Letter from Mississippi State Geologist E. W. Hilgard to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; April 28, 1860

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Letter from Mississippi State Geologist E. W. Hilgard to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; April 28, 1860

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People

Barksdale, E. (Ethelbert), 1824-1893 Colton, J. H. (Joseph Hutchins), 1800-1893 Gibbes, Robert W. (Robert Wilson), 1809-1866 Hilgard, Eugene W. (Eugene Woldemar), 1833-1916 Howry, James M.LeConte, John, 1818-1891 Patridge, Isaac M.Pettus, John Jones, 1813-1867

Organizations and Businesses

Newspapers Newspapers--Missouri Republican (St. Louis, Mo.)Universities and colleges Universities and colleges--University of South Carolina

Occupations

College teachers Judges Legislators Printers

Places

Charleston (S.C.)Jackson (Miss.)New Orleans (La.)Oxford (Miss.)Richmond (Va.)Saint Louis (Mo.)South Carolina

Page 1

Oxford, April 28, 1860
Gov. J. J. Pettus
Dear Sir,

After dispatching to you my letter of yesterday, I received the en-closed estimates—one from R. W. Gibbes, State printer of S.C., the other from the office of the Missouri Republican, St. Louis.

The estimate of Mr. Gibbes, as you will per-ceive, exceeds all previous ones, for his price of $1 pr vol., exclusive of map & diagrams, would bring the whole cost very nearly to $6000. A letter simultaneously received from Prof. John Leconte of Columbia College, assures me that the estimates which would be obtained at Charleston and Rich-mond, would not differ essentially from that of Mr. Gibbes. This I presume settles the question so far as that region of the country is concerned, for ^we^ can have it done cheaper at New Orleans.

The estimate of the Republican office, for printing, is $200 lower, and the paper better, than that of the N. Orl. firm; moreover, the latter estimated

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the binding at 2050 cts pr, vols, while the Republi-can sets it at 20 cts. Nevertheless, if we print the whole number, and bind them as the law requires, we shall come up to $4000 by the St. Louis es-timate—$500 above the appropriation, for we will have

Paper & Printing [gap] $2000
Binding, 5000 at 20 cts [gap] 1000
Map, diagrams etc [gap] 1000

$4000

I had a talk with Judge Howry this morning, & showed him all the doc's., and he coincides with me in the idea that the plan involving the least responsi-bility to all parties, would be to print the whole number of copies, either at Jackson or St. Louis, and have bound, at St. Louis, as many copies as the appropriation will allow; which, according to the above estimate, would be one half the whole number printed—sufficient for present distribution, and to allow the legislators to judge whether the remainder of the work is worth binding or not; and the appro-priation would not be exceeded.—The transporta-tion from Jackson to St. Louis & back would be a small

item, and quite insignificant if the printing itself were done at St. Louis.—I inclose the specimen sent me from the Republican office, which I think very satis-factory—both the kinds and types which I intended to use are represented, and I think that if printed just as these pages are, the work would be very creditable to the State.

If however Mr. Barksdale will undertake the printing it would perhaps be better, and I would beg you, if you think so, to mention the matter to him as soon as he returns. He says that he is willing to do it if the binding can be done at 25 cts, so the arrangement for binding at St. Louis would bring it within his scope. I find that using the long Primer type alone (as I ^first^ told Mr. Barks-dale) would carry me beyond 400 pages, and I therefore propose to adopt Minion or small Bourgoeis for cer-tain portions of the work. This will increase a little the expense of type-setting (about 1/3 of the work would be printed in the small type), but nothing else; yet of course, Mr. Barksdale's attention ought to be called to this circumstance.

I propose to write to Mr. Patridge, by Judge Howrys advice, to see what he will offer to do—though I

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scarcely think Mr. Barksdale would permit its being done out of his office, if done in the State at all.

Meanwhile, I beg leave to reiterate my request of yesterday, to authorize me, if you think proper, to contract for the map with Mr. J. H. Colton—with whom I perceive, even the maps of the S. Carolina Reports have been ordered. I would also beg to hear your opinion respecting the plan I propose, and whether printing the whole at St. Louis would meet your approbation, should Mr. Barksdale decline.—I am exceedingly anxious to have these matters de-finitely settled, and as it stands, I do not see that we shall get any more lights than what we have, by waiting—except for Mr. Barksdale.

Very Respectfully & truly
Eug. W. Hilgard