Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-12-19
The Printing Contract Postponed Again

As stated in last weeks issue of the News, the awarding of the
uMr meeting Of December 5 to Monday, December i. The county COM
appeared and presented the claim for the Carbon County News. Mr.
sAf C H Gs Fl pp.D presented waa Sst the IN n ssssf for or The the n Picket ct. j .gpFa9 Il after Tss
News discussed the two bids. It was admitted by Draper that the bid
sented IN opinion from the AttOrney general Mr.. Raymond ]. Nagle
miniatr uiioDer m :, ass4 f sma t aaar Graphi &c A Arhfy In q Woare wb Peg0 opn ia
read in part; I'VE regret that state laws sometimes conflict iisSt with the
and its political subdivisions. When these laws were passed no one
fort ~ Of the h Pr President RttasDt to restore we lib t to Il the nj nations State and
s0Int + t Gfhes disoh hOw sSsn a sbv b %aS b. by subject ths written TT se1 lsws p Sa thf sta andi
loss of office. Furthermore contracts in violation of such laws would
~ He ss.a aS0 J presented nsds an opinion ns' 15 5s9m 3 read 10H us ospt: assistant aoD 1u1 at + the
Attorney General wrote MI. G. {. Stevenson, Secretary Of the Montana
State Petroleum tsa sa4n c cpT nm sfs,s ADVISING dsTRg. him t assn in "a a'9 0a,abass w sanp, isw
equipment and various materials from the lowest responsible bidder,
ana s aasa' 'f R. e E, M. lssi, ' FslatiS seu to Contrasts % r for county s@na ! printing @ pro-
meet on T =" the n county uDtsfa eom Inaa on rs' shall III II be nn more Suitable ds' for or PIE perform aa
ing iag.s said work; It " would Il s.; seem na that The h. duty S5 is is upon up Sid ths applicant tSs G4 to dc
Arts Code; also that it is not the duty of the county commissioners to
Violated. If a bid is made and an objection is made thereto that same
t yielsts; some ss t tsas al s Tsasas or Of ssms t Rs9s eon9rae : T is su Invalid al i' IT woud
seem that the person objecting to the letting of such contract should
Brisf upon N t gB;st' sasjs 9 showing sSS%is ss i 5s5S5 !. f ! he d ssntF, Ct s. r sas5
f fnd nonsse Je in va the Condition Of su'h hh Pre ofaee w Hnt be glad n to DO all i in IT'S its
After some discussion, Mr.. J. M. Anderson, chairman of the board
Brown S1un o{ H eGmmls the athorp psys for the a. sta apen association aSm Of ae county " COM
missioners, which we quote in part; The state % Of montana nmntn a Ct & IN
plies. The Congress of the United States has no power over sovereign
states or v the citizens thereof except Is given tnem Dy the CoILSu
tuition of the United States which is the only delegation of power from
the States. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives Congress
authority to interfere in the ordinary operations Of the municipal sub
divisions of q State, towit, a county and the Legislature o. the state
having said how the county shall handle its printing and supplies that
statute should be followed by the County officers.
4f the bids submitted for county printing conform to the require
ments of our state legislation upon the subject am of the opinion your
inquiries should go no further, and that your duty is to follow the law
as set forth in Chapter 10 of the Twenty-frst Legislative Assembly at
page IL ct seq" 4,
Interested parties left the room and the commissioners discussed
the matter and the awarding of the contract was postponed until Mon
day, December "a. Just why this was done the editor of the News has
not been advised, in view of the decisions above quoted. Opinions were
read from the Hon. Wellington D. Rankin and Hon. S. G. Ford, former
attorney generals and members of the Supreme Court, to the effect
that the bid of the News did not in any way violate the state laws or
the Graphic Arts Code.
In view of the above decisions, the News is at a loss to know what
causes the delay in awarding the contract. AS last weeks issue OF the
News showed, the News has saved the taxpayers of Carbon County
more than two thousand dollars a year on their printing for the last
eight years.