The San Francisco call., 1897-02-10

nlONey pay
Tor State printing during the present session
of the Legislature should be appropriated. 1
am now more strongly OF that opinion.
Prior to January IL lastthe Superintendent
OF State Printing filed with the Board OF Ex-
aminers his application for a recommend alton
TO the Legislature for appropriat ton of
$75 900. AT the meeting of January IL, 1897,
he was sent for that he might make the show
ing required by the acts above mentioned,
and be examined as TO the necessity for such
deficiency, whereupon he appeared, offered
no proof, but withdrew his application, and
the next day the bill under consideration was
introduced.
that the work tailed upon him by the new
ly created Bureau of Highways, the State
Dairy Burean, the Code Commission ana the
litigation of the Railroad Commissioners, was
responsible for the exhaustion of his funds,
and necessitated the deficiency from which he
seeks relief. His recent official report to me,
| dated September 15, 1896, shows that for the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1896, he had eX-
| pended OF the appropriation for the support OF
his office $l46,0o0 50. or much more than
! one-haH OF his total appropriation. in ad-
dition he had used OF stock on hand
12,oS5 70, making total expenditure for
that year of $15S 0S6 80.
When it is rememb bered that the legislative
printing required for that year for the thirty
| first session amounted to over $3.50 rs. and
tnati was not the year upon which the bien-
NAL reports of the State officers and institu-
tons prin ted, the fact Is sufficient TO put
the most Indifferent upon inquiry. Mr.. John
| ston's explanation that 1t was the printing for
! the new bodies which causes the deficiency
loses all its force when we find that the charge
! for printing during that time for the Code
! Commission, the Bureau of Highways and the
! Dairy Bureau aggregated less than $3.50. The
| heavy expenditure for the iorty-seventh fiscal
year made the deficiency in the torty-eighth
Section 53l OF the Political Code requires
! the superintendent OF State Printing to make
| yearly report TO the Governor, in writing,
| embracing record OF the com plete transac-
tions OF his office for the preceding fiscal year.
! which report shall show In detail all The items
OF expense of the office, including repairs and
! the purchase OF materiR S of all kinds Un-
| der section e of article of the constitution
| The Governor is authorized 'to require infor-
nation in writing from the officers of the ex-
ecuIlve department., upon any subject relat-
! ing 10 the duties of their respective Offices"
! When application was made to the Board of
| Examiners for a recommendation TO the Leg
lslature Tor an appropriation, and later, after
| such application had been Withdrawn, and the
bill under discussion had beea introduced in
| the Assembly, ! endeavored by every means to
! secure a statement from the superintendent
of State Printing, or proper showing of the
neces sity for the deficiency, or of the reasons
| why this bill should become law.
His report Is incomplete and unsatisfactory
! AT TWO meetings of the board succeeding the
! introduction OF Assembly bill 263 Johnston
was notified OF such meetings aud equested
] 10 appear and he failed TO do / caused let
ters TO be written to Johnston soliciting infor-
nation bearing upon this matter and not con-
! tained in his report and failed to secure what
was required, the excuse being lack of time.
| On February 2, 1897, personally commu uni
Gated with him, asking for his reasons for not
/ complying with the requirements OF the act of
1893 and why the pending bill should become
| law. have exhausted my legal and consti-
tutional rights in an endeayor 10 secure the
| facts necessary 10 enable me 10 act upon this
| matter with the proper degree of knowledge
and, not being met by the explanation, re-
turn the bill TO you, with my objections there
to, for further action, aud l append the cor
respondence between Mr.. Johnston and this
! office.
| ask your attention to the reports of the
J a Xvh
would expect to find proper and thorough
account OF the expenditures of the funds for
! the support OF his Office For the forty-sixth
! fiscal year Mr.. Johnston expended and
! charges himself with $162, ,3701 Is, made up
! of pay OF employees, the purchase of material,
permanent improvements and like items, and
against this sum he credits himself with
| printing TO a like amount, his accounts for
that year balancing pages D, 10, IL and ID.
! The report for the forty-seventh year shows
a very different state of facts. This was non-
| legislative year, and Mr.. Johnston expended
for employees msteris's, Improvements and
like purposes $146,O00 SO, and credits himself
with onl; $S2, ,257 81 OF printing done for all
! the departments OF the State government
| If to this ada the $455S 20 charged for
! hthographing, which may not be included in
the charges for printing against the depart
| ments, and the $3.50 rs for Legislative print
| ing, which both reports say is cha rgeable to
the preceding year, the total credit amounts
to $94, 700 ID. This leaves a balance OF SOL
293 "a unaccnunted for. II credit Mr..
/ Johnston with repairs, Improvements and
permanent material which would not be ac-
cording 10 his system (pages D. 10 10 IA of the
/ report of 1S95l, balance OF $39, 295 26 yet re-
! mains to be accounted for.
Even if he claims a credit for sums ex-
! pended in permanent Improvements and ma
/ terials, which he has not done in previous re-
ports, and the cost of which he has charged
up TO the printing done. he used during this
year $4,000 worth of stock with which he
! should be charged.
! We therefore have, according to his own re-
! port, balance OF Sol, 1913 "a unaccounted for
| from his appropriation. which, with the
! 2,085 76 OF stock used. makes a total of
! 500, ,379 90. for which no account is made by
| the Superntendents report. | have no doubt
that Mr.. Johnson will be able to satisfactorily
! explain this matter, but as yet he has not
| done so.
In this connection 1 would point out
that the Legislature printing for the
! forty-seventh fiscal year amounted to
500, 14S So, while against this work was
! charged 500, 1913 15 paid for pay of employees
/ alone, or $40, 749 80 more charged for wages
! than the entire work done, not counting the
material or supplies used Even at these fig
! ures, in which the amount charged for print
| ing does not nearly equal the cost of it, L am
| convinced that such charges are excessive and
| tnat If the work done was charged a: the rate
| at which it could be procured from private
concerns, the dlsproportion would be much
! greater. The increased business and larger
J number of documents required for different
Offices nave caused In some instances an in
crease in their printing expenses. Having no
positive Information in other cases, ] have
| taken my own office ex ample, and if the
| charges IN other departments are as excessive
| as they have been in this instance, the charges
made for work-not to speak of the cost of the
works out OF all proportion to what the same
class of work could be done for by private con-
| tract OF individual enterprise.
The work l have had done includes the
binding of a complete set OF the reports of all
of the officers and institutions OF the State
from the beginning OF it's history. This Is an
invaluable collection and remains for the
permanent use of the Governors office The
! remaining work done Tor this Office hasNbeen
| in my judgment necessary. | submitted a
statement OF the work done for my office not
| including the binding of the books above
mentioned, for which was charged $4625 S5
| by the State Printing Office 10 an expert
/ printer connected with one of The leading Sa n
Francisco printing embellishments. The ex-
pert was employed by Mr.. James H. Barry of
the Star, and he was furnished with the neces-
sary description and samples for making an
estimate OF the cost of the work. He was fur
| nlshed no information as to the prices charged
by the superintendent OF State Printing and
| where no sample of the work was supplied
| have allowed Mr.. Johnston's prices For the
! work upon which / asked Tor estimates Mr.
| Johnston had charged me $4625 S5; the
amount at which the San Francisco printer
estimated 1t could be done was $20l3 3O-or
| considerable less than one-half OF the State
| Office charge. l will not attempt to locate the
| reason for such excessive cost That abuse
exists, there can be no question.
On June 10, 1898, the State Board of Educa-
| ton passed a resolution directing the Super
! inteudent of State Printing to print no more
order OF the board. The State Board of Educa-
| tion is a separate constitutional body with
full power and authority to adopt such reso-
| luton, and the Superintendent was in law
bound by 1t. The reason of the resolution con-
cerned only the board, and the responsibility
faE o. iUalv vtpith Dt,t,