Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-01-22

NY Dear Sir:-lltving Just returned from
Washington, | have to report MS follows:
Before I was ut Washington, the Postmaster
General had said to Messrs. Fairbanks 81 Co.
that he was not authorized to buy scales, ms
there was no appropriation made for that
purpose. lie said to them "have them ON
hand, and | will order them rs soon ns the
appropriation is made Fairbanks a. Co.
were TO ALLOW him on this, beclusu 1t was a
large contract, 25 pur cont discount from
their list retail prices. On my first visit 10
the Postmaster General. he said it was of no
use to agitate tho questiOn-it was too late.
| appeared before the Chairmen Of the An.
preparation Committees OF the House and
Senate; also before one of the Post Office
Committee, Senator Dorsey. and made u re-
quest that the POstOllice Department ndver-
tise for bids. | finally succeeded in this.
taking 1t out OF tho Postmaster Generals
hands, in one sense, ut least, by breaking up
previous negotiations. They advertised
December IL, 1874, bids to bG opened De-
ccmber 2lst, ut noon. The following COM
panies were represented Moline Scale Co.,
Victor do, Buffalo do, Jones do, Rahle do,
Fairbanks a. Company and the Brandon
Scale Company. 1t settled, and in fact was,
between Fairbanks d Company and the
Brandon Manufacturing Company all the
time. Taking the gross amount aud regular
sized platforms, we undGrbid them S3l Al,
/ NiiAilE Nhiu " DpNlllNlN StNif-N nitn iH
opening the box aud adding II weight they
make II 500 lb. scale-by It's proper denomi-
nation. This is II direct fraud upon the Gov
crnment and was winked at by the Post
master General. us | entered my protest
against their having the contract, and pro-
posed 10 prove that they did not make, and
never had made u GOO lib. scale of this size
platform. | also explained to him the course
they would pursue to fill the orders. lie
said that it would make ut difference, that
he had made the award and there would BIZ
no change.
The amount OF scales purchased under this
bid was 1900 GrOcers. 200 Unions, 2j 600. lbs.
8 1000 lbs. and 8 20O0 lbs. the seller To de-
liver all of the larger sizes free of expense to
the Government, to each of the Post Offices
designated by the Post Office Department.
The Grucers and Unions were to be deliver
ed at any Post Office the party receiving the
contract might select. the Government deliv-
erlng these two kinds. The gross, or list
prices of these scales Ol35)is SIS. 7O5. The
amount Fairbanks IL Company were to re-
crivc for them, before | interpOshd, was Sli,-
OPS. rs, IL discount of % per cent from list
prices. The amount sold for finally. wa,
ST,lfS.62, u saving to the Government by my
interference of the sun OF S7,S5i.7 10, II loss
to Fairbanks IL Company from the cost
of manufacturing them, including freight, oil
some $4,000, aud II loss by Our opposing them
] " AilNAi llbtlA slllAA lpNN tNNNbbiiN VI SIsCOfsIO
This we consider quite II victory. We now
have II good standing with Government.
Still, ii We could have sold them tho scales
without II loss we would have much liked
the advertisement. The Postmaster Gcncr.
nj nd etrly com mittel himself, and Inc ap-
peared bound to give Fairbanks & Company
the contract, if he could in any way and moi
wholly sacrifice himself. We did not receive
II far usage ut his hands. | hardly expected
ii, alter following HIM SO closely. lie surely
winked at the fraud, because after 1t was eX
posed he did not make II move to remedy
the matter. The winning party | learn ar,
putting notice III the papers that the sale was
5000 scales. This ia an error, aud | begin Ia
believe that this firm, with all its bOastrd in.
tcgrity, depend more upon fraud and false
notices that they procure and put or cause to
he put in print, of the immense amount OF
scales they make, etc, than they do upOr
truth and actual merit.
The sacrifices that we of rcd the Govern
mcnt was unusual, and it was. perhaps. fol
the best that W. did not receive the award
Sill they shOuld give some credit for the
saving we caused to be made to them by our
efforts. | have not given you half the de-
tails, nor could | well do so on paper.
The FairblnkScs are now furnishing Gov.
eminent with II Post Office balance, under /;
yearly contract, that weighs but four lbs,
ior the nice little price OF SO each; and I'M
utI luiS llSl CDllllINl u bnlNn, OF OOlllltl
scale, that weighs 2lS pounds each for $i.65
HOU would INIT sound IN PRINT?
Yours truly,
n. +. SpRAGUE.
The above letter fully explains the gros,
injustice pursued by the Post Office De-
partment in the matter. 1t is of u piece with
pretty much all the contract awards in all
the departments under the present admins
t%ration, and is nothing unusual. Fairbanks
d Company would seem to iosI money by
their contract. But they are said to have
also contracted to furnish u fifteen ton scale
for the Boston Post Office where a single
ton scale is large enough for all practical
purposes. There can be no possible use in
that office for u scale which will weigh 30,
600 pounds at a time and what is the rea-
sou such an one has been contracted for, uu.
less it be to give them a chance to realize
on these large scales what they may have
bid short on the smaller kinds?
1t appears clearly enough from what il
stated in Mr., S~prague's letter that the pos
office department had all the time intende,
to give this contract to Messrs. Fairbanks 4
Co., and would not have advertised for bid
at all had the matter not been pushed by Mr.
Sprague. As to the Fairbankses saving 81,
or seven thousand dollars, or any other sun
to the government; we have little faith to be
lieve. They will probably realize on thei
smallest four-pound scales at So, aud thei
flteen-ton ones, which do not come undo
this contract, what they lose on it, man,
times over. The reason given by Postmas
ter General Jewell for awarding the contract
to Fairbanks x Co., was, it seems, that the
alone could fill the order, and deliver tn
scales at sheir respective destinations by tn
first Of January. The Rutland Globe, @
January 4, shows how this has been done, il
the following editorial paragraph
Three hundred and fifty 90 pound scale,
for pOst-Oilicos in the South and West plsset
through Springfield Friday, and anolhrr Gu
load was to come down Saturday from Fair,
banks factory at st. Juhnsbury.
Here it appears that the first instalmen
OF 800 sixty-two pound scales, destined 10
post-Oiices in the South aud West, had go
no farther than Springfield, Mass, at tn
specified me.-MOntpeiier Argus.
We give the above in justice to the pub
lie, who have a right to know the facts. |
certainly looks as though there was consider
able Of a LOB" in the scale contract. A
to the talk about the 600.pouud scales, how
ever, we fail to see what difference it make
how the scale is made, provided it wi
weigh correctly, and its durability is not i'm
paired. We don't know as it makes an
difference whether the scale is made for 40I
pounds, and then changed, or made for go
pounds in the first place. The Fairbank
company, in reply to inquiries, say that "a
it is not their practice to engage in an.
newspaper controversy whatever, they hay
nothing to say in reply" to these newspape
criticisms. We should think, unless the