Amador ledger., 1908-04-10
THE PRINTING RATES.

For the first time during the eleven the board OF
supervisors of this county the regular meeting this week
undertook thorough revision of the schedule of county
printing For years the Ledger has been urging the
necessity for such action pointing out the and garng
defects in the old rates. through which the county has been
vctmized and which in several instances ambiguous
and capable of double interpretation At the March meet
ing of the board the of action to be pursued in arv
ing the for each item of printing definitely de-
cded upon namely that each printer should be furnished
by the clerk with list of printing required by the various
officers he fill after each item the price for which he
would be willing do such work From the lists fur
nsed the board would select the lowest price given each
separate tem and establish that the rate for that parcu
lar article Without understanding of this the
filing of the lists would have been meaningless farce
and far the Ledger concerned it plainly nt
aed that would be useless take any part therein unless
rule of this kind adopted We anticipated that
efforts would be made prevent this policy from being
carried the interest of party politics. and in this we
mistaken Before the board met and during the
session of the board influences were brought to bear to
supervisors from the path mapped adopt the low
est items and the higher Others sim
ply bolster the democratic organ through the county
treasury. The sheriff and the county clerk took hand in
the discussion against of the figures submitted by the
Ledger but protest raised solitary item sub
med by the Dispatch But the scheme transparent
deceive any and the board refused to bulge
from it's previously announced determination accept the
lowest price in every instance And this they did far as
Ledger office the lowest with few unimporan excep
TONS and therefore controlled the establishment of rates.
side isolated exceptions This is the first genuine
in the direction of protecting the taxpayers against
ortionae printing charges that has been made for years
The saved the county by the revised schedule will
several hundred dollars per year. On item
alone-prnting the great regserthe saving will amount
$3.50 And in has the revised list, far the
Ledger office has helped shape it, reduced the price below
fair margin of profit We do not believe that any printing
will be diverted by the schedule from the printing
office preferred by the respective county officers according
their individual political utilization. There will probably
be notable exception where fiat rate is given for
piece work that allows less than I5c per
decomposition with nothing for work stock This
where there solid ground for vigorous kick
of starvation ratesthe recognized basis charge
the United States for composition alone whether
machine hand work. ranging from SO cents to 81 per
That price, it needless say not put IN by the
Ledger but by the Dispatch, and the evident intention
to steer work from the frsnamed the astnamed Office 1t
will most assuredy have that effect We made protest
at this manifesty absurd Being the lowest admit
that it should be adopted like the rest
The advertising left unchanged, rs cents per
square for each insertion We free admit that this
much lower rate than pertains in most other counties 1t
has the here for twelve years To the Ledger be-
longs credit dscredt of keeping that this
year, the other lists giving material boost the oldme
figures. We would also have joined in for raise it
for the estoppe nterposed by local contemporary
volunteering do city advertising at that rate and there
after bidding about one-haf those i'll competition with
Ledger and going to the extent of trying shift
line for the empty honor of being city printer Under
these circumstances declined ask for either raise
ducton general county advertising but the delinquent
list cents per was knocked OFT the rs cent rate