The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-17
THE UNION.
THE OCEAN sTEAMERs.

publish the foliowlnS communicauon- AS ia
statements required some notice, applied to III,
proper quarter for the necessary information OF
the subject. This is embodied in the form Of note.
TO the text We should hope, that the following
viii terminates discussion, which bears so heavily
upon our overloaded columns, and hope that il viii
b saszssscsA 70 aaelAss siSsssl- $1,000 Psss 0Ass
Commit,ss Of both houses. They viii, of course
investigate the subject in all It's details, and Mr.. Sloo
VIII have an opportunity there Of stating his case in
full "a, 81. be-. r,.4 1.l s. ......... .,.. ....I
Erposiion VI the course p,.rssd by The Posi- Office De
pertinent IN contracting ,oih Edirad Mills for Oh.
Ew0pean steamship mail s1pies. .M
IL IL proposed 70 show
ls That the original bid Of Edward Mills was moi
entitled TO consideration for the want Of guaran-
ID That though Mr.. Mills was thus excluded
from competition, o. as much as IL he had never
bid az all, the department sent for and opened ne
collation. with him TO the exclusion Of regular bid,
ders. (e)
3D. That he was allowed and induced to make a
new bid, not explanatory Of his first, but essen.
TALLY different in its leading features and on another
route, where he had not bid at all under the adyer
tisement. a.s.. E......
4th. That by this private arrangement after the
time for the letting was over, Mr.. Mills was ena-
bsd TO supercede the lowest bidder upon the route,
who alone was entitled to be negotiated with in case
his bid was not every way acceptable (d)
5th. That in the contracts with Mills, the depart
ment so far from getting more service for less mo-
ney than was offered by regular bidder on the
route, agrees to pay the same money for much less
service. (e.) DO a
The orr inal bid Of Edward Mills, as set forth in
the report page 81 was not entitled TO consideration
on the rules laid down by the Postmaster General
to govern the lettings.
In his report page 1, the Postmaster General
says: ain executing the Law, instead Of making con-
tracts privately authorized il seemed better for
the department, and more just to the community at
large, to adopt the mode OF making contracts pre-
scnbed by law for the ordinary mail service, the
advertisement was therefore ordered"
The 9th section the act OF 1886, recognizing
the Post Office Department, 10Th volume laws U. g.,
psgc 47l,) requires that every proposition for the
transportation Of the mail shall be accompanied by
avritisn guaranty, sigued by one or more response
bs persons, DC. No proposal shdH Be considered un-
<s aocsmponied by such guaranty ia ~
% The Postmaster General, in his advertisement,
(sss report, page 9, required guaranty according
70 tbs law, prescribed its FORM and further required
the written certificate Of postmaster or other equal
ly satisfactory testimony, 'that the guarantof il
mano property, and able to make good his guaran-
ty.n5llgi5, u Htrh. a..
Most Of the bidders surprising the Postmaster
General not to be triAng with them by this requisi-
ton, and that their bids would not Be considered
without guaranty, took pains to procure ii in due
Nh. Mll's orsi~si bid had no gaara,.ty ,vsatsper
Under the law, the practice Of the department, and
The rule adopted by the Postmaster General to gov
srn this letting, il was not therefore, entitled to con-
sdstaton- II MIR. Mills had bid in every respec,
according 70 the advertisement, and had been the
lowest bidder, he would have acquired no right to
the contract or even to be negotiated with; his bid
should have been treated as nullity, and himself
piaced ON the same footing as to further proceedings
a. ifhe had not bid at all.
. Notwithstanding this fatal defect in Mr.. Mills's
bid which forbade its consideration altogether, the
department. entertained it, and proceeded to negoti-
ate with him as if he had been a regular bidder to
the exclusion of those who had complied with the
acquisitions of the advertisement and Of the law. [g.)
The result ofhat negotiation a ne,c bid from Mr.
Mills, dated February IL, l946--a month after the
bidding under the advertisement was closed, and
more than two weeks after the time fixed for the
final decision of the department. (h) (See report
pages Is and l7.) This is to all intents and pur-
poses nno bid; and il was not only new bid, but
bid on another route
i The advertisement laid down seven distinct
routes for the guide of bidders and the due arrange
were a. follows, to wit: ..,..a..,. -. ....
a From New York, by Cowes, in England, to
Antwerp, in Belgium, and back
sOr 10 Bremen, in Germany, and back
"Or to Hamburger, do. a4... do.
3. From New York to Havre, in France and
back. .,.a,.a.. ...........
Or to Brest, in France, and back.
Here are two distinct routes laid down by the de-
partment to be bid for. Mr.. Ms's first bid is upon
No.3. Il is to carry, mail from New York to
Havre, In France His second is upon No. .
From New York to Cowes, in England, and thence
to Bremen Haven, in Germany and from said Bre-
be seen that the first and second proposals are upon
different routes altogether is the altered by
the "prvilege which is to be allowed the contract
or IL he shall wish it, after two ships are completed
to run each alternate trip to Havre. He does not
bind himself to do so but il he shall desire it, he ia
to be permitted. He is therefore transferred from
the route on which he bid to another on which he
did not bid.
The law which the Postmaster General took for
his guide In this case, neither authorizes nor per-
mits such transfers, to the injury Of other bidders
Where there are regular bids, properly guaranteed
the Postmaster General may extend the service on
the same route, and allow pro rata compensation;
but no such thing as the transfer off bidder, how
ever regular, from route TO another, TO the
cuson Of bidders the latter has ever been known
In the practice Of the department, or is authorized by
the laws which govern it. G) .....FgN aid
On No. there was regular bid by A. ID. Mann.
lur sOO Dm CoVeTtu all the service cnlleu I0r on
Nos.92 and 8. Though arranged in the report under
No 3, il included the points named in No 2, and
took in, as an intermediate station the terminus Of
No. g. This did not surely vitiate it as bid upon
No, 2, es il proposed to accomplish all that was
asked under that number, with an addition. II was,
IN effect therefore, biz under No. 2, as well as
No. 3. ID
The department hdd no right, therefore, under
the law, to bring Mr. Mills-who did not bid at all
for the service on No. pinto competition on that
route with either Mr. Mann or Mr.. Sloo. 1.-THE mat
ter was open to further negotiation Of the bid
ders on the route was entitled to preference over
those who had not bid on it at all (k)
To prove that Mr.. Mlls's second bid was not an
explanation Of his first, but in every aspect nao
proposition, we have only to compare them in their
essential points. - ..."
/ The first is bid from New York to Hsyre. in
France ...
The second is a bid from New York to Bremen.
in Germany, by way of Cowes, in England.
The first was for steamers of 1900 tons.
The second for steamers Of 1 400 tons.
The frst for steamers Of 1000 horse power
The second for steamers Of 1000 horsepower.
The FIRST proposed TO commence the service in
January l947