The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-10-27

to above as the aliens report is the
report of a committee appointed by au-
thority of the legislature of 1896 to
ascertain the number of aliens quarter
ed upon the commonwealth in the var
ious public institutions thereof. AS
printed public document 1t Is of no
more value than would be a second
tail to a cat. The 565 pages covered by
1t contain nothing but the names, sex,
nativity, etc, of the individual aliens
found to be in the various prisons, hos
pitfalls, almshouses and other like in
stitutions of the state, each case being
made to consume eight lines, or about
one inch in the length of a column, as
follows:
John Smith.
Sex-male.
Nativity-Kamschatk
Number of days treated-Thirteen.
Cost per day-One dollar and thirty
one cents.
Total cost-Sixty-one dollars and f1f-
ty-one cents.
Any sane private individual having
such thing to print would put 1t in
this way:
Jno. Smith, Kamschatka; treated 10
days at $1.31 per day; total. $61.51.
1out thdl e"oulu nave consumed Only
two lines. and would have lessened the
grab OF the Legislative Record con-
tractor 50 out Of every 81.
1t is safe to say that a far more in
telligible record Of the proceedings of
the legislature could be reported and
printed, with a comprehensive index
to the book, for about $4,000 or less
than third of the cost OF the present
w f0I, Go
to all those who have to consult 1t be-
cause of Its cumbersomeness and other
described faults. and that the sum
named would include a fair compensa-
tion for both the reporter and the
printer.
But suppose only half the present ex-
penditure could be cut off, the saving
would still be close to $4,000, and that
sum would materially help in caring for
the INDECENT insane and other wards
of the state, now in large part neglect
ed by reason of this and other machine
corruption and waste in the handling
of the states moneys.
Regularly every fourth year the con-
tract price for reporting and printing
the Record has fallen, owing to the
Introduction of Improved facilities for
hst
etc. In 1885 the price was $6.56 per
page; in 1SS7-S9 1t was s5.7 in 1S91-93
1t was $3.50. and in 1Ss5-s7 1t was 1896.
The contract for the ensuing four years,
1S99-1s01. has been awarded to the
same parties who have had it for sew
eral years past, at $3.41. And the
Wilkesbarre Record, Republican pa
per. has this to say regarding It:
"Tha contract Int ttro ha
lative Record for the next two sessions
has been awarded to the same party
who had 1t the last four years. AS the
price will be lower than before the
work is likely to be also worse, pro-
vided that be possible. which is doubt
ed. Parties who have had this con-
tract heretofore and failed to comply
with its requirements should have been
ruled out of the competition. But the
officials who award state contracts are
not in the habit of doing business that
way"
Passing by this wilkesbarre editors
criticism of the character Of the work
done on the Legislative Record, though
it is even more than justified, 1t is
worthy Of remark that. though from
1885 to 1891 the contract price fell from
1856 to $3.50 per page, the cost of the
reporting and printing kept constantly
increasing. The lower the price the
higher the cost. In 1893 and 1895 there
was small drop in the cost. but not at
all in proportion to the drop in the
contract price, but in 1897, by force of
the successful padding already de-
tailed, II went up again.
II there is an office in connection with
the state government which ,pdor
Republican machine rule. does not in
volve theft or criminal profligacy, the
fact has not yet been made apparent.