The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-09-05
In the Matter of the State Printing.

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some attention.
The press extracts printed else where
in this paper are fairly indicative of
the view Of the newspapers which have
commented at considerable length on
the award. These range all the way
from candor and reason down to gross
and vicious psrtisanship.
On the part of the printing commits
sioners this statement, mong others,
is made by the Barre Times:
1.-THE Albany N. Y company's bid for
paper was four and three-iourths cents a
pound and that of the Vermont bidders was
seven cents pound the difference In price
amounting to something over 800 on the
estimated amount Of paper to be used"
This is one of those half-truths that
are more pernicious aud misleading than
falsehood. The price of the New York
company for paper on some divisions
of the printing was d cents pound,
on another 4t cents, the specifications
requiring precisely the same grade of
paper. In another department the
Albany firms price for paper was
cents pound, an entirely dispropor-
tionate increase if the az cent paper
was what it ought to be. The price
was up or down according to the neces-
stiles of the case. But this is not the
material point. The paper required by
the commission was "No. machine
finish book paper, showing acid test"
Whatever latitude of definition this
specification may embody, the require
ment as understood by the Vermont
printers was for the best grade of ur-
calendered book paper, which they
have used in filling similar contracts in
the past and proposed to use on the
contracts in question. The paper the
Albany company proposed to use, as
shown by their sample, was much be-
low the require ments OF the specfica-
tions. 1t sustained about the same re-
lation to "No. l machine finish book
paper" as would the newspaper upon
which the JOURNAL is printed. When
this circumstance is considered, "the
difference in price amounting to some
thing over 800 on the estimated |
amount of paper used" that |
the figures are correct-is largely &C
counted for, whereas, the statement as
published by the Times conveys the
impression that the Vermont printers
were proposing to charge an extortion-
ateprice for paper. When freight, cart
age, waste, and the addition of rea-
sonable charge for the Incidental ex-
penses of maintaining printing office
and for profit are reckoned the price of
the Vermont printers, as any practical
person Will allow, was just ard fair.
In respect of the charges for other
parts Of the work-type setting, press
work and biDdiug-itis due to he Yer
mont printers to say that these were
the same as are charged for similar
work, open to general competition,
done for individuals or business houses
or corporations here or elsewhere. If
there was any exception it was in a
single instance of entirely minor i'm
portance which could have been easily
corrected. 1t is proper to state further
that these proposed charges were from
ten per cent to twenty-five per cent
lower than Massachusetts and the other
New England States pay for their pub
lie printing.
We have said that the Albany firms
price for paper was up or down accord
ing to circumstances. The same was
true OF the prices for work. On one
division plain composition was 33 cents
a thousand ems, on another 35 cents,
on another 40 cents; tabular compost
ton ranged from 45 cents to 60 cents;
press work from 20 cents to 80 cents
token on runs of substantially the same
length, and neither in the composition
nor in the press work was there any |
difference in the character of the work
that should have made any difference |
in the charges therefor. Prices were
apparently juggled to scoop the work.
The jugglery did not avail in two in
stances and there Vermont printers
got the two jobs that were rescued
from the wreck-and not, as the placid
Record of Essex Junction insnuates,
because of certain political considera-
tions. Grout offices and Dillingham;
offices, Democratic and Republican,
were bidding on parts of the work.
They understand whether or not there
was 'deal" and they, rather than the
screech. owl of the grave yard precinct,
can be trusted to proclaim the facts.
1t is proper to state further, in view
OF certain newspaper charges of
"ring" among the job printers of the
State, that no one office in the State