Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-30


said to a News" representative:
1--WE have avoided any controversy
thus far, but now that the matter has
been made public, we will say that the
delay is not our fault. but that 1t rests
with the members of the code COM
mission who have imposed such nu-
merous and endless changes, both in
copy and i'm proof. that II was impos-
sible to execute the work on time. We
have protested, but the alterations
have gone on and are stu going on
daily, the commission claiming that the
state reserved the right to make ali
such changes. AS many as six changes
have been made before we finally go
to the press. We have presented bills
for the expense caused by these delays.
that have only Eeen partly paid l
think we have a claim against the
state which 1t little realizes. as we
have taken constant legal advice. UP
to the present time we have over l,2O0
pages printed, and hope to be out in
about II days, but there are 300 pages
of index, the copy for which has not
yet been furnished by the commission"
The legislature, In authori2inS ihc
revision of the laws, appropriated So
600 for the expenses of the commits
sion, and limited the salary of thg
members, James r. Hammond and
their salary ended then, they are au-
thorized to pay clerical work beyond
that date, and II is under clerical di-
rection that the revision Is now going
on. How long this will last, no one
seems to know. Attorneys, judges
and others, who had expected to have
"A full year in which TO pass on the
compilation of the state laws, before
the next legislature met. and amend
ed the laws again, are extremely dis
satisfied over the delay, and say that il
will considerably affect the value Of the
revision.
The fulfilment of the SHELTON com
pany's contract is guaranteed by the
American Surety company, on a mono
of 10000, so that the state Is in
position to have its rights protected.
WHAT COMPETITORS SAY.
The printing houses whose bid for
printing and binding the revised stat
utes was found too high at the time
the contract was let TO the Skelton
company, were the Tribune Reporter
company, the Century Printing com
pany, and the Deseret News. Repre-
sentatives of these firms when seen
Yesterday were inclined to view the
matter with mingled evaporation ana
amusement. one of them said
when this contract was awarded
the SkGltOn company DIS lliS i'hr'N
bidder, we had only one word to say
TO the public. and that was; Wait
We informed the state board of eN-
aminers at the time we made our bid
in July last, that no house in Utah
could alone undertake a work of this
magnitude, and deliver the first 1000
copies completed on Jan. l. which was
the date insisted on Furthermore, we
said that if any one house attempted
xarntIlH ha tnFinpr gpri0ng nnHn-
DIAL risk. For these reasons we made
a bid Jointly and had arranged to add
to our equipment. and If necessary to
run a night shift as we'll as a day
shift to turn out the work strictly
on time This could only have been
done at an enormous expense, as the
night scale of wages is much heavier
than the day scale. but our bid was
refused and we retired from the field
with good grace, simply warning the
secretary of state and the other MEM
bers of the examining committee, that
we would expect to see the conditions
of the contract strictly enforced. In
justice to ourselves and to the public.
We understand that neither the board
of examiners, nor the code commission
has any legal right to give an extern
sion of the contract. so that there can
be no doubt that the SHELTON company
Is running every day under the pen
atty provided I'm case of n failure"
1t is currently reported that mem
bers of the last legislature, who voted
for the creation OF the commission to
revise the laws and for the amount
limiting the expense. are instituting an
inquiry as to the legality Of payments
made to date, and especially as To the
extras allowed the Sketon company.
There Is even talk of an injunction
against the board OF examiners, prohib-
iting them from paying for any item
not strictly provided for in the con-
tract.