The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-07-28
Circuit or District Courts of the United
States for the distEiot where the said
ship or vessel steamship or steam vessel
mny be found, seized tor carried"

mny be found, seized or carried"
| s.
The Award OF the Blue Ridge Railroad
~ = Contract. q 81
To the Editor Of The Ne,os:
In the Daily Ne,cs, of the 18th inst.
appeared letter from Columbia, con.
tanning what purported to be statement
derived from "first rate Sources" Of the
circumstances. attending the recent let.
ting of the work on the Blue Ridge
Railroad, and also Of the amounts of the
various proposals, and the prices al
which Crisswell &c Co., obtained the
award of the contract.
The writer, "Lux," has fallen into q
few errors of facts and figures, and that
the public may be fully Informed upon
the matter, the following corrections of
his statements are made from the official
proceedings of the Executive Commit.
tee:
The lowest bid received under the adj.
vertisement was 81, 252, ,O99 43; the high
est $40, 166, ,056. "a. The other bids were
intermediate between these extremes
that of Oriswell & Co. being So, $780,
527.46. The Executive COMMITTEES hav-
ing decided to reject oil these proposals
under the terms of the advertisement,
all the bidders were invited to q confer
ence with the committee, and were ad-
vised of the action taken upon the bids,
and made acquainted with the reasons
therefor. ri. .:,
at this conference were present all tho
bidders save one. All were permitted to
submit new proposals upon the new
basis laid down. by the committee. Un-
der this arrangement four proposals we're
received and considered by the commit
tee, of which the highest amounted to
So, 333, 426. 63, and the lowest to Sc, TOT, (.
65l.6l. The purity vino made the pro-
posal under the advertisement of ST.
$500 in which "Lux" seems to take a
peculiar interest, now put his proposal
at S9,0OO,0OO.
Some advantages were offered in the
details of the negotiations by the high
est bidders, (Criswell &c Co., which led
the committee to pursue negotiations
with them; and the proposition having
been submitted to them that they should
reduce their bid below the lowest, viz:
to SO, 700, 600, and they having acceded
to this, the company still having the be-
netit OF the advantages Of detail hereto
fore mentioned. the award was made to
them as the lowest and best bidders.
That there is room for honest differ
ence of opinion as to the expediency of
the policy pursued by the committee in
the rejection of all the original propo-
sails, is not denied. It is also possible
that they erred in preferring the propo-
sal of Messrs. Criswell 81 Co., as more
advantageous to the company than those
Of the other bidders.
The committee, however, feel that they
can abundnntly justify the soundness OF
their Judgment on those points to the
Board of Directors, and to the public.
But the point now made is that the
letting was perfectly fair and open, con-
Quoted according to usage, and that the
committee not only had the right, but it
was their duty, to consider all collateral
advantages offered to the company by
the bidders, as well as the prices affixed
to the different items of work.
The work was finally awarded to Girls
well & Co., at $4,000 or $7,651. 81
below the lowest bid from other parties,
and the committee fail to see that in
making that award they have betrayed
the trust reposed in them
The statement of "Lux" "that there
was other bids as responsible in every
way at SS,O00,000 and less, but the
S9,OUU,OuO DID was accepted, Is wholly
erroneous.
Under the caption of "the price of the
work, LUX" gives the prices of Girls
wells bid as compared with other pro-
posals. He does not say in so many
words that these are the prices at which
the work was awarded, but he certainly
would have the public infer that these
are the prices.
Now these prices coincide nearly with
those of Criswel G. Co. 8 first bid, but
this bid was rejected with all others, as
has been hereinbefore stated, and the
work was awarded to them at a reduc-
tion in total amount of $96O,O0O below
that first proposed, and of course at a
corresponding reduction in prices for
materials and work. The Executive
Committee have accepted the bid that
they believe to be tho most judicious
and advantageous to the company, if
carried out in good faith by the contrac-