Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1912-03-22

ION on SlganIlc Scdlei tHdl VIII
the state purse-strings loosened fol
i the payment of bills for machinery
: wages and supplies, the temptation
+ to accept crooked money" from un-
:, for fat contracts, might prove ire
/: sistible to some mercenary State
d Printer and disastrous to the taxpay-
] ers of Oregon.
e 1t was farther pointed out that the
4 salary, ($2, 500 a year, provided by
I the new law would attract none but
t inexperienced printers, or experienced
, rascals, to make the race for this i'm
, portant office-such a salary being
far less than the yearly remuneration
: tendents in the larger printing Off
ces in Portland.
} 1t was also prophesied that, with
the State Printer left free to employ
such help as he might choose, the
state office would soon be filled with
a small army of watching, po-
litical buzzards, who, being too lazy
to do an honest days work in
commercial printing office, would be
rewarded with a "sit" in the state
shop, in return for their ability to
line up the voters in their home pre-
cincts on election day.
All of these dangers were pointed
out, but the warnings fell upon deaf
ears. The experience of California,
and few other horrible examples"
with state-owned plants, had no ter
rors for the wild-eyed bunch sitting
under the Big Dome by the grace of
the "peepul of Oregon" Socialism
was rampant. POpullsm had it's in
ming. Common sense and good bust
ness had no place in the proceedings
which brought about the passage of
this new printing measure. AS the
law could but end in extravaganza,
it seemed only proper for it to begin
in extravaganza AS the taxpayers
were to be stung for all time to come
it seemed fitting that the expense ac- Z
count be opened at once. Acting
upon this theory, evidently, the lid (
was torn off the Oregon treasury and
every doubtful member was told to
help himself.
Was it an appropriation he want
ed? A little trife of few hundred
thousand for some pet institution,
or slice of pork" for an
admiring and devoted constit-
lency? Why, certainly; go right
1own to the State Treasurer's office
md help himself. Only a small fe-
5or would be asked in return-he &
must vote right on the State Printer Z
'ill. And the faithful chronicler of {
oregon history will be obliged to re- 3
ord that the big majority of these (
doubtful" brethren did help them 3
elves-and that literally. They <
we're not at all bashful They dug 3
eep. Probably the only reason they z
id not dig deeper was because their 3
rms were not longer. z
And so We have it, The new print 3
lg bill is law, and the property <
wners of the state are just now pay 9
lg for the first round" Next year x
lere will be more to pay And the o
ext year, still more. Oregon has =
ready purchased the site for the l..
wv printing building. 1t cost mon -
r; and lot of it. Next will come 49,,
e building itself. That will cost ~.
ore money. Then will come the
ant and equipment-and that will =
st more money than any man not -
miliar with the printing business
uld even imagine. And after that Do
II come the yearly, and monthly,
d daily purchases of paper and ink @
d machinery-and the wages of
clock-watchers-and the "hand- c.,
I to the political buzzards, (who
Mt set type much, but who are
lg on lining up the vote in their c,-
me precincts on election day.) i
The salary of the State Printer
nself will not amount to much. p'7, De
will probably have to steal to 80
ep even. But there will be the
tie Printing Commission, (of three
hve-I forget just how many -
~-~fF "NANh 10 " BE appointed - .
supervise" the State Printer
lst your genuine, dyed-in-the-wool. a,5S
.ll-of-the-people" legislator to look 80
for the salary end of it, He's ~. -
species in Oregon politics. And 20
bird. He keeps one ear to the
und for the faintest whisper of =. .
peoples will. but he keeps both =
on the flesh-pots m
nd what provokes all this ONT
st on the part Of the writer al this =
day you ask? oh, nothing in -.
ocular. Only that this afternoon -
.e perusing the columns of the
'rican Stationer. his glance light = :
pon this paragraph: -
That the California State Print -
Office has stock enough on -, .l--s
Id TO supply over a million copv -
ks TO school children and to -eu
Il the demands for over five -,
rs Is the substance Of a report 80
lie last week to the textbook -
lmittee. A careful investiga- -.
shows that this stock cost s'''-.''
state nearly twice what IL