The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-01-21
OFFICIAL .P'RIiN| TIN C

publishers. The. intent of the law
makers was to give the widest pub
Lefty possible to all official notifica-
hons or statements required to be
For that reason county
commissioners, for instance, are
given wide latitude in letting contracts
for county printing, and rightly so.
No good business man would waste
his money in advertising his wares in
a smouchy, disreputable sheet with
a couple of hundred subscribers, when
at little more expense he could make
use of the columns of an old estab-
lished reputable newspaper that num-
bers it's readers by the thousand. It
is a plain business proposition.
In awarding county printing the COM
are required by law to take
into consideration the character and
of newspaper-has the
newspaper the facilities for doing the
work promptly and in a workmanlike
manner. OF what benefit to the public
would be the publication of the pro-
ceedings of a board of county commits
sioners IN an obscure paper two or
three weeks after the meeting was held?
Scores of people might be interested
in hearing on road or ditch petit
ton, and unless notified by letter or
word of mouth they would have no
means of knowing the time and place
of such hearing until after it's occur
renee. If the proceedings are pub
lished promptly in newspaper of
general circulation, as a matter of
more people are bound to see
and read the notice given. And so it
is with all classes of official printing.
A maximum rate is fixed by law which
is a sufficient safeguard against over
charging on the part of the publisher,
but the rate is none too high for a rep
utable newspaper that employs COM
petent workmen and is equipped. with
the necessary material and machinery
to handle county work. i.
1T would be an outrage to bury de-
linquent tax list in an obscure paper
Of limited circulation. The publica-
ton Of such a list is a notice to all
who have not paid their real estate
taxes that their land will be sold
unless redeemed before such time.
Then, again, a single typographical
error might invalidate the entire list,
and such things have, happened, but
not in Mile Laos county.
For these and other reasons the
statute provides that county commits
sioners are not obliged to accept the
lowest bid for printing the delinquent
tax list. but leaves it to their discre-
ton to. select a newspaper that will
publish the list correctly and give it
the widest publicity-we quote the
exact language of the statute: "The
board may reject any offer, if, in its
the public interest so re-
quire, and may thereupon designate
a paper without regard to any re-
jected Offer" Another section pro-
vides that, Immediately after prepar-
ing his forms for printing such notice
and list, and at least FIVE days before
the first day for the publication there
of, every such publisher shall furnish
proof of the proposed publication
for correction. When such copy has
been corrected by the auditor, he shall
return the same to the printer, who
shall publish it as corrected" A
publisher who could not do the work
in his own office might have trouble in
getting out the FIRST publication on
Time and it is vitality essential to the
legality of the list that it shall appear
within the limited time set by law.
With reference to the publication of
proceedings of the county commits
sioners the statute reads: 1.-The board
may reject any offer, if. in it's judg-
ment, the public interests so require,
and may thereupon designate paper
without regard to any rejected offer. :"
If bids we're put in by two or more
papers of the same standing and cir
culation there would be no justifca-
ton for the county commissioners
accepting any but the lowest tender.
But board that would award impor-
tant official printing to a parasitical,
obscure paper at any price would be
grossly derelict in it's duty to the pub
lie, for such publication would be a
farce, and the members of such a
board would deserve to receive jthe
severest condemnation. ,2.ss
, Anent the letting of the county
printing we are informed - that
the alleged editor Of an al.
legged newspaper has asserted that
the publisher of tie U n i o n was per-
mittedsto nut in two bids. Truth and