get the
contract, it being awarded another par
| " for 50 O4 per ton. The day the
bids We're opened Mr.. Johnston ordered
lseventy-fve tons Of coal from the party
with whom he had been dealing. The
COAL was delivered, but before it could be
consumed the superintendent had placed
in his office an electrical power plant,
This power was contracted for in a
most unsatisfactory manner. The cleo
trica1 company first communicated with
| the Board of Examiners, requesting
that they be given a contract TO furnish
power for the State Printing Office
The board transmitted this communica-
tion to the superintendent of State
| Printing and requested that he should
inform them what saving, if any, would
be effected by utilizing electrical power
No answer was made to this comnuni-
cation, and our next information upon
the subject was when claims were pre-
sented to the board for the purchase OF
dynamos and electrical appliances ag-
| gregating over 81 800. Thereafter a
monthly claim of $3.50 was presented to
| the board for allowance. This claim
was held for investigation, and later an
officer of the electrical company APP
peared before the board and stated that
he had made contract with the State
Printer to furnish fifty horse power. OF
as much thereof as the Superintendent
should require, at a monthly charge OF
500. He made such statements before
| the board as showed that the power
| was not being used to economic adyan-
tage, and read a long statement show
ing how it could be more satisfactorily
utilized. He declined to file this state
ment with the board until he had sub
mitted it to the State Printer, with
whom he had been dealing The state
ment was never filed. The purchase of
this electrical apparatus and plant has
| NOT reduced T Il -
monthly expenses of that department
for power and has not resulted i'm a
saving to the State It has reduced the
| amount of coal purchased under the
new arrangement and has prevented a
comparison of costs with the previous
| arrangement.
AS an evidence that the printing
charged to the departments in this
State has not increased during the
past year to any great extent. all
| though the cost Of the printing office
has / give the following amounts
charged to the various departments for
the last six years, as follows: Forty
! second fiscal year, S93 400 SO; forty
third fiscal year, SS3, ,225 40; forty
fourth fiscal year, $50, ,S34 90; forty
fifth fiscal year, $71 ,4S2 40; forty-sixth
fiscal year, S92,752 %; forty-seventh
fiscal year, SS6,S16
1t is impossible for an inexperi-
enced person to estimate what, if any,
extravaganza exists in the State
Printing Office, and the testimony of
inexpert persons possesses little value.
The Superintendent of State Printing
in his report and his letters to me
| states that record is preserved in his
office of all work done by him. These
books should show the capacity of the