The Grit-advocate., 1904-04-15
STATE CAPITAL NOTES
Money Saved on State Printing.

Commissioner of Printing W. A.
Plat has made report to Governor
Peabody, covering the first quarter OF
the current year.
The report demonstrates the wisdom
Of the last Legislature In putting one
man In charge Of the state printing.
Previous tO the last session which Gre
ated the Office of the State Commls-
sioner OF Printing the matter OF
making contracts for printing had been
placed IL the hands Of clerk In the
Secretary of States office: but as .
matter OF fact the various departments
did their own contracting.
The report states that during the
,, year just ended the total expenses TOR
printing have been $2O,644.59. The
books Of The department show that the
expenditures for the previous year,
1902. wss s52, ,lS4.43, more than two
and he. tines as much. The reduc-
ton was ?, 'ue to the smaller
amount OF cred by the de-
partment '1y to the
smaller p M n... ,g A
| careful estimate At
ing for the last yea, he ra paid
during the previous year would have
raised the amount from s2O,644.5o to
| $37,700. In other words there has
| been a total saving of $31 500 during
| the new administration, $14,5OO OF II
due to the smaller amounts ordered by
the departments, and $4,000 leakage
on price paid during the previous
year.
The total cost Of printing for the bi'
| ipu tho 1901
| and 1902, was about $l30,000. The to.
tai cost for the present biennial period,
as nearly as can be estimated at the
present time, will be about s6O.o0O.
considerably less than half the former
cost A portion of Mr.. Platts report
reads as follows:
| "If Tho amount paid for printing OF
House and Senate Journals, Session
Laws, etc, be taken from the totals
for the Two years under comparison,
the difference is even more striking. In
the year April, 1901-02 the cost OF
printing, aside from those items, was
more than $4,000; in the year April
10000 it is less than $l3,5OO--jnst
about onethird.
The excessive prices paid in pre-
vious years for printing were largely
due to the fact that so many articles
OF quite common use were not speci
fed in the contract. In some OF thest
cases. l have been able to bring then
under IT, present contract without un
duly stretching its provisions, ana II
cases y-hgre articles ordered |cr
clearly not within the contract, hay
obtained bids and let the contract t
the lowest bidder. In former years
was a general practice to order letter
heads, blanks, circulars and the Ike
on higher grade of paper than wa
specified in the contract, thus running
up bills for extras There is a genera
disposition in all the departments nov
to avoid these extras and to keep dow
the cost of printing as low as possible
When the new contracts are let, mex
fall, | shall see to it that they ar
made as specific as possible, and tina
all articles of common use ar
brought within their terms.
while most of the excessive price
paid in former years were on accoun
of defects in the contract, some o
them appear to have been clearly Il
violation of its provisions. | am no
able to find any instance OF a blank
record book which was paid for at tn
rate named. The contract price TO
such books was 81 per quire, and mos
Of the books, If paid for on this basis
should have cost S. each. AS a mai
ter of record, they did cost all tn
way from $22 to $50 The averag
price Of an ordinary book was abou
S35 Now it is $12."