Mr. MILLER. The provisions of the law are
these:
'' That the comptroller is hereby author-
ized and required to contract, in the name of
the State, for the printing of the journal of
proceedings of the senate and house of dele-
gates which may convene either at the regu-
lar sessions or by call of the governor of this
State for an extra session, the laws passed at
each session of the legislature which may
hereafter convene, together with bills,
rolls and documents, or any other print-
ing matter not herein enumerated, that is ne-
cessary for the use of the legislature, and all
other such printing matter as may be or-
dered by the said legislative bodies while in
actual session under the provisions of the fol-
lowing sections of this bill."
And then the sixth section provides,
" That the provisions of this act shall also
apply to any constitutional State convention
that may hereafter be called or convened in
this State."
Mr. VALLIANT. The librarian contracted
with the book-binder last winter under the
provisions of the law the gentleman has just
rend.
Mr. MILLER. I have no objections to pass-
ing this order, if it will not be in conflict with
the provisions of that law. But it seems to
me that the State librarian has no control
over the binding and distribution of these
journals. I should like very much for him
to have it.
Mr. STIRLING. I think it very important
that we should not violate the law. I was
under the impression, and atill am, that the
act of the general assembly of the last session
had nothing to do with binding or distributing
those books; that it was confined entirely to
the printing. I know that provision has
been made for the binding and distributing
of the journals and laws by the librarian, as
has been done heretofore. And I had always
supposed that provision was applicable to the
convention. The comptroller only contracted
for the printing.
Mr. MILLER. I would ask the gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling,) whether
under the previous legislation of the State,
the previous practice in this State, the
printing of the laws does not include the
binding of them; and all that the librarian
has to do is to distribute them after they
have been put in the library ?
Mr. STIRLING. I think the practice has
been the other way. I think the binding has
always been done separate from the printing.
It was go last session; the man who bound
the laws had nothing to do with the printing
of them,
The PRESIDENT. I do not think the con-
tract includes more than the printing.
Mr. MILLER. If that is the contract, then
I will go for the order.
The PRESIDENT. I furnished a copy of the |
contract to the committee on reporting and
printing; it can be referred to.
Mr. THOMAS. The first section of the act
provides:
''That the comptroller is hereby authorized
and required to contract, in the name of the
State, for the printing of the journal of pro-
ceedings of the senate and house of delegates
which may convene either at the regular
sessions, or by a call of the governor of this
State for an extra session, the laws passed at
each session of the legislature which may
hereafter convene, together with bills, rolls
and documents, or any other printed matter
not herein enumerated that is necessary for
the use of the legislature, and all other such
printing matter as may be ordered by the said
legislative bodies while in actual session
under the provisions of the following sections
of this bill."
Then the second section requires the comp-
troller to advertise, and the third section re-
quires him to enter into a contract for the
printing. The sixth section says—
" That the provisions of this act shall also
apply to any constitutional State convention
that may hereafter be called, or convened in
this State."
It applies exclusively to the printing, and
has nothing to do with the binding and dis-
tributing.
Mr. VALLIANT. After the enactment of that
law, the State librarian did contract with the
binder, after the close or about the close of
the last session of the legislature, for the
binding of the journals of both branches of
the legislature.
Mr. AUDOUN. The contract reads thus :
" Now, the condition of the above obliga-
tion is such that if the above bound Richard
P. Bayly shall print or cause to be printed
on paper equal in quality, to that on which
the journal of proceedings of the last legisla-
ture was printed, one thousand copies of the
journal of proceedings of the constitutional
convention and accompanying documents,
also one thousand copies of the journal of
debates, &C."
It says nothing about the binding; it re-
lates entirely to the printing.
The PRESIDENT. That was my recollection ;
that the printing and binding have always
been kept separate.
The question was then taken upon adopting
the order submitted by Mr. VALLIANT, and it
was adopted.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, &C.
Mr. CUSHING gave notice that at the proper
time, be would submit the following amend-
ment lo section 39, of the report of the com-
mittee on the legislative department.
Strike out the entire section and insert the
following:
"Section 39. The governor, comptroller |
