Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1908-02-07

The OBSERVER is often asked why i
has steadfastIy refused to bid on pub
fishing the notice of delinquent ta1
sale each year. 1t knows of no better
answer than the above paragraphs. A
similar comparison Of the manner II
which these notices are set in type, anC
how they should be set, was made by
this paper several years ago, and is
doubtless remembered by many of oul
older readers. The practice Of bidding
low rate per line and then setting
the type in such a manner as to enable
the publisher to collect twice or three
times his regular advertising rate had
long been pursued by certain news
paper men of the county, and pub
fishers who were unwilling to resort
to such methods we're practically shut
out of the competition. The self
respecting publisher would bid rate
that he knew to be fair and reasonable,
and one that would give him living
profit, but some publisher with more
elastic conscience would bid the rate
per line down to practically nothing,
and then, with the contract in his
possession, would set the type in such
way as to make the sale bring him
twice or three times as much as the
first publisher would have received on
his honest bid.
The writer we'll remembers that in
one instance he looked over the Sher-
ifs copy prior to the letting of the
contract by the County Court, and
estimated thatthe sale would be worth
about $3.50, at the regular rate charged
by all of the county papers for legal
notices where no bids were asked.
When the bids were opened for the
publication Of this notice, it was found
that one publisher had cut the rate
per line to less than one-half of his
own regular price for legal advertis
ing. At this low rate, with the type
fairly and honestly set, it would have
been impossible for this publisher to
have realized more than $3.50 for the
entire notice. But by padding it, and
juggling the type, and leaving holes
between the words that cat could have
crawled through, and the Lord knows
what other processes, he managed to
squeeze enough lines out Of it to make
1t count up to something over $500.
And a fool court allowed the bill in
full.
Time after time, the court allowed
$500 and even 5000 for these sales, and
In no instance would they have been
worth more than $3.50 or 5000, had the
publisher been held down to the style
followed by him in setting other legal
notices. 1t was when a particularly
atrocious gouge of this sort was being
perpetrated that the OBSERVER exposed
the whole scheme to the people by put
ung the notice in type as it was being
published under contract, and then
setting it up in type as it should have
been set. The expose was so plain that
II did not require a technical know
ledge of the printers art to detect at a
glance that extortion of the worst sort
was being worked on the taxpayers
under the guise of economy.
AT no time, while this game was
being worked on the court, was there
even look-in at this business for the
publisher who would not stoop to this
method, and the abuse finally grew so
nsgrant that the OBSERVER decided to
END it, if it was possible to do it.
accordingly, when Judge Sibley and
commissioner Teal came into Office,
'ne writer went before them and
Iequested that the bidding be dispensed
WIN Tor one year at least and that the
sale be given to the OBSERVER at regu-
iar advertising rates. He had never
peiore, (nor has he ever SINCE asked a
0ounty officer for a dollars worth Of
mOrA' but in this instance be did ask
=. explaining to the court at the time
,na' MS only object in doing so was to
-OieVer put at an end, if possible, the
1le'nods that had been practiced BY
oeiLain publishersin submitting ruiz
Ously low figures on the tax netioes
aou then charging three times what
,uey were worth. He also asked that
ue oe permitted to prepare the ''plans
ano Specifications" for setting the
1O'lCe IN type. that it might be entered