Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1911 — EXPLANATION THAT DOES NOT EXPLAIN. [ARTICLE]

EXPLANATION THAT DOES NOT EXPLAIN.

Supt. Warren of the city schools asked us Monday afternoon if w r e would publish a signed statement by Mr. Bradshaw regarding the letting of the contract for the high school annual, and we replied that we would do so, but we wanted him to incorporate in said statement what he had told us Saturday-about informing the Republican that our bid was the lowest and “that if they got the contract they would have to cut a little,” which Mr. Warren said Bradshow had also stated to him was a fact, and that Mr. Clark then cut his price $25 and refused to cut' any lower.

The statement of Mr. Bradshaw appears below, but he has had the business manager of the booklet sign the statement witji him, and now' says that he told the Republican that two bids were lower than theirs, but did not mention who they were. He told us Saturday in the presence of witnesses that he informed them The Democrat’s bid was lower. We never made the statement that the charge of “dirty politics” referred to the matter stated, we think it impugned the whole transaction. There are some other statements in the article that are not precisely correct, but we publish it exactly as it was given to us and the public can take it for what it is worth: Since the editor of The Democrat, in its issue of May sth, published an article designed to reflect upon the judgment of the business management of “Chaos” the Rensselaer High School Annual (not a “manual”) and further cast unsubstantiated aspersions at some un-named person, we gladly accept the invitation of The Democrat to submit a statement in which we shall present all of such .facts as we regard pertinent to the subject of the manner in which the contract for printing was awarded. A circular letter was mailed to twelve out of town printing concerns, known to be engaged in the business of printing college and high school annuals; one was misdirected, two firms failed to reply, five firms declined to bid upon the work specified because too crowded with orders to do the work. The following bids were received: » • 1. Wm. B. Burford, Indianapolis, “$3 to $4 per page.” 2. Franklin Co., Chicago, “about *700.00.” 3. Republican Pub. Co., Hamilton, 0., “*375.00.”

4. Indiana Printing Co., Crawfordsville, “$1.75 per page.”

Of local printing firms, the editor of the Jasper Co. Democrat, submitted to the editor of “Chaos’ an oral estimate of $1 per page, but later sent in a written hid, now in our possession, at $1.25 per page plus paper, cord, cover, etc., at actual Cost. After a conference with the editor of The Democrat, we calculated that his bid, placed upon the same basis as the pthers would total $195.00. The Rensselaer Republican sent in a written bid at $260.00 for the job complete, everything furnished except the cuts for illustrations. We informed the Republican Co. that they were under-bid by two firms, but mentioned neither names nor amounts, and told them they would need to reduce their bid if they were to receive further eonside; ation. Subsequetnly a new bid of $235.00 was submitted by them. The manager then discussed the matter of letting the contract with several men of good business judgment and finally decided to reject all bids except the three lowest. The sample annual. (Remington H. S) printed by the Ind. Printing Co., was not regarded with favor as regards workmanship. We did not want the work to leave Rensselaer if we could avoid it and since little or nothing could be saved by awarding the contract to this firm, its bid was rejected.

After systematically investigating the respective equipments of the two local firms and after examining some half-tone prints by The Democrat, this company was dropped from consideration, not upon the basis of the price submitted, but because the “Chaos” management was not convinced that the plant could do the specified work in an acceptable manner. The contract was then Awarded the Republican Co. at $235.00. Had we compared the equipment of the two local firms before calling for bids the invitation to The Democrat would not have been extended. - The editor of The Democrat now asserts ' that “dirty politics” mentioned in his previous article consisted in our permitting the Republican Co. to “scale down their bid” while denying The Democrat the same privilege. We reply that the information concerning the Republican Co’s, reduction in bid was supplied by us to the editor of The Democrat since his former article appeared. We may add also that we did not desire The Democrat to scale down its bid, since it was no longer being considered upon any terms whatever. The editor of The Democrat now informs us that he had thought, if his office were too busy to get out all the half-tone work he intended to get some of the press work done in Monticello. He neglected to mention this intention to us while bids were under consideration. Even now we are not much impressed by this Delated proposition. We did not enter into any obligation to accept the lowest bid or any other bid. We only wanted good work at a price we could afford to pay and we feel that we are now getting it. All bids have been open to inspection by anyone interested in the enterprise from the day they arrived. We are keeping nothing from the public. This is strictly a student affair, planned to offer the high school students an opportunity for literary expression and an fxposition of all aspects of school life as it exists in R. H. S, at the present time. A second purpose is to strengthen the school and to benefit the City of Rensselaer. No member of the high school faculty has received or disbursed a single dollar in the conduct of this affair and this policy will be adhered to until the business is completely closed, when the business manager will publish a complete financial report. The book will be sold at a price to cover the difference, as nearly as possible, between the total cost and the fund raised by sale of advertising splice, class assessments, etc. Any balance, that might remain will be kept as a fund to assist other school enterprises. i . With the above facts 'stated, with our position in this matter exposed, with assurance to the public that nothing concerning the management of the publication of “Chaos” will be concealed, and with malice to-

ward no one, we beg to, retire and leave the lurther discussion of this subject with the editors. Respectfully submitted, COPE J. HAXLEY. j Business Mgr. “Chaos.” C. R. BRADSHAW, J Principal R. H. S.

We, of course, appreciate the efforts of the high school management to publicly discredit The Democrat’s ability to do good printing and its reflections on our equipment. They can naturally be expected in the exalted state of their wisdom to know ALL about everything. We had supposed that we had a fairly well equipped print shop, based on the fact that the writer is a practical printer of nearly 25 years experience and enjoys the reputation among the fraternity of knowing some little about equipment and work. This criticism, the first we have ever received, coming from such students of the "art preservative,” given in their egotistical pose of technical knowledge, must be taken for what it is worth. And this, to a man who thinks, will not be much. Only the most arrant of egotists would attempt to display a knowledge of tilings technical in which they were not versed, and in no wise (jualified to pass even an opinion, let alone judgment. After carefully considering it in all its phazes, we reach the conclusion that while these self-annointed authorities may know how to square a circle, what they don’t know about the printing business would make a very bulky volume.