The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1843-04-03


thousand dollars year. obtained BY the lowest bids
where there several hundred compsttors, and 'av'"g
to the Gosernmsns at once a greater amount tina" ~
sohols consideration, eopasag the contract price r "
oieh you charged be evidence Of sinister motive
IN deciding ii to belong to the lowest bidder-of "a
hobbling alliance" Of " Illicit dealipgs"-of an at
tempt at seduction-of act stamped with :" iurpi-
tude''-in Heavens name what character shall We
give to your own t" fair business transaction" which
charges and receives from the Government for ono
single job, as confessed by Of your firm, the
Of "one hundred and thirty odd he odd thousands not
worth naming } thousand dollars~
Mr. Rves complains Of the power reserved by the
Postmaste General Of extending the time Of tho
contract 1t will be observed that this power as well
as that reserved for fixing on depots Is as iair for
one for another The question as TO depots was,
possibly kept open that the interest Of the contract
or, well the convenience of the post Offices,
might be consulted. The successful bidders for Penn
syvania reside at Philadelphia; and Of course they
permitted to send the blanks through the Office Of
that city Had their location been at Harrisburg or
Piitsburg either of those cities might have been
sidered the depot for the State
Mr. Rives's complaint that no contracts were given
out for Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Nilsson
ri, are unfounded. The contracts for those States,
awarded to Messrs. Sheets Co., we're entered upon
the book in the words, in the manner, and
Of the date, with the others
The Chief Clerk" Of the Second Assistant could
not have told Mr. Rives that Mr. Greer's bid " had
been," would be" rejected for had at that
time, been considered seen by the Postmaster
General and he had no know ledge of what the head
of the Department would do He probably alluded
to the fact that Mr. Greers bids for other work. Sc
veral months before had been dsregardcd.
William Gully and John Gully, of Kingston, New
York, were bidders for New York and other States,
and both proposed to make use of Ames' paper %
intending, Of course, TO copfne themselves to the
paper of that manufacturer, and no other, thus pre-
scribng to the Department instead of permitting
the Department to prescribe to them. 1t may be
that Ames makes twenty kinds Of paper-how could
it be known which of these kinds would be used J
Had these bids, or either Of them been accepted,
very important advantage would have been yielded to
the contractors of which Mr.. Rives might have been
the first to complain.
For some reason not easily perceived, Mr. Rives
alludes to the bid Of John L. Derrick of Illinois,
rejected it is said, because it did not reach here
until the Sd January, Carroll and Baker, the New
Hampshire lbellers of the Department, predicated
one of their false allegations upon the ground that
Mr.. Hill was suffered to see the bids and put them
in after the time.] The time for receiving bids ex-
pred by the terms of the advertisement on the 3Ist
of December, and bids could legally haze been con.
sidered rhieh came qtfer that time aud ,cere 50
considered though several receiped II however
happens that the bid Of Derrick was the highest of
any part of the Union--its aggregate being more
than $4,000 above others, including that of Mr.
Rives; and yet Mr.. Rives, in order to make out hi,
libelous charges, says it was rejected" because
not received in time One other bid, received on
the same day, and some twenty-f hundred dollars
less than Detricks stands along side Of it on the
book. Why did not the accurate Mr.. Rives say that
this was also rejectedr'
That the contract for Alabama and Florida ap.
pears, as is alleged by Rves, by the record to have
been first assigned to Hill and Sons, is true but that
II does appear, the result Of mere clerical
error in preparing the book Of entries for the Post
master General, and il corrected as soon as de-
teced, without though, Of Mr.. Rives.
For these facts am indebted to the books and pa
pers at the Post Office Department | hardly
necdnotice the conversation in the street between
Rves and myself, or between you and me- There
was nothing in that conversation, on my part in
tended either to deceive misead or any complaint
made Of your partners bids. ] heard no expression
at the Department, that Mr.. Rves was there consid-
cred an ugly customer y and il | had accustomed
myself 10 look upon him such, certainly would
have troubled him with no talk upon the subjec, :;
but looking upon his great government jobs Of fat
patronage at enormous prices, do not much marvel
at his declaration, that he 'Nyould not bite at small
bait, no way they could fix it,"
The reason Of Mr.. Rves for bidding in his own
name for the benefit of the firm, IL is presumed
well In the Post Office contracts as in hi.
treaty for the great job Of uniting in the bargain
Of Clarke and Force for printing the twenty volumes
Of Documentary History, Is singular and unique he
believes he is "more popular with both Wings and
renegsdes than you y and he does well for both
partners Of the firm to carry such influence from tn.
Democratic side Of the question will most effeetu-
ally aid the Wing, and apoststes TO throw into hi,
own lap and into that Of the who writes "strong
articles all the money that be extracted to buy
books for the supply Of such as have been members
Of Congress since the great Wing fraud Of the Docu
non'"'l iiis'"i1 Nas PetPefsted zen years ago, and
all who may hereafter be members. This every
expensive" work, some Of the copy Of which has
cost Give and six dollars page" Mr.. Rivcs
says, could proceed no further under its ORR
ginal proprietOrs-tbey had no capital to do
1t; and the people were in fair way Of saving to-
wards half million Of expense in consequence Of tn.
failure Of the Wing contractors, until generous, no
ble-hearted Democrat whose Golfers are borne
down with government money comes to the rescue,
advances from his abundant treasury the mean, to
buy out one-balf Of the to prevent the other
half from annihilston-and still further, volunteer
the and Of twentyone thousand dollars Of his spare