The Arizona sentinel., 1906-03-14
The Public Printing.

C. V. Meeden, cnalrman or Jnc Doaiu of Supervisors-and all this because he favors the Sentinel in the matter of county publishing and advertising.
 The Sun has also, incidentally, used some of it's valuable space in uncompli- mentary mention of the editor and own- CT of the Sentiuel-but for the present, let that pass.
 It seems hardly necessary to say any thing in defense of Captain Meeden, whose extensive and honorable service as a public officer of Yuma county is so we'll known. For thirty-five years he has been a citizen of Yuma and in that period has served the. people four or five terms as supervisor. His record is as an open book and absolutely un- assailable It may be said here that the Suns abuse of Captain Meeden can do him no harm, thohgh its misrcpre- senting his position on the county printing question may lead a few peo- ple to wrong conclusions regarding the matter. The chairman of the Board is right in his position and is backed by the law which governs the Board in the letting of contracts for county pub fishing and advertising, Section 979 of which reads as follows:
 ''The contract shall be made with the best responsible bidder: and to him shall be given thereafter during the existence Of the contract all advertis- ing and publications and printing or dered made by the Board of Supervis- ors upon the terms and conditions Of the contract
 As matter of fact, the Sun has dem onstrated within the past two years is demonstrating at the present time that it has not the capacity to handle the county publishing, and is therefore an irresponsible bidder for further con- tracts.
 Captain Meeden and the Board take the common sense ground that the Su- peryisors' proceedings should be kept up to date, or reasonably near it, which the Sun has failed, miserably, to do. That paper has had the contract for the past two years and much of the time has been delinquent three months or more with the minutes of the Board, as the files will show. As an example, in the Sun of September. 8, 1905, were published the minutes of July l9 to 23. On October they were nearly up to date. Proceedings of October 3, 9, 10, 16 and IS were printed November Sd and 10th. Then followed lapse. Pro- ceedings of October 19, 26 and Novem- Der l, were not published until January 5, 1906.
 Proceedings of November ? to De- cember 19 were published February l6, ] more than three months delinquent. February 23rd proceedings for Decem- Der were finished and those for January commenced. The last issue of the Sun, March Q. contained the proceedings up to and including February 3-more than a month behind as to date, and with the unusual accumulations owing to the proceedings bearing upon the back tax suits, more than three months behind according to the rate the Sun has heretofore moved at"
 It is we'll enough to explain here briefly the importance of the prompt publishing of the minutes of the Board, especially as relates to legitimate claims or accounts against the county, for which due bills are often given. When warrants are to be issued in lieu of these claims it is only through this medium that the average claimant may learn that such warrants are to be paid out The treasurer notifies the Board that moneys for certain funds are on hand and ready to be paid out. bills will be taken up and warrants fs- sued in lieu thereof is embodied in the proceedings of the Board, and if promptly published gives claim holders d chance to get the full cash value ot their due bills; if publication is delayed advantage may be and is taken by spectators who keep posted as to such proceedings, buy up the claims at a discount and reap profits at the expense of the claim holders. All proceedings
 of the Board are of more or less impor- tance to property holders and taxpay- CTS and ought to be published before it
 becomes A'ancient history at least. In 1904, when the Sentinel had this
 contract last, we were required by the Board to keep the publication of min utes up to within at least thirty days and very seldom indeed did the delin. quency reach that limit.
 The present chairman of the board knows that the Sentinel proprietor is 7 responsible and will fulfill any contract
 that he may make. Has he the same
 knowledge as to the Sun and it's man
 agement, considering past events tha are matter of record?
 Perhaps if the Suns editor and man 5 ager HAD SHOWN AS MUCH ZEAI \ IN KEEPING UP WITH TEE SU l PERVISORS' PROCEEDINGS AS ht X DID IN RUSHING THE PRINTING 7 OF THE TAX SUITS SUMMONS
 he would stand in little better ligh
 in his present Gotf-save-the-dear-peoplt
 attitude on the county printing ques n tion.