The record-union., 1898-11-25
SEVERE BLOW TO THE STATE.
LACK OF SOCIAL AND ECO
NOMTC DATA AN EVIL.
Closing OF the State Printing Of
Rce an Inconvenience and FL
nancia1 Loss

It Is clearly evident to any person
who will stop to think for five minutes
mat the closing of the State Print
Ing Office was in every aspect a serious
biunder-hnancially, educationally, MS
torically and with reference to the con-
venience and needs of legislators.
1t is the conservative opinion OF all
State officers that the reports that have
been so awkwardly delayed by the ae-
tion of Governor Budd must be print
ed, though this will be out OF time,
and at great extra expense. If they
are not printed there VIII be a hiatus
in the reports of the State, a lapsus In
its economic history. This Will not
only inconvenience all who are inter
ested in these matters in this state,
but 1t viii be a source of chagrin when
we come to explain why we cannot
make the customary exchanges with
other States that have all these years
furnished us their own reports.
Though the subject may not interest
everybody, there are certainly enough
elements of general interest in it to
warrant an analysis Of the chief evils
that the delay in the publication Of
the reports has caused.
When the Legislature meets it will
want certain accurate data relative to
the conduct of State officers and the
business of certain. departments of the
State government. Heretofore thou
sands of invaluable facts have appear
ed on time, in duly tabulated and sue
cinct form. How win it be with the
coming Legislature? If information is
asked, it cannot be found, save in one
typewriter report, which will probably
be filed with the Governor, if, indeed,
it is not in the hands of some one else
at the time it is needed. Now the tab
ulated reports that are of most value
are of a shape and character that ap-
peal most powerfully to the eye, rather
than to the ear, when read in the dron-
ing tones of some monotonouS clerk;
for the chief tables are comparative,
and of a character that the student
needs for careful reference. Here will
be one of the great evils Of the sys-
tenn instituted on the pretended basis
of economy.
Two weeks ago the Record Union"
asked the State Printer fol an esti-
mate of the amount of work that is to
be DONE and asked also for an estimate
of the overtime and the extra cost that
the delay in printing matters out of
their turn would cost the State
Though the foreman and others have
been figuring on the matter at their
leisure ever since, it has not yet been
possible for them to give a sufficient
answer. If there is this much delay
in arriving at SO simple a proposition,
it is easy to see that there will be
greater delays when some of the more
important things are desired by the
legislators. 1t is evident from this that
there is great mixture of affairs in
all the departments. The estimate ask
ed for involved a knowledge of the
number of thousands of words in all
the reports and a. calculation as to the
time it would require to reduce the
facts and figures to type.
In rough outlines, there are seventy
volumes of reports to be printed, all of
which are of great value to students of
economics, to legislators, to editors,
and TO others in the State and out of
it. and to thoughtful citizens who inter-
est themselves in State statistics These
reports are by persons who have han
died moneys or administered affairs
VI ave " Tile p0ODtc. 1116
volumes run from % to 700 pages,
though it would be a most conservative
estimate to say that the seventy will
make at least 10000 pages. This work
has usually been printed and delivered
long before the legislative work got
under way, and upon it very much of
wise legislation depends. 1t is said at
the office of the Superintendent of State
Printing that it would be impossible
for the office to handle the matter in
connection with the regular legislative
work without extraordinary expendi-
ture and enlargement of forces. The
delays Will be long, and if it should be
attempted to catch up with the work
by hiring extra help and running the
office over time, or running it night and
day, the expense would be enormous, as
the law in no manner authorizes that
such work should be given out to other
offices.
Speaking of the subject a few days
ago, Mr.. Johnston said: 'It is evident
that Governor Budd is a false alarm in
the proposition of trying to save. He
: has already had some things printed
from another fund, and charged them
up as if he had bought the printing
already done, as books on the shelf
There is a humbug and an extra ex-
penditure in all this. 1t has cost all
the school districts and other officers
of the State a great deal more money
to buy their printing on the outside
than it would have cost to get the
blanks that are furnished here when
we are running"
A casual investigation will show that
many of the reports that have been
delayed in the printing are of the most
significant character those of the
normal schools. of the five insane
asylums, of the Controller, of the
Board of Equalization, of the Code
Commissioners of the Adjutant Gen
eral. and of dozens in the list, though
all may be of great value at the least
expected moment.
Tt is known to all persons who have
ever had occasion to make careful
study of questions pertaining to the
administration of governments that the
greatest evils imaginable come from