The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-07-21

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of governmental affairs, to pro-
cure their necessary work done at the low
est possible price, looking, at the same
time, at the interests of the people and OF
the particular individuals or company en-
ployed to do specific work. 1t is equally
their bounden duty to see that there is no
fraud, corruption or jobbery involved In
the letting of contract or the perform
ance thereof 1t does not necessarily fol-
low that because a specific bid is the
smallest, that it is the safest and best, or,
in fact, the lowest A railroad contractor
once informed US that by temizing his
bid between excavations through dirt, sand,
gravel and stone, gravellng the road bed,
stone work, ETC., he could make his offer
seem the smallest while, in reality, it would
be the most expensive to company and
the most remunerative to himself. There
is another duty incumbent upon officials in
making contracts, and that is that before
completing the same, some one acquainted
with the class and kind of work called for
should examine the bids and ascertain
whether the work can be done at the price
fixed. A great many dollars, much of in
convenience, delay and disappointment
would be saved thereby and one door, at
least, shut against fraud
The proposition, we presume, may be
taken tor granted. that no man or cor
all al. nj all
they see money in It, In these sordd days,
when every one is grasping for money, and
wealth is having an undue importance and
influence, men or corporations are not
prone to throw away money idly and reck-
lessly. 1t is not habit we, any of us,
have to do work for the mere love of it.
We work because thereby we obtain
money. We look not to mere support, but
to saving something for future use. Men
invest their money in manufacturing en-
terprises, not as an act of benevolence, but
with the expectation of receiving a return
therefor. These propositions are so self
evident, and have been so oft repeated,
that it ought to be mere waste of words
to again call attention thereto, but it seems
to be otherwise. Men whom we entrust
with the administration of our government
certainly ought to understand it, but they
do not act as if they did A contract, some
time ago, was made with the Morgan en-
vclope company, of Springfield, Massa-
chusetts, to furnish certain number of
"postal cards" for certain specified price,
they being they the lowest bidders for the
contract. They, of course, expect to make
money out of it, and the administration
knew this or ought to have known it. The
fact is that the price which the government
has contracted to pay for the paper, print
ing, etc., is less than the actual cost of the
paper in bulk. This, too, should have
been known to the parties making the con
tract. The contractors must have known
this, and the government, as we have said
ought to have known it. We have nc
doubt but that money will be made out OF
the contract, but hoo is another question
1t can only be solved in the way that the
question which Captain Hart couldn't
answer can be solved. There is a job Oh
grab somewhere, and if the authorities a
Washington do not understand it, they art
not possessed of the ordinary intelligence
with which they are credited, and of which
the people, at large, are certainly possessed
1t is to this kind of contracts that we ART
indebted for SO many fraudulent contracts
and contractors by which the government
is boing defrauded and the public morals
debauched. The administration owe it tt
themselves that these kind of abuses shall
be corrected, and that the American name
shall not become synonym for jobbery
There is no economy in procuring worl
done at small figure, and having thu
deficiency made up by grabs or bills of re
lief 1t is another kind of reform ant
economy that the people demand, expect
and will, ultimately, succeed in obtaining