The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-04-10
Commissioners 30 Grand Esy.

DOUBTLESS during the past Two months
YOU have read in one Of the county pa
pers, namely, The Farmer, articles and
Statements which were intended to cast
aspers:oDs upon our private characters
and bring our official administration in
the Office of County Supervisor and
County Commissioners into public dis
repute. You have doubtless read where
we have been charged with entering
into political conspiracies for the pur-
pose OF misappropriating public funds,
and OF extravaganza in Office, especially
in the matter of awarding the public
printing Now it is unpleasant for US.
in the discharge OF our duty in the
Office shove mentioned, endeavoriug TO
do so faithfully and for the best inter
ests of the people of the county, tc have
such gross and uufounded charges pub
lished against US, and our official man.
agement of our Office thus impugned.
In all of our actions as commissioners
we have endeavored to work for the
public welfare, and realize that we are
always amenable to the people. through
you as their public guardians, wheneve:
we violate the law. 1t is therefore to
you that we desire to make some eNpla-
nations concerning the awarding OF the
public printing.
At the first meeting of the Board
after the appointment of the new mem
bers every two years, usually held in
January, several matters come up 10 be
acted upon, among them the awarding
Of the county printing. At the first
regular meeting in January of this year
the old printing contract had expired,
and the matter had to be acted upon
anew. Under the law providing for the
payment of public printing according
to the newspaper space occupied, the
printing required by law to be done by
the various Offices in the county, except
the Sheriffs' and Probate Judges print
ing, which is usually paid for by indi-
vidualS, would amount to anywhere
from three hundred and fifty to four
hundred and fifty dollars in each year.
Two years ago the then existing Board
of County Commissioners, in order to
obviate trouble of continually counting
words and measuring space every time
notice of any kind was published by
one of the county officers, made con-
tract with Mr.. Louis Appelt, proprietor
of The MANNING TINES, to do all Of
the county printing for the sum of two
hundred and twenty five dollars per
year. The law did not then require
that the quarterly report of the Super
visor's Office be published, as is now the
case. The MANNING TINES agreed to
publish everything required by law to
be printed. This was done two years
ago, when the county was in debt, and
it was necessary to exercise the most
rigid economy, the said price being fix
ed by the then existing County Board.
This was the contract which the Board
has had with Mr.. Applet for the past
two years, and that was the price which
has been paid, Notwithstanding the
contract was made at time when there
was only one newspaper in the county
and its proprietor could have refused
to do the work except for the figures
which the law would bave allowed him
to demand. These were the reasons
which prompted the Board to make
that Jumping contract two years ago.
At the first regular meeting OF the
new Board, held il January OF this
year, the same matter OF awarding pub
lie printing came up. The Board had
not called for bids. They are not re-
ouired to do so. A bid was presented.
however, by E. J. Browne, on behalf of
The Farmer, paper published at Man
ming, suggesting to the Board that they
divide the printing between the two
papers for $3.50 each, and in case the
c commissioners did not adopt this sug-
gestion, they award the printing to The
Farmer for the sum of $4,000, it prom
ising to do the work alone. Our Board
has never had proposition by anybody
to do the work whereby it would only
cost the county S112.5G, as has been
published in The Farmer, and that
statement is absolutely incorrect. In
regard to the first proposition by The
Farmer We could not adopt it because
we had no power to make The NAN
MING TINES accept the work at those
figures, and We were aware that it had
been doing the work for the past two
years, under a special contract, for less
than the Board could have been re-
ouired to pay had they not made the
contract with its proprietor. N re-
gard to the second proposition, we did
not accept it for several reasons.
First we felt that the Board lad al
ready been getting the work done at
low rate. Next we considered TIE
MANNING TINES, an esta blished paper,
which has been doing about all of the
county printing for a number of years:
that it was well equipped to 10 the
work, and that whenever the people
are looking for an official advertisement
of any kind they are and have been,
accustomed to finding it in the columns
of that paper, We also thought that
the paper had been doing the printing
satisfactorily, and as long as we were
getting it at reasonable price we
could see no reason for making a change
unless we thought we would improve
the service, and this we did not believe.
In regard to The Manning Farmer we
had no satisfactory assurance that it
was well established paper, circula-
ting among large majority 81 the
reading public, as it is we'll known
fact that it has been hard matter for
two newspapers to Subsist here, and
The Farmer itself has changed hands
several times since it began publication
more than a year ago.
Should the printing have been awarded
to that paper and it perchance should
60 the way that other papers here have
gone, the County Commissioners would
then have been at the mercy of The
MANNING TINES to charge every cent
that the law allowed, and that paper
would be excusable for SO doing. We
therefore regarded the severe criti-
cisms upon US by The Farmer as being
nothing uncommon, but the same CRY
that is usually heard by the people in
every county from those newspapers
which are striving, for notoriety and
endeavoring to magnify everything
they can which might be used in Great
ing dissatisfaction among the public, or
fighting an opposing newspaper. We
have had no desire to encourage local
fights among newspapers, but upon
what we considered good business prin-
ciples we have endeavored to act for
the best interest of the public, and We