News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-09-16
PURCHASING DEPARTMENT
State Auditor Says 1t Has
Resulted In Mutual Saving

A reporter OF the Argus called at the
Office of the Auditor of Accounts today
and inquired of Mr.. Graham what bene.
fir, if any, the present method of pur-
chasing supplies had been to the State.
Mr.. Graham said: "This law has only
been in effect tor little over year but
has to my mind, brought about mate
rial saving While in d state like Yer
mont the results obtained must be small
yet they are large when compared with
our expenses. The Purchasing Agent
plan has teen adopted and found to be
d great benefit by many large corpora
tions, firms, cities and munic palities
throughout the country. But a few
days ago Mayor Mitchell of New York
took this matter up with the Board of
Estimates and Apportionment and
strongly recommended that the Purchas-
ing Agent plan be adopted instead of
the present system of individual pur
chasing. The question of how much
benefit the office of Purchasing Agent
has been to the state. I estimate from
a comparison of the expenses that would
come under this department for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1912; the last full
year under the old system when all the
purchases Were made by the Superin-
tendent of the several state Institutions
and the state offices aud members of
boards and commissions, with the year
ending June 80, 1914, to be Approximately
1926 10000. The purchase Of the mis-
cellaneOus printing stationary and office
supplies and pamphlets for the insti-
buttons, officers and boards has just been
brought together and systematized, and,
by being able to give out larger contracts
certainly a saving form $4,000 to $40, 900
has been effected.
In the reports of the State officers,
boards and commissions, certain super
huous matter has been eliminated and the
actual requirements of each institution,
officer, board or commission has been
more closely ascertained, and the num-
Der of copies of any report required
figured down to actual needs and u saw
ing of over $1,000 made from what the
expense would have been had the old plan
been followed where each institution,
officer, board of commission ordered on
their own initiative. In the staple
articles such as coal, flour, meats, fish,
beans, sugar, butter, potatoes, clothing
and tobacco, comparison OF their
figures mentioned show saving OF from
SIS, 900 to $4,000. The quantities OF these
different staple articles that are used in
the state institutions, one has but little
idea of unless he has spent months in
checking and auditing these expenses.
The state uses annually over 700 bar
rels of sugar, from / 800 to 1000 barrels
of flour. about tons of coffee, from
900 to 1000 bushels of beans, from
900 to II, 900 bushels of potatoes, from
to 6 tons of tobacco, from / 800 to 1900
pairs of shoes, from 10, 600 to 1000 tons
of coal At present the state has on
hand sugar sufficient to carry the in
situations, to the first of June at So So
per hundred: flour to March 1st at $3.50
per barrel; beans at So Is per bushel to
March 1st salt salmon at 81. 10 per bar
rel that will last until February.
In the purchase of coal tests have been
suited to the several institution, and
following out these tests the purchases
were made at substantial saving to the
state.
The state now has on hand some over
100 head of beef cattle and on tests of
this method of purchasing beef at diff |
ferent times it has been found more ad-
vantageous to buy the beef on the hoof |
rather than dressed and especially so at
the state hospital and industrial school
where the state has pasturage and feed. |
This plan had to some extent been fol-
lowed in the last few years at the in
dustrial school. Montpelier Argus