The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1912-07-20

AT ii. Irgu,tT meeting 81 tn
Police Jury, held on the OH OF
this month. the Parish printing
was awarded 10 nnT "s'"rmcA
contemporary, the Weekly Enter
nrjar. on The bid of I'LL Wnp' rtnr,
nhu agrees 10 do III. publishing
81 tho Police Jury proceedings ~
| the rate of go cents per 100
words ~, each issua.e ~ against
the hld Of the lhr,la", which
agreed TO do tie same work Tor
80 pc, year
when words take unto them
selves The value OF OF y cent
each, HaIk IL (noD cheap, aud It
bchooves the secretary to study
tcrsen,ss in the interest Of public
economy.
Asto what constitutes 4 "w"rh,
which il 10 involve 4 public ~
prnse ot | cent each, We ~" not
fully advised We Do not know
that the law has defined definitely,
81 determined what shall constr
lntr wo,d, notwithstanding the
fact that the term "wOTh' il nscn
hy the law to measure the public
printer compensation tor u ser>
ice rendered. The telegraph com
panies, which employ tn" word
measure, IN part, to determine
their compensation for the trans
mission ot kilograms, have estah
ishei standard, which ia "i
force ~ far ~ kilograms are con
cerned.
70 make clear 4 standard OF
counting words" We quote from
the Police Jnry's last minutes, ~
fulluws:
"a warrant favor Assessor #.
| y. Mestayrr, in The sum Of One
Hundred $500 oO) Dollars, made
payable Jan lat, 1913
Counted tor transmission as y
telegram the above quotation
would he charged for ~ contain
ing 81 words. While each digit
IN the above numerals IN counted
az cone wo,d,' the same author
ties cited declare "Nrw Iberia to
tie one word. Their reasons are
forceful. f the figures in Paren
thesis above were written out il
words to express their meaning az
they stand, the expression would
read something like this:
zone hundred dollars and no
cents
This written expression would
be counted az six words,
while the parenthesis and their
content would bc counted as s
words SO the telegraph compa-
Mes count-what does the law
contemplate?
Again Had the SECRETARY used
the following language to express
the action Of the Jury, be would
have been no less clear in mean
ing:
warrant, favor Assessor, for
one hundred dollars, payable Jan.
nary l, 1913.
This would count no: above ID
wOrds-Iess than half the number
employed in the quotation and
would entitle the secretary to en-
rollment az u political economist.
Beginning the count of the
words employed in the "Ohicial
Minutes Of the Police jury" as
! last published, it will be found
that the first 800 words occupy 9
inches Of space down the column.
From this, we nse the average Of
100 words TO ; inches Of space, 10
determine the number Of words in
the whole Of the minutes, which
uses G6 inches Of space. Add to
this ) inches more, occupied by a
notice Of the secretary appearing
in another column. This gives 60
inches, or 23 hundred words,
which, at Doc per hundred, will
cost the parish IS Is. The he
rian offered to do thus same work
at cost not to exceed 500.
The figures for the years printing
may prove as interesting to the
public.
The Iberian disclaims any feel
ing Of bitterness in this matter
whatever. Attention ia called ia
these facts purely from q public
interest standpoint. coupled with
the generally circulated hope tina,
this Police Jury would establish a
new precedent, that Of making
every dollar Of the public treasure
buy as much az would the dollar
OF a private individual. The unit
Of measure in this inst ance il the
,;nblic's interest in their dollars
paid an taxes. If the Police Jury
makes this act a standard, it will
crown itself with no glory no,
common to it's predecessors.
Before the season is over doubt
less il will be referred to az the
Moosevelt party.