delivered the opinion of the court.
Aрpeal from judgment restraining the board of county commissioners of Big Horn county from entering into a contract for county printing with the Searchlight Publishing Company, and commanding said board to contract with the Hardin Tribune, Inc.
JThe board of county commissioners of Big Horn county advertised for bids for the county’s printing to be submitted March 2, 1926. The Hardin Tribune, Inc., and J. E. Patten, manager of the Searchlight, submitted bids, of which the latter bid was the lower and was accepted by the board. Thereupon, the Hardin Tribune instituted an action to enjoin the board from entering into a contract with the Searchlight and to compel the acceptance of its bid, upon the ground that the Searchlight was not competent to contract under the law, and that the Hardin Tribune is the only newspaper published in Big Horn county measuring up to the requirements of the law. The board by answer denied these allegations, and J. E. Patten, as manager of the Searchlight, filed a complaint in intervention alleging facts sufficient to qualify his paper for a county contract; these allegations were denied by reply.
The matter was heard by Judge O. F. Goddard on March 20, 1926, and this hеaring resulted in judgment for the plaintiffs according to the prayer of their complaint. The board and the intervener thereupon joined in an appeal to this court from the judgment.
The only question presented on this appeal is as to whether, under the evidence adduced, the v Searchlight had been published continuously in Big Horn county at least one year immediately preceding the second day of March, 1926.
The uncontroverted evidence discloses that in January, 1925, the Searchlight newspaper plant was moved from Billings, Yellowstone county, to Hardin, Big Horn county, during which operation some casting, without which the newspaper press *320 could not be used, was lost. From January 21, 1925, to June 3, 1925, Manager Patten maintained the Searchlight office at Hardin, where all editorial matter and copy were written; this was sent to Billings, .eaсh week, where the manual labor of getting out and printing the paper was done at the Western Newspaper Union Office. The completed edition was then sent to Hardin, where the newspapers were mailed out to the Searchlight subscribers from the Searchlight officе as second-class matter, under permit from the government postal department. Such permit was secured on application through the local postoffice and the submission of a copy of the paper and affidavits.
The paper so distributed was the usual country weekly, made up of one-half patent ready-printed matter and the other half local items, general news, and advertising; it consisted of eight pages, fifteen inches by twenty-two inches each, six columns to the page. The first page of each edition was headеd the Searchlight and thereunder appeared the words, “Hardin, Big Horn County, Montana,” with appropriate date. Nothing therein contained was composed or printed in Big Horn county, but, during the period mentioned, a single sheet, nine inches by twelve inches in size, was printed on one side with three or four columns of additional local items, headed “Searchlight Supplement” and thereunder issued as a part of the regular edition. This work was done in the Searchlight office on a job-press and one loose sheet inserted in each paper sent out. Asked whether he ever made application for a permit for, circulated, or published a newspaper known as the “Searchlight Supplement,” Mr. Patton answered: “No; that was a part of the Searchlight.”
From June 10, 1925, to March 2, 1926, the entire regular edition of the Searсhlight, with the exception of the patent matter, was composed, printed, and placed in circulation at Hardin, Big Horn county, and the Supplement was discontinued.
*321 The controlling statute (sec. 4482, Bev. Codes 1921), if set out in full, would unduly lengthen this opinion; briefly, it requires the county commissioners оf the several counties “to contract with some newspaper, published at least once a week, and of general circulation, published within the county, and having been published continuously in such county at least one year, immediately preceding the awarding of suсh contract, to do and perform all of the printing for which said counties may be chargeable,” etc. Then follows an enumeration of supplies, with maximum charge therefor and the section closes with the provision that: “All newspapers which may receive any contraсt for printing under this Act, and which may not be able to execute any part of such contract, shall be required to sublet such contract or portion of contract to some newspaper or printing establishment within the state, which shall do the work under contract so sublet entirеly within the state with Montana labor.”
1. It is first contended that, as the statute employs only the word “published,” the full requirement of the statute is met by the circulation of a newspaper from the office thereof within the county, at least once a week for the period of one year, regardless of where the work on such paper is done.
The diligence of the learned counsel for defendants has disclosed numerous authorities to the effect that the place of publication of a newspaper is where it is first put in circulation, regardlеss of where such paper is printed, but in no one of the cases cited was the question here involved decided. They deal with the status of publications as newspapers or official newspapers, with statutory requirements regarding the publication of legal notices, notices of election and the like, and the facts and circumstances shown were found to be sufficient to bring the “publication” within the requirements of the statutes considered, as the purposes of the Acts were evidently fully served.
*322 The nearest approach to the case at bar is the case of Bayer v. Hoboken, 44 N. J. L. 131, wherein the New Jersey court had under consideration an Act requiring city councils to publish their proceedings in a newspaper “printed and published” in the city. It was held that where the office of the newspaper in question was in Hoboken, and the entire matter for the paper was composed, set up, and plaсed in forms at such office, and the papers were issued from there to its subscribers, it fulfilled the requirements of the Act, although the presswork was done in New York. There the purpose of the Act was to insure notice to the people of the city as to the action of thе council, and that purpose was served by the paper considered, regardless of where the mechanical work was done. But even though the ease was on all fours with this case as to purpose, the facts here do not measure up to the findings in that case, as the most the evidence here shows is that the editorial matter and copy for the Searchlight were written in its office at Hardin and the papers were issued from there to its subscribers.
In the California cases cited, the purpose of the Acts considered was publicity and thе reaching of the people of the community.
(Stanwood
v.
Carson,
The statutes under consideration in the
Lefavor Case
were sections 4460 to 4462 of the Political Code, requiring the newspapers in which official notices,
etc.,
were published, to be “printed and published” in the town wherein the publication is to be made. Their construction was again before the court
*323
in
In re McDonald,
This interpretation of the intention of the legislature of California evidently did. not meet with the approval of that body, for, at the next session of the legislature, it added section 4463 to the Chapter on newspapers, which reads, in part: “The word ‘printed,’ as used in said section, shall mean, and be construed to mean, that the mechanical work of producing such newspaper of general circulation, that is to say, the work of typesetting and impressing type on paper, shall have been performed during the whole of the period as designated and required by said section; * * * and in no case shall the words ‘printed’ and ‘published’ be construed as synonyms, but each shall be understood to relate to separate acts or functions necessary to constitute a newspaper of general circulation.” The intention of the legislature of that state was thus made clear.
“In the construction of a statute, the primary duty of the court is to give effect to the intention of the legislature in enacting it.
(Lerch
v.
Missoula Brick & Tile Co.,
It is true that our statute employs only the word “published,” but the meaning of the word depends upon the subject with which it is connected. It may mean merely made known.
(North Baptist Church
v.
Orange,
54 N. J. L. 111, 14 L. R. A. 62,
We have heretofore held that “the word ‘published,’ as used in the statute, evidently means printed and published. It refers to a newspaper having its home in thе county”
(Stange
v.
Esval,
2. Counsel for defendants assert that such a construction of the statute will prohibit thе use of the patent insides used in all small newspapers; but the statute will never be given such a narrow construction. These patent insides do not affect the status of the newspaper so long as the paper otherwise meets the necessary requirements of a newsрaper of general circulation, as the patent portions might be omitted and the newspaper still meet all of the requirements. (20 R. C. L. 206.)
3. The fact that the Searchlight secured a government permit for entry in the postoffice as second-class matter is of little consеquence, as the government requirements for such a permit do not measure up to our requirements in this regard.
4. Counsel cite authorities to the effect that a change of name does not affect the status of a newspaper, but they have no application hеre. There was no change of name; the intervener, during the period from January to June, circulated a full and complete newspaper from Hardin, under the name of the Searchlight, and thereafter continued to do so under the same name. During the first period, he included therein a supplement, presumably for the purpose of complying with the governmental requirements; but, whatever its purpose, it cannot aid him, as it was but a part of the regular issue and was so designated. He himself testified that he never made application for a pеrmit for, circulated, or published a paper known as the “Searchlight Supplement”; so there can be no merit in the assertion, if made, that the 9x12 sheet printed in Hardin was a newspaper known as the “Searchlight Supplement,” the name of which was thereafter changed tо the Searchlight, and we do not understand that any such assertion was ever made.
It follows that the Searchlight met the requirements of the statute only from June 10, 192’5, to March 2, 1926, or less than one year, and was therefore not eligible to contract with *326 the commissioners for the county printing. No error was committed by the court in finding in favor of plaintiffs and entering judgment on those findings.
Judgment affirmed.
'Affirmed.