The herald., 1898-10-31
TIME LIMIT NOW PAST
THREATS OF INJUNCTION MADE
BY THE COMBINE
THE HISTORY OF THE CASE
Some Of the Inner Facts Regarding
the Printing of Supplemental
Registers Of This County

At IL o'clock, midnight, Saturday, the
limit was reached within which, under the
state law, the supplemental registers should
have been delivered by the contractors, in
pursuance of the terms of their contract
Owing to the greatly increased order of the
supervisors, it was q physical impossibihty
Tor the, work to be completed on time. No
actual harm will result by the slight delay
rendered necessary to print and bind the
800 copies required in strict conformity
with the statutes as construed in Judge
Clark's recent decision. All will be ready
for delivery, it is said, in time for distribu-
ton to the voting precincts in ample season
for use at the election on November 8,
though not one-quarter Of those ordered will
be needed at the polls.
] THE PRINTERS PREMISES
A visit to the printing establishment of
the Pridham g. Faulkner company last
evening elected the information that all the
matter will be in type this morning, and that
delivery &f the bound volumes will begin to-
day: The entire number will have been
landed at the court house Tuesday at 5
o'clock. it is said. For the past week a
force of nearly $50 compositors has been at
work day and night, and two cylinder
presses here and two more in Pasadena,
aided in the last few days by the Web Per
fectlng press OF the Evening Express, have
been doing the press work as RAPIDLY as the
matter has been put in type. The printed
sheets have been compiled as fast as they
came from the presses, and when the last
forms are run off the entire job will be ready
for the binders
WHY SUCH STRICTNESS
Ordinarily there have been no such
strenuous demands for compliance with the
strict letter of the law in the matter of pub
lie printing as have been pressed forward
this year. 1t has been apparent that some
unusual influence was at work in the sup
posed interest of the. people, for at every
turn its effects have been observed The
Explanation of this seemingly disinterested
desire for compliance with the law has not
been far to seek. A combine existed among
half dozen or more job printing houses in
Los Angeles, from which it was hoped the
printing of the supplemental register could
be made mutually profitable. The trick
had been turned before, and there seemed
be effective. Carefully graded bids were
to be. made by the conspirators, and the one
| to whom the contract was awarded was to
| pay bonus to each of his fellows for re-
framing from actual competition and leav-
ing him free to bleed the taxpayers by
means of cinch contract
THE TRICK TURNED BEFORE
Two years ago similar scheme was
Matched. There was an advertisement pub
lished which asked for bids for printing
and binding 1900 copies of the great regis
ter: Several bids were put in BY parties
in interest, but the lowest one called for an
expenditure M en- i, of % something over 81, 600, Or
nonplussed. They knew the bid was out
rageously high, but the work must be done,
and that was the lowest price. Should
they award the contract to the bidder,
whose sole recommendation was that he was
not SO avaricious as his seeming rivals, or
oh kbax, 1,;l, o,I 81.
anew? While the matter was under con-
sideration, they. received assurances that
lower bid would be submitted if they re-
advertised, and SO this was done.
When the. second lot of bids was opened it
was found that the firm which wanted more
his. offer, down by more than $4,000, being
willing then to do the work for something
like $4,000. 1t was plain that the county
was saving money. The supervisors per-
|ceived that they would have been throwing
away at least $3000. of the public funds had
ever; even lower bid had been submitted.
It was put in by the Pridham & Faulkner
company, the same firm which has the pres
ent contract. Being by far the lowest bid,
it was accepted, and the combine was
smashed for one year. There was nothing
for the conspirators to divide, and they were
sore.
DIsGRUNTLED CONsPIRATORs
This soreness became manifest again this
year when the Pridham & Faulkner com
pany's bid again proved more favorable
than any submitted by members of the com
bine. 1t is alleged that the conspirators
had agreed to content themselves with a
bonus of $l00. each, leaving the successful
bidder to make what he could after thus
not competing. When the award was
made to the outsiders howl went up, and
the conspirators went into council to de-
termine what should be done. Quick wit
and belief that the requirements of the
law Ia b had aasr bsen n bs Il the ag
ways of embarrassing the county clerk, gu.
pervisors and successful bidder.
One of the schemes was to hold the reg
istration rolls open as long as possible, 10
as to swell the amount of work to be done
One O'Neal was found, who had sought to
register after the closing Of the rolls, ac-
cording to the usual custom, eiehty-fve days
before the general election. A writ Of man.
date was asked, in a petition over his sigma
ture, to compel the county clerk to enroll
his name as voter, it being claimed that
the law governing the enrolment in sup
Elemental registers provided that the rolls
should be held open until fifteen days be-
fore. election. Judge Allen handed down
a decision ordering the enrolment of
O'Neal, whose application had been made
sixty or more days before the date Of cleo
ton. He held, however. that the fifteen
day limit was not applicable, but that regis
trations must cease twenty-seven days be-
fore election.
EFFECT OF A DECISION
The rolls could not, therefore, be padded
out and the work Of the contractor thus
increased, under Judge Aliens ruling, as
less than twenty-seven days were left be-
fore election. Hoping to secure some other
ruling, the disaffected printers brought for
word a new man, Charles Hesse, who ap-
piled for registration next day after Judge
Aliens decision was rendered, and this be-
ing refused, petition for writ Of mandate
was brought before Judge Van Dyke for
hearing. Deputy District Attorney Holton
called the attention of the court to the fact
that the issues involved in the case had been
fully considered by Judge Allen in an opin-
ion handed down on the preceding day, and
Judge Van Dyke, thus advised, transferred
the petition to Judge Aliens department.
where it was promptly denied, being in the
exact language of that of ONeal. It was
by the printers that an appeal
would be taken from the order, as they
were confident the supreme court would
suetain their contention OF fifteen.dav
limit. But as a decision could not by anv
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