Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-12
RIGHT OF COUNCIL ON BIDS
Exercise of Discretionary Powers
5pt trPivot in PrfAting a.
Case

Whether or not the city council has the
right to exercise discretionary powers In
awarding the contract for official printing
was the principal point in dispute between
the lawyers Tuesday morning in the man
damus suit of The Bee Publishing COM
pany to compel the city council to deliver
the contract on the grounds that The Bee
was the only paper submitting a legitimate
bid.
The contention of Mr.. Burnam for the
city council and Mr.. Stout for the World
Publishing company was that The Bees bid
was opened at a meeting which was In fact
an adjourned meeting of the council and
not the first regular meeting in July, and
that only at the first regular meeting could
a bid properly be received.
w. ]. Connell for The Bee called atten-
ton to the fact that in the statute providing
for the receiving of bids there is no stipu-
lation that II must be a regular meeting
and that 1t was purposely omitted so that
the delay Of waiting unit the first Tuesday
In July could be avoided. Mr.. Connell de-
clared that the World-Herald had by its
own carelessness neglected to send In a
bid by S O'Clock June 30 and therefore had
no right to consideration as a bidder.
The argument of the defense In reply to
this was that the World-Herald sent in a
bid on July / and the action of the city
! clerk in refusing that bid on the ground
that il was too late was wholly without
authority and beyond his powers.
1.-THE council only may decide" said Mr..
Burnam. under what condition a bid is
legal and upon what conditions It shall be
accepted or rejected"
In refuting the contention that the grant
ing of the bids is entirely discretionary
with the council. Mr.. Cornell said:
THE city itself is in fact a competitor,
as by the express provision of the charter
a maximum is established beyond which a
legitimate bid may not go. This provides
for a standard OF comparison for the coun-
Gil and It is not necessary, therefore, for
more than one bid to be in consideration
for the council to decide whether or not
1t is a fair and just bid. This provision of
the charter requires a maximum price to
be paid for printing, entirely destroys the
discretionary powers of the council and
gives this court authority to award the
contract TO The Bee Publishing company a.
long as 1t was, being the only bidder. be-
yond doubt the best and lowest bidder"
Judge Redick took the case under al
visement until Saturday.
City Clerk Butler was put on the stand
at the opening of court Monday afternoon
for redirect examination, and was followed
by Victor Rosewater. who was called by
the plaintiff. MI. Rosewater testified TO
the fact that the width OF the columns OF
The Bee are one-half EN- wider than those
Of the World-Herald. and that in an equal
number OF lines that The Bee would con-
tain one-twenty-sixth more matter than
would the World-Herald. He also recited
briefly what occurred at a meeting OF the
council in session as a committee Of the
whole and Of the evident intention to let
the contract to the World-Herald had II
not been for the motion Of one member "a
refer the matter to the city attorney for
an opinion.
G. NJ. Hitchcock. president OF the World
Publishing company. was then called by
the defense. He stated that he drew up
and sent to the city clerk the bid Of his
company for the official printi and that
II was returned TO him In the = ,inal en-
velope, sealed. The envelope was shown
him and identified. but the witness could
not state whether he OF someone else broke
the seal, but stated positively that the bid
which was sent back to the council a week
late was identieally the same as sent &c
the clerk on July 1. Mr.. Hitchcock wal
the only witness called by the defense and
the side rested upon the introduction OF
some u as eyldend