The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1912-06-14
To Taxpayers and Business Men

The fight against the alleged
printers trust" says City Controll-
refusing to accept an original bid
of $4,000 presented by eight firms,
Mr.. Meads readvertised and has OBJ
tanned. five bids all under the
trust" prices. They range from
S ss1vie0 June ao 4 ssS''00'-Tae0ma Daily
City Controller ]. F. Meads has
been devoting considerable space
in the daily papers during the past
Few weeks to public discussion
of bids he has received for print
ing his annual report as controller,
and incidentally to an effort to
prove that the reputable printers of
Tacoma have entered into a conspir-
acy to compel him Cor. rather, the
CITY to pay more for this work
in his ambition to share Lyman j.
Cages fame as a watchdog of the
treasury, loses sight of the fact
that his efforts may fail of thor
ough appreciation by the public at
and spirit of fair dealing, and
the printers who have thus far
borne in silence Mr.. Meads' public
rebuke in his ill-advised play to
the gallery" have concluded that
an exalted source should no longer
go uncorrected, and take this means
of making their position clear to
not only Mr.. Meads, but also to tax
are interested in the controllers
official acts.
In his latest printed appeal for
public approval as particularly
watchful watchdog, Mr.. Meads says
he has received an estimate as low
as $4,000 for the same work for
which, as he asserts, eight (three in
reality, but there isn't much differ
ence between three and eight when
you want to make a point) other
first call for bids, $500. 90, and this
$4,000 bid was not only too high"
but he complains further that he
wanted a diversity Of figures. II
another of s425.O0 and a third of
$4,000. no doubt the lowest bidder
would have been awarded the con-
tract and no questions asked, as
Mr.. Meads, despite his presumption,
is no better qualified to assert the
bid of $4,000 is too high than he
would be to declare a bid of $1,000
too low, his experience with print
Ing thus far having been confined
to the purchase of it, with no means
but the fact that three men who
have devoted years to the study of
the cost of manufacturing printed
matter fix on certain price as the
Naiuc VI given piece VI pFlntlnS Z
and offer to produce 1t at that price
does not convey any idea to Mr..
Meads that these three men-either
singly or collectively-have arrived
at the correct price and are making
conscientious effort to give him
the benefit of their experience and
treat him as fairly as they would
expect him to deal with them-not
by any means; the fact that the
three bids are the same smacks OF
collusion, and collision means
fraud.
Mr.. Meads is at present making
q desperate effort to ''save his face
following his impulsive and ill-ad-
vised public "holler" after opening
his first bids. He was given an es-
innate of $4,000 for 800 books OF
100 pages each, which price he de-
clared too Hight then in order to get
q lower figure and thus justify his
claim of special ability to estimate
printing, he asked for new bids
but this time on n book of so pages
on which the low bid was $4,000.
5.t Now. in order to understand the
situation thoroughly let us analyze
the two bids: 100 pages at $500. 90
equals $500 per page; so pages at
t340 equals $4.25 per page-a ma