The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-01
PRINTER AMENDMENT.
Is There a Conspiracy in Topeka to
Defeat 1t?

4 fight has been started in certain
quarters on the constitutional amend
ment which provides for the election of
the state printer by the people instead
OF py the legislature. The Topeka
Capital is leading the fight, and the
Hutchinson News and other papers
claim it is for selfish reasons
me amendment was submitted be-
cause the friends of E. w. Hoch
thought he had not been treated fairly
IN the legislature. They claimed that
the will of the people had been thwart-
ed IN his defeat for state printer and
that If the election had been by the
people instead of by the legislature,
Hoch would have been elected.
me constitution provides that the
state printer shall be elected by the
legislature, and an amendment to the
constitution is necessary to change the
plan, so this amendment was sub
mitted.
The idea advocated by those who
are nShtinS the amendment is that an
otner amendment should be submit
ted doing away with the office of state
printer and providing for letting the
STATE printing out to the lowest bidder
ms would require another two years
A proposition which many DeODIa
believe TO be the best vet devised is 70
build another story or two on the stale
heating plant and use that for the
states printing Office, the state to own
Its own plant and the state printer To
on salary 1t is pointed out that this
plan would be very economical, as the
state already has in the heating Dlant
all that is necessary to furnish the
power, so that all the investment that
would be necessary would be enough
TO put the two additional stories on the
heating plant and the few thousand
itself
The Hutchinson News replies to the
attack of the Capital on the proposed
amendment as follows:
The Topeka Capital came out Sun
day against the proposed amendment
to the constitution which would make
the state printer elective by the peo-
pie. This attack on the amendment
at such late date. when for nearly
two years there had been general
acquiescence in the propriety of the
amendment is of course prompted by
selfish motives. There can be no OBJ
lection TO changing the method of
election from the legislature to the
people The election of q. state printer
has always consumed a lot of time in
the legislature which ought to have
been spent and would otherwise have
been used in the service of the state.
The amendment ought to carry. if for
no other reason, to relieve the legisla-
ture of the political fight that always
takes time And we think the people
can be trusted to elect as we'll as their
representatives.
1.-The selfish end of the Capitals po-
sition comes in the fact that the To-
peka job printing houses want the
printing let by contract, a method that
would be more expensive than the
present The Topeka houses are in d
combination on prices-and if the
state printing should be turned over to
them the state would be out cash and
no country printer would have a
chance The Capital and the Mail
and Breeze job office, under one man
agement. are after the job. But that
viii be another story. for the proposed
amendment would not interfere with
the contract system or the state print
ing plant theory, as it only makes the
office elective by the people. 1t ought
to be adopted and the attack on the
amendment at this late date is hardly
fair