The Oskaloosa herald., 1916-01-13

tee of its own members, known as
the committee on retrenchment and
reform The duty of this committe
was to investigate the manner
which the business of the state was
being conducted by the various de !
partments, and TO make such recon-
mendations as it might think proper,
looking to economy and improved
methods. This committee spent al
great deal of time during the years
l1913 and 1914, and submitted its re-
port and recommendations to the leg
islature which convened in January
| 1915.
Among other things, the committee
made an exhaustive investigation in
| to the manner in which the state
printing and binding was being done,
and in its report said AT this time
we do not favor abolishing these Of
fees (printer AMI binder). We do
however, favor reduction in the vol
ume of published reports. and elimin-
alton therefrom of duplication. We
find many hundreds Of pages OF dupli-
cations, many hundreds OF other
pages of absolutely useless matters,
and many hundreds of pages of eX-
tensive tables which might be better
ami more understandingly expressed
by tabula;ion occupying one'ftth 10
one-tenth the space. Under the pro
lposed plan all this trouble OF
lduplicauon, excessive space, etc,
vouid doubtless be eliminated"
For the information of the reader,
we may say that the state printing
and binding are done by state print,
er and ~ state binder, both elected
nv the legislature, and the prices paid
them are fixed by the legislature.
Mr.. Pierce, a job printer and pub
fisher of Des Moines agricultural
Ip,Der, was attracted by that part oil
: the committee report which we have
above quoted. In his public statement
The said: 81 might never have gone
Into this matter had it not been thai
Hast December. when the committed
! lon retrenchment and reform made
public their recommendations, | no
ticed, among others, the astounding
statement made by these eminent in
!. vestigators that" land here h
quoted the extract which we hav'
Just quoted i'm the foregoing). MI
Pierce did not discover the abuses il
the printing and binding. They wer'
} discovered and brought to the atten
ltion of the legislature by the commit
ltee on retrenchment and reform. MI
Pierce, however, at once sought t
, claim all the credit for the discovery
and to turn II to his own adVantag
to let him do the printing and bind
ing He began a vigorous campaig
[ tc bring this about. He published
special edition of his paper, devote
exclusively to the printing and bind
ing matter. He caused thousands @
|petitions to be circulated and sent /
. to the various members of the legii
, Ilature. He besieged the legislativ
: committees which had the matter
charge. He assiduously cultivate
: individual members of these commi
tees. The burden of his plea wa
that the offices of state printer an
9 binder should be abolished, and ths
he should be permitted to do tn
work He submitted a contract whic
he tried to persuade the committee
accept.
. The committees gave Mr.. Pierre
u ample opportunity to present n
g views. He claimed that other state
were getting their printing an
binding cheaper than Iowa. The lei
4 islature went to the trouble OF SEN
p ing for officials from these othe
states, and had them come to De
, Moines and testify under oath. TheG
I men testified that in most cases
thece other states, the prices pal
J. were higher than the prices bein
raid in Iowa. They testified that tn
:. system in use in Iowa was the be-
J. system. and that If it we're proper
n administered, Iowa would get il
;, work done cheaper than it was bein
done in their own state. They ais
said that in states where the woT
t was done under the competitive sy
tenn. it was very common for tt
r printers who bid on it to pool the
interests, set up the prices, and far
2, lout the work among themselves. Al
l. er the most exhaustive investigator
4 and after the legislative committed
- and every individual member ha
" been argued with, circularized, ar
. bombarded with petitions throus
i the efforts of Mr.. Pierce, the legisl
ture finally acted as follows:
k First, it reelected the state print'
T. and binder without single diJsentir
r. vote.
B. Second. it revised slightly the pri
es paid for the work.
IS Third. it appointed document e
I. itor, whose duty it is to eliminate a
unnecessary printing and binding:
check all printing bills, and edit a
of the state documents. 1t 10 the du
of this editor to see that the bills re
=, dered are in conformity with the pri
"a es fixed by the legislature.
o. IT. is estimated by Senator AlIC
n chairman of the committee on r
of trenchment and reform, that Il
n. changes made by the Legislature w
n effect a saving to the state of S32,
II a year. mainly through the cuttir
40 down in the number and size of Il
g documents to be printed This
70 $19,500 a year more than Mr.. Pier
ne offered to save IL they would give Il
n. contract to him.
ne In justice to the STATE printer al
,h binder, it should be understood TIL
ce the sums which the state will sa'
under the new arrangement do n
;. represent overcharges in the past.
large part the saving is made by ELI
l1f - rgh