Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-26
n~ MA7-~
MuRPHY,s STATEMENT.

Edltor MafShalltoWn T1meS- RepuDll-
can: Attached herewith under the
heading Some Specific EXtrava gance.'
is an editorial from your paper, which
Is so misleading in it's character, and
as 1t involves me personally, /
feel constrained to reply to 1t. What
you undertake to say involves some
official duty on the part of the execu-
tive council or some other state Off
Gals, and / thought 1t strange that an
executive council composed of such
men as Governor "A. B. Cummins, Sec
rotary of State w. C. Hayward Aud
itor Of State, B. f. Carroll, and Treas
urer of State w. w. Morrow, would
commit an illegal act involving the
destruction Of surplusage or useless
public documents, whether they were
law books or minor public documents.
SO wrote to the secretary of the ex-
ecutive council for an explanation Of
the Times-Republican editorial. whose
answer, which explains the whole mat
ter, ! herewith attach. 1T eXonerates
not only the executive council which
thought it would, but also Mr.. Trew-
in member OF the code commission,
and myself as state printer. 1t hardly
seems possible that you had an Interior
motive in connecting Mr. Trewin and
myself with the matter. and yet one
can hardly read the editorial without
the thought that there was mischief in
tended for the reason that when you
said: 1.-The men guilty of this piece of
extravaganza are now lending aid to
the charge Of depleted treasury
II Trnu,ir than a uY1aOpher of
the Legislature, was the author of the
bill undera which the code supplement
was printed, and was chairman of the
commission which compiled it. TreWin
Is now a candidate for congress from
the Fifth district. Bernard Murphy,
OF Vinton, close friend of Trewin, was
public printer at the time, and pre-
sumably received the profits, along
with Howard Tedford, then state bind
er. Mr. Murphy is a candidate for lieu
tenant governor."
What would your readers think on
reading such a statement made in all
seriousness and on the editorial page
Of your paper. They would think, of
course, that Trewin and Murphy had
been engaged in a game of grab from
the state treasury. Mr.. Dawson ex-
plains in his letter that the job was
not given to Mr.. Murphy as state
printer, but under competitive bids,
and it also shows you that the print
ing, including the electrotypes, was
.2545 per book. Mr.. Murphy's exact
price was % cents. We wish to say
here that the price given by Mr.. Muir
phy was based on the state price of 43
fn, ncS-
ton and the state price for press work.
We gave the price open to the code
commission and Mr. Claude Porter
member Of the commission, asked US
if we objected il the commission could
get a lower price and we told him
we had no objection. He and Jud Wei
liver tried to get lower bid and did
not come within 80 1-3 per cent of the
state price.
"The public printer charged about
what he could, looked innocent and
.pocketed the proceeds" That don't
sound nice, does it? and yet it is in the
above quoted editorial. The fact9is the
public printer" could not make any
charge. The statutes fix every price
and the whole work is measured by the
secretary of state. We believe that Sec
rotary of State Martin, who was sec
rotary Of state during the whole time
Mr. Murphy held office, followed the
law closely, and that no newspaper can
i1npugn any of his work.
This is submitted to you for your
consideration with the expectancy that
it will appear as prominently in your
paper as did the editorial. 1t is only
short time until the primary election
and it may be in time to correct any
false impression made by the editorial
/ do not think you would Intentionally
injure either Mr.. Trewin or myself
Respectfully submitted,
B. MURPHY.