Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1919-01-23
THAT COUNTY
PRINTING HOWL

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about county printing.
As far as the News-Herald is cor
cerned, it is "a tale that is told," an
has been told over and over so ofte
that we would be content to ignor
the matter and "let the heathe
rage" but this would not be quit
just to the county commissioners
who have no newspaper throug
which to reply to the unjust criticism
and abuse heaped upon them.
In all walks of life there are mel
who are bad losers. They assum
that everything should come thei
way, and when it doesn't come, the,
go about telling their grievances t.
anybody who will listen.
The bad losers in the newspape
business have a newspaper at thei
command, and of course they prin
their howls, and there have been thou
sands of columns of belly-ache print
ed about this one matter of county
printing.
The stuff is always the cheapes
sort of special pleading, making the
most of anything that could possibly
be construed in favor of the howler
and carefully omitting anything that
upholds the other size. If the howlel
is mean-spirited fellow, he throws ir
a few lies and more or less persona
abuse to bolster up his case.
The case under consideration is nc
exception to the rule.
The Independent complains that
the commissioners disposed of the
county printing matter with only one
bid before them, and that the Inde.
pendent man was prevented from fill
ing bid by the state OF the raods
making it impossible for him to get to
the county seat.
He thinks the county board had not
heard of Section 1917 of the laws of
New Mexico which provides that when
any "public work" is to be done by
the board that will amount to $500
they shall advertise for bids, which
the Independent assumes applies to
county printing. .
In regard to the first cause of COM
plant the Independent man had all
the time from the declaration of the
result of the election, about the mid
die of November, until the 9th Of. Jan
uary, matter of about fifty days, in
which to file his claim to the job. The
board was in nowise responsible for
his failure to attend to it before
the roads were blocked. Also they
had nothing to do with blocking the
roads. The Independent man should
jump onto Providence for its failure
to be "mitt u.s."
The board took up the printing
matter and disposed of it in the reg
ular order of business.
In regard to Section 1917: This
is section of Article 35, which de-
fines the powers and duties of boards
of county commissioners. The sec
tion says nothing about county print
ing, but refers only to "public work"
A broad construction of this section
might stretch it sufficiently to make
public work" mean county printing
if the Article made no reference
specifically to county printing. But
it does make such specific reference.
Section 1884 of the same Article
reads as follows:
"When the county commissioners
of the several counties have chosen a
county printer, each county official
shall employ the said printer for all
county printing within his control"
1t is perfectly plain that the legis-
lature which passed this Article had
no intention that Section 1917 should
apply to county printing, or it would
not have inserted Section 1884
which applies specifically to printing
Furthermore, it is perfectly plain
that subsequent legislatures have re-
garded Section 1917 as inapplicable
to county printing, for the legislature
of 1915 passed a law on the subject
which is just as plain as Section 1884
1t is Section 7, Chapter IL of the
Session Laws of 1915. 1t reads as
follows:
"The Boards of County Commits
sioners of the several counties in thu
state shall purchase and provide thu
several county officers with all nee
essary stationery, postage and Office
supplies, the actual cost thereof to b'
paid out of the Current Expense
Fund. No county officer other thai
the commissioners, shall contract foI
supplies. The cost of such supplie
for Superintendent of Schools shal
be paid out of the General Schoo
Fund"
Here are two sections of law
passed by two different legislatures
one of them in the same caption witt
Section 1917, both pointing the sam
way, viz: Thatscounty printing ant
supplies for the county officers ar