laws 1870, and chapter 250 of the laws of 1871) having guaranteed the pay. ment of the bonds, both principal and interest of the La Crosse, Trempealeau and Prescott Railroad Company, and so far paid the interest on said bonds. It was part of the consideration for such guaranty that the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company should operate said road from year to year in order to indemnify said company for monies paid out, and liabilities incurred by it. Yours truly, ALBERT KEEP, President. Clerk Board Railroad Commissioners, Madison, Wis. H. A. TENNEY, ESQ., ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC PRINTING OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1874. OFFICE OF COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC PRINTING, MADISON, October 10, 1874. To his Excellency, WILLIAM R. TAYLOR, Governor of the State of Wisconsin. SIR: In accordance with the requirements of chapter 32 of the general laws of 1874, the Commissioners of Public Printing have the honor to submit their annual report. As the expenses of the public printing of the state during the past fiscal year are set forth in detail in the report of the Secretary of State, it is not deemed necessary to repeat the same herein, and hence summaries only are given. The amounts paid for publishing and advertising, were as follows: Publishing general laws in newspapers.. Advertising sales of land ..... Publishing private and local laws in newspapers. Publishing notices and proclamations. $13,246 20 1,462 80 1,648 17 707 70 $17,100 87 The following statement exhibits the amounts paid for legislative printing, manual, reports of state departments, blanks, supreme court reports, and all other printing, including paper: It is believed that under existing laws, no material amount of the expenditures for printing will be incurred for blank spaces not printed, referred to in the act under which this report is made. Section 5 of said act provides that, in preparing the reports of executive officers, and the reports of the different educational, charitable and penal institutions for the printers, the said commissioners of public printing shall give summaries of the receipts and disbursements in such offices and institutions, but shall not give, in detail, the items making up such accounts, but they shall transmit such itemized accounts to the secretary of state, whose duty it shall be to enter the same at large under the proper headings, in a book to be kept for that purpose. Chapter 66 of the general laws of 1872 provides that the annual reports of the state charitable and penal institutions shall contain detailed statements of the expenditures for the year, prepared in such form as the State Board of Charities and Reform may prescribe. As it is the duty of the printing commissioners to strike out such statements from said reports as above set forth, it is respectfully recommended that said chapter 66 of the laws of 1872, be so modified as to not require such detailed statements to be included in the reports of such institutions, but that the officers making such reports shall send detailed statements of receipts and disbursements to the secretary of state to be recorded as required by chapter 32 of the laws of 1874. The practical result of this will be the same as that Low arrived at under the operation of present laws, and it is believed that the adoption of such a course will materially lessen the labor of preparing such reports for the printer, and will also result in baving them, in some cases at least, more concise and systematic, as nothing will be included therein by the officers making the same except what it will be necessary to have printed. PURCHASE OF PAPER. Chapter 230, of the laws of 1874, provides that it shall be the duty of the commissioners of public printing during the first week in September, A. D. 1874, and every six months thereafter, to advertise for sealed proposals, in two newspapers printed in the city of Madison, two in the city of Milwaukee, and two in the city of New York, for furnishing the state with such paper as the commissioners may deem necessary for use in printing, and for such blank books as may be required by the state. In accordance with this provision, the commissioners have advertised for such proposals, and have fixed the 15th day of October as the day on which the same will be opened, and a contract for furnishing such paper awarded. It is recommended that the first section of said chapter 230 be so amended as to require the advertisement referred to, to be published in Chicago instead of New York. STATE PRINTING. The present contract for state printing will expire at the close of the present year. The action of the commissioners under the provisions of chapter 243, laws of 1874, relative to the public printing for the two years commencing January 1, 1875, is set forth in the report of the Secretary of State, to which, for such information, reference is made. CONCLUSION. It is believed that, with the slight amendments referred to and recommended herein, the laws relative to the public printing will be reasonably perfect, and it is hoped that such amendments may be adopted by the legislature. For reasons already substantially stated, it is not deemed necessary to extend this report. Full information relative to the public printing, on points not herein specifically referred to, is given in other reports, and it is thought proper to avoid, as far as possible, a repetition of the same. Respectfully submitted, PETER DOYLE, FERDINAND KUEHN, A. SCOTT SLOAN, Commissioners of Public Printing. |