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10 o thcr y EM" owing are the reprints of the nt articles conce ing the printing, appearing In the t papers published througa eridan county. reading thebe articles you can for yourself whether the Pro News indulged in any false as alleged by the subsidised of the co~miiasioners of this also repiroduce the article ap in the Pioneer Press, in it tries to defend this high Idup of the county treasury, the same time tries to di ntion from its own duplicity disgraceful frameup by a ri and personal attack on the f the Producers News. here the editor of this pa ts to announce that this pa own by the farmers of this who dictate its policy. The is a hired man: hired and the farmers. subsidized organ says that ducers News was the only r to protest against the f the peoples' money. May the only newspaper to pro wever, there are a number tions issued in this county e kicked--and kicked hard riminal appropriation of the money. *ng to the limited circu the Pioneer Press, and wish .t .the voters of the county :opportunity to read the ri rot that the "gang organ" . y in trying to defend it .the culpable board of coun issioners, we reproduce its full. We could not indict se. than they have accused ng are the reprints: DO ABOUT ERIDAN COUNTY PRINTING CONTRACT 14ewus Flays Pioneer Press, issioners, Auditor and rt House "Bunch." ducers News, or "Pay it is dubbed by other pa hbut the county, ap e with a lengthy article nee' to the - contract for nting which was award Pioneer Press two weeks 's article the writer evad th and misrepresented the he extreme. He deliber about the meeting of1the rs, which he termed as IHe accused the different the court house of be frame-up." He knowing ut the Pioneer Press in ivable manner. The oh- 2 e abusive attack is very be to defame the name nty commissioners and ty officials and lower the the Pioneer Press in the reading public. le is so far from the led with venomous state it is hardly worth tak and we doubt very much iligent, fair-minded citi eridan bounty would ac any manner other than it is, an attack upon the e public officials and an * of endeavor to lower ons or standing of a business. to the article we make ng statements without ul contradiction: n of the commissioners the regular and proper d it was not a "secret * matter of the county taken up in the usual manner the sqpne as all of a like fatnie. t exist any "frame-up" Pioneer Press and the rs or any other public person. That the con t this contract in tha er proscribed- by law full extract in connec letting of such con the present law: to Provide for the Let. utracts for the P1li. Chapter 71, Laws of thb Sernie, 1911. to Be Let to aewepapet that -f 4 tblot _04~q :'I h a nif the n~ d pa it would still > t be 1elng robbM as weta-&n .the Producers :ews -r: title,. The present cotract is tilly the Sme as that awaeled to Jos. F. Doha. two years ago, when competitive bids were aaked or (which was in compliane with -1o former law) and two yeals ago the contract ws: awarded to the lhwest and best hid. As to comparing the equipmeut of the News and the Pioneer Proew the News' statement that they have equally as good a plant is a huge joke. The Pionee, Press equipment comprises a number of labor-saving marhines, automatic presses, bind ing machijies, etc., that we will wager a bet with Taylor, Worley, Um breit or any would-be printer that has ever been employed at the News. office, that they have but -a faint knowledge of their existence. There is as much difference between our standard Mergenthaler Linotype and their mongrel typesetting machine as there is between a Pierce Arrow automobile and a flivver. The news 'paper press in the News office was necessarily discarded and thrown out of the Poplar Standard office some four years ago, when that paper had the county printing, because is was too dilapidated to handle the work, and this proves their lie -in that respect, the balance ,of their lies are farther from the truth. As to the "shaky paper" the banks hold, as. the banks. There is little dan ger, readers of the Pioneer Press, of suspending publication. I did not purchase the paper here upon the request of any person or "clique." I purchased the location here that I could more efficiently handle the commercial printing, legal blank and office supply business that I have built up throughout the county, I and this business was well establish ed, remember, before I ever -handled t the county printing. We repeat, we i doubt very much if slanderous at- , tacks from Taylor will bear fruit in t an endeavor to mar the reputation c of *e' PIoneer"Pt s'br the news. paper career of the editor. AN EXPENSIVE DEAL. c Ihe County Commissioners Give Ce. tract to Jos. Delia for County C Printing for Two Years t Satliis Own Price. c 1NO COMPETITIVE BJDS WERII ASKED FOR 6 Secret Session Held Wednesday, May y 29 aid -Contract Let. With e Only One Publisher Pres d ent--WiII Cost County e Several Thousand e Dollars Extra e . The county commissioners met on - Wednesday, May 29, 1918, at an ad - journed meet and deliberately gave i Joseph F. Dolin the contract for the - county printing for the Meuing two - years without giving any other i newspaper man in the county a a chance to be present. a This contract. was let under a new r law that was passed by the state t legislature held in January and Feb ruary, 1917, and is known as "Chap e ter 71." This law does not speci e fically state that the contract shall be let by competitive bids, but no m one will deny Mat even under this Slaw the county commissionetrs had the right to advertseb for bids and r let. the contract to the lowest 144 '=der, b4 .v egr bu d to serve 1he rtszp conserve the W Y THAT "I SESSIO WAS A SIChrr ONU and we shy a pr that as tion at iter h. .o l t . We 4k efmi~ .t t~~StRO:thZ4 xJ~fitYxthe .9R '*5 tei Ik~4 te we~ 'M .. in . tue to be preseui r at thobeard ean g . d The #ext dayMay :, the contand r- was given toJoph F. Dolia. Mr. Weisrich d_- not even call u t- up on the telephone to notify us thai 0 the contyact was to be let that aft a ernoon. Furthermore; the board dI Ir not notify the papers that have ' plants right in -Plerwood of the o action they proposed to take. It When the writer was i y Pleaty* wood on Monday of this week "44 t put up the MATTER F A SECRE'T a SESSION td EwMars. Matkina d e -Simmons in an informal manner. e Mr. Matkins denied that it was a x SECRET SESSION, but when asked 9 why he did not notify the Plenty wood publishers, as it was a matter r in which they were vitally interest - ed in, he replied that the board had t decided to let the contract to Mr. s. Bolin, without asking for competitive t bids, and that the board did not cere e to have a` lot of other printers theme r hollering their heads off. This is the I substance of what Mr. Matkins said. ? Well, there you are. f Now, as to its being an qxpensive - deal to the county and the taxpay. I ers, we will say that C. S. Nelson, publisher of the Plentywood Herald and A. T. Vollum, an attorney of Plentywood, appeared before the board of county commissioners oft Tuesday of this week. In view of the fact that the board had not ap proved of their minutes of the meet _ing of May 29, and that the contract to Mr. Dolin had not been officially ratified. Editor Nelson made an of fer of 10% below the bid submitted by Joe Dolin on everything there would be furnished in connection with the printing. Mr. Nelson of fered also to give a bond in the s m of $25,000, which is three times as much as is asked from Mr. Dolin. The commissioners, however, stood pat on the propositin to let the printing to Mr. Dolin and refused to consider Mr. Nelson's bid. Tat. ing as a basis that the county priint ing will amount to $30,000 during the next two years, the acceptance of Mr. Nelson's bid would have a saving to the county of $3 However, this is not all that wo have been saved to the county if the county printing had been let by bids in the usual manner. Mr. Dolin would not have -had the nerve to charge the prices""he .did in this con. tract if he had been bidding against competing firnms. Dolin's bid for the commissioners proceedings and other legal publica tions for the ensuing two years is 85% of the legal mate. The Search light bid for the same two years ago was 259% of the legal rate, which is less than half of the rate now paid to Joe Dolin. This item alone would have savred the county several hun dred dollars. But the main items of expense to the county under the new contract will be the election supplies for the coming primary and general elec tions. The new law known as "Chap 71" fixes the prices at not to exceed $22.50 per thousand, per party, for primary ballots and not to exceed $60.00 per thousand for general elec tion ballots, additional thousands not to exceed $40.00 per thousand. These prices are quite high when it is taken into consideration the Search light bid of two years ago was not to exceed $10.00 per thousand. Dolin's contract this year is S0% less than the new legal rates. The difference between Dolin's prices un der the present contract and tlu prices given in our bid of two years ago, would mean a asrng to county of many hundreds of diwra. Under a competitive bid Dola wold not hays had the werve to charge anytMing near the prise he it being allowed under the cotracti receatly handsd.d bus. We tw*aimn rs at& °the aena hs js ne 4nd bavE _4m _O ,,;4 'te-4 $4 4 t g - given u _der apetitUv DGLINI GETSl ?389TU40 AT 8P CrAL 888O8 At a sgetial session of the count Dodast Wednesday t- Count Commissioners made a tentativ I agreement toward the o clal count printing to Josefh F. Dolls, ps fisher of the Plentywood Pionee. Press. The motion was passed an camied to n aomle D o to suece 4immeff, but was pot approved a this spesial meetina. The com-nis e soay-.there was no conutra signed at the time but Mr. Dolii said Ii his paper list week .that h, had been renamed County Printea and it is understood from good an thodity that a contract was signet with Dolin on May 81st. The con tract was not of record on Wednes day. The Standurd learns that Com. rniesioner P.rank Weinrich vote against a resolution to 4anter into, contract with Mr. Dolls The cacumstances surrounding special meeting are confusing, tc say the least. Strange as it may seem, the face remains however, that Joseph F. Do fin was the only publisher in Sheri dan county that knew of the meet± ing, and accordingly, hie was the only bid. Other printers, and by the way, there are about twenty-five of them in the county, had been led to believe that the contract would be given out on June 4th, and with that information at hangi many of the newspaper men had expected to be present on that day. to submit legai tenders for the big printing job. Camouflage is a new word to most of us. It has comp into usage since the world war began, but how we got along without it through all these years is a mystery. It fits in so nicely to desmcribe a, situation such as this, for kind Sir, the in ormation that the printing contract mutter wouIl: cume. up on Tuesday, June 4th, was camoUflage; nothing but camouflage, spelled either with a "C" or a "K". M ,, t boo ere has bees. nothe ing irregular about the awarding of the printing contract in this coun ty. It has been the custom to no tify all the printers that the job would be given out on a certain date and any one whop expected to try for the big plum should be on hand with his figures and proof of quali fication. This custom was followed when dhe county was first organiz ed, and two years ajo when Mr. Do lin fiyst got the contrast for his Medicine Lake paper and there way every reason to believe that it would be the procedure this year. In -fact, the county commissioners them selves, and several of the county of ficials amid it would be. Mr. Frank S. Reed, publisher of the Culbertson Searchlight; Mr. C. S. Nelson,, pub lisher of the Pleantywood Herald; and- Editor Taylor of the Producers News were adted to that effect. Even on the day that the special session was put over, bo imagine the jolt the newspaper men of this coun ty got Wednesday night .when the news wasr Sashed over the wire that a special sesslon had been held and that an agreement had been reach ed with Dolin. Underatand now, Mr. Dolin was the only pfinter who was permitted to submit a bid. The newspapers of this county-that havy .qulpm.st sufitcient to handle the Job were willing and anxious to bid, but when they were notified that there would be nothing doing until Tuesday, June 4th, they were shat out. In tbeoe days of faightgally high tese.- -y mdmau* upe the pockstka beam C the Igh east of liding it is desires to keap espeai-at at glbe i~s butAtaeedsiy a this jwah "a the aw eeoc cep Ito the wa ' "Us, 804p to n 4i44 cot . W~ wi not, hbutt w ,a thef j for the goed of al the people, is 11 set fh3r that they 'e liveR a chusi t to4 so? Joseph F. Dalin is very much a It" Y wire. He is full of ambition anc y ginger, and moreover, is a gooc * newspaper man. Y The publishers of the Standard lag S:no quairrel with Joseph F. Doln, r We libe never played the dog in thi d manger stunt and we don't expect d to play it .now. We are not sore be 4 cease we. did not get the county j Pi tang, but we would like. to see it t given out in the regular way.-Pop Jar Standard. e - r "TO HELL WITH THE PEOPLE - -WE NEED THE MONEY!" - The above caption may not be just - the words of the county commission ers; but in view of their recent ac - tion in planniag to spend several I thousand dollars of the people's t money, and their attitude when ap proached to reconsider their . attien [ prompts more than one taxpayer of > this county to believe the title an appropriate one. S"The straw that broke the camel's "hbck" assumed the form of a huge "plum", which the honorable board of count/commissioners presented to Joe Dolin on a golden tray during the quiet vigil of a certain Wednes day `afternoon, after several other newspaper men in this county had been denied the opportunity of even witnessing the glorious spectacle. To get down to brass tacks, the county commissioners, without adver tising the usual "call for sealed bids" and apparently without attempting to ascertain the most ecopomic and ef ficient plan for having the county printing done, just gave the huge contract-one which will total pos. sibly $40,OO-to Joe Dalin at HIS OWN PRICE. It " has always been the custom (and according to the constitttion of the state of Montana and decisions of the supreme court in similar eases, the law) that the county printing be let to the newspaper' in the county tenderig the lowest and best de suitable bond to be given by the printer when the contract is signed. This year several newspaper men, with the fact in view that taxes are high, and Liberty bonds, the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., and "other war necessities are being freely subscrib ed to by the people, had decided that eral thousand dollars could 'be saved for, the taxpayers on the county printing alone and were pre Sparing their bids accordingly. But- No call for bids was adrertised this year. Inquiry at the court house and from a couple of the com-1 missioners in person brought the~ good news that all those interested would be given a chance to appear and submit their views or' bids. They also gave their word that the coun ty printing contract would not be let until the first meeting in June, at the earliest; and it was possible a call 'for . bids would. be advertised. Those newspaper men were loath to think that. any member of the honor able board would violate his word. Instead, the publishers planned on visiting the court. "ouse on June 8, while the commissioners were in ses sion, and there seek the contract on a competitive basis, which would cer tainly have resulted in a great sav ing for the taxpayers and a living profit for some publisher. But, while in several newspaper offies, price lists were being con suited and all extra expense eimla ated for the benefit of the people a scene, which iMy. aie bein some tiug llhs tlae following, was golug on in the court house,, *here -se rermts* the people TMfalth. ftlly guard peat up treasnuet to help win =the wat ' We nedsa ftenoon, Uay b 1918 ~iAGJo ioits msiers' chaim W -PPi Am aý*+ ýý - " w,'fý y' :i` we werea't gout' to do an*kiythig M 444 Xnday. Covuty Attorney or his asistant, or somebody, told us t suit ourselves. How much do you tlkyou can clear on that coatuact this year, Joe?" JOE: "Oh, about fifteen thousand bucks-maybe twenty." (fiile--satidtacory grins--pels of laughter.) C. C. "Say, Joe, how are those Hupmobiles, anyway ? Will they 'stand up'? You know I'm getting tired of that fiivver of mine and I don't think that little old tea cents or so per mile will pay its running expenses over these roads we'v* been promising to -ix. And, ding it, a lot of people are getting resa nosey, pawin' over county records and things; and they ask too darn many questions, anyhow." .JOE: "Your right, old top! But say, haven't you seen me cutting wide swaths in the atmosphere with that Hup o' mine ? I tell you she's there. Well by hickey, I must be going. Side door open? Good! I"ll get that contract fixed right away. Better have Lou look over it, eh ? Alright; he's a pretty good scout. See you up town, fellows. S-long." And the trusting newspaper inen finished preparing their bids and were busy with shears and boiler plate, preparing articles for their readers on "How to save and help knock the 'iser' out of the kaiser," while the "16-dollar rubes" were do ing their damndest to increase Sheri dan county's food production, trust ing to the honorable board of coun ty commissioners to see that their tax money is judiciously spent. And there you are, Mr. Taxpayer. How do you like it? How do you like it ?-Antelope In dependent. COUNTY PRINTING BOBS UP AGAIN The board of county commisolon ers has taken the bull by the horns and deliberately let the county print ing without even calling for bids. rhe propriety of such action will un 1oubtedly be ill taken by the tax payers; and the legal phase of it is eery questionable. The county at orneyg1as already gone on record in stating that his office had not been :oasulted in the matter. This Is a rig contract, involving over $40,000 if the county money. And it would eem that the taxpayers"rights would Lave been fairly protected by shb nitting the contract to sompetitive iids. The commissioners are resort ng to camouflage when they allege hat there- is only one newpagiper apatble of handling the county print iig. The board knows, or ought to know, that is has the right to ap prove of a good and sufficient bond , ring this -transaction. The com missioners won. in Harold Feethain tcase, which went. to determine the right to import deputies from other states when competent ones can be had in the home county. They won bccause the taxpayers were with them. But it is quite certain the taxpayers will deeply resent this last frenzied action on the part of the. board.-Plentywood Herald. Should the county pay. $5,000_ for $20,000 'worth of service? The Plen tywood Herald printed a timely ar tidle last week, which is of interest to every intelligent voter of Sheri dan county. It is a most illumia ating sidelight of the methods of certain political gangsters, several of whom have been feedlng at the public crib since the inception of the sounty. Mr. Taxpaying Voter can 8Ad an asewer to his query, "Why are our. txes so high?" by reading the ar tiel. in question. It is time for the voter to keep his eyes and ears opea if he is to be in a position to sep arate the sheep from the goats at the fall eleetlons.-Westby News. The county nommissionerh have rmomlye to R ooverize for t three weeks before - ' next geaeral ulew the by abefttig all contraetr to regtpe tlR b. Clandestine met ISI. 40, mb ~ile al not bet toler-