OCR Text |
Show PRINTING FIRMS FOiJUlBI Three Concerns Join Hands to Run Up Price on Nov State Code. LONE BIDDER OFFERS TO DO WORK CHEAPER Up to Board of Examiners to Reject Bid of Organ of the Lord. Bids for printing tho now code of Utah for 1907 were opened by the State board of examiners Saturday, and disclosed dis-closed a slate of affairs which surprised tho entiro .board and discomfited Governor Gov-ernor John C. Cutler, who would liko to givo the printing and binding lo tho Doscrct Evening News, but who can't as yet see just how ho can do so and still kcop inviolate his oath of office. Tho Dcseret News, the Tribune Reporter Re-porter company and the Century Printing Print-ing company submitted a joint bid. With doop solicitude for tho welfare of tho State this bid declared that the bidders felt that, in justice to tho Slate, none of them could afford to undertake the work alono. hence they had pooled issues. Disinterested philanthropy, phil-anthropy, therefore, is assigned ns tho reason for this pooling of intoreBts among printers. The bid was .$9.30 a pago for composition and press work, and the Lord's Own submitted a bid of $LJ0 a volume- for binding the code. Skolton Bid Much Lower. The surprise camo when tho bid of tho Skelton Publishing company was opened. Without any palaver about justice jus-tice to tho State, this concern offered to do tho composition and press work on the code for $3.54 a page, and to bind U for 68 cents a volume. And tho discomfiting dis-comfiting fact was that, the Skelton bid was accompanied by a certified check for 10 per cent of tho amount of tho bid, and was otherwise regular and according ac-cording to Iloyle, so that tho board of examiners has no loophole by which to roject it. Governor Cutler, after the first shock of the discovery had passed, suddenly remembered that ho hnd to leavo for Los Angeles on the evening train, and must needs mako preparations. Attorney-General Breoden had not fully recovered re-covered from the mental labor incident to his forensic effort in tho Donaldson case, and was in no state of mind to figuro out how to award a contract to the highest bidder aud still keep within the law. Secretary of State C. S. Tingcy was too astounded for utterance. Action Is Delayed. Tl was agreed, therefore, that action on the bids shall bo postponed until July .15. Meanwhile the board of examiners exam-iners will "take counsel" as to how to give tho contract to tho organ of the Lord, Reveuuo Collector Callister visited visit-ed the city and county building during the afternoon, but whether ho came to chcor up the drooping spirits of tho faithful state officials eo-.ild not be learned. There is a suspicion abroad, however, that Mr. Skolton will ,be haled before a bishop's court for un-Christian-liko conduct in daring to underbid a printer's combine of which the prophet's proph-et's personal organ is the head. It is proposed lo print 4000 copies of the code and to bind 3000 of them. The laws are being codified by Attorneys Attor-neys James T. Hammond and Grant II. Smith, and it is expected to have 1500 copies ready for delivery by Jan. 1, 1908. |