Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-11-04
y made their bid

at prices based on the under
standing that they were to take all the risk.
of herding and loss Of weight during the
winter, III government now relieves them
Of these risks, assumes them itsslf and gra'
Apitously gives hem all the large margin o
profit over whaSkhe cattle would have coal
the government IT biddere had beensad vited
beforehand that they would have this priv
ilege. II bidders had been advised before.
hand that they could have this privilege,
instead Of being warned that they could not,
the cattle would undoubtedly have been fur.
nished the government at from $2.4 to $3.50
kper. q hundred pounds. and the govern.
ment Would have saved from $4,000 to
5000 at the very least on this item alone.
That amount has, by this contrivance Of
asking for bids olAegere conditions 20 az to
make them rs high as possible, and then
changing the conditions after all competit-
ors have been warned of, to the profit Of the
contractor and tho loss Of the government,
been substantially stolen from the Indians.
Commissioner Hayt is now called upon to
explain this curious transaction. If it is in
explicable on any other theory than that
NJ. Hayt desired to favor certain contractors
at the expense Of the government, and ex-
clude all other bidders from competition
with them, the public is surely entitled to
that explanation. A circumstance which
renders this Transaction all the more sur
prising is that when Commissioner Hayt was
chairman of the purchasing COMMITTEE Of
the, hoard Of Indian commissioners, two or
three years ago, he made a report to the
board in which he severely denounced the
prices then paid the contractors for beef at
the agencies, and accused them of conspiring
to swindle the government when they fur
nishcd beef at prices from S2.44 to S2.47 per
n hundred. Cattle are now cheaper than
.hen-consldcrably cheaper than in that re-
port he says the contractors then paid-up
on which he said they made hundreds OF
thousands of dollars-and yet he, without
hesitation, awards contracts on such condi-
tions as to force the government to pay from
$2.87 TO So Is per hundred, and thus relieves
the contractors of the conditions which con.
PEELED the government to pay these high
prices.
1fthis is not "a conspiracy against the
government" what is it? And, if Mr.. Hayt
is not a party to that conspiracy, how can
he explain his connection with it?
ANOTHER DARK TRANSACTION.
But there is another recent transaction of
the Indian office which il still more extra
ordinary. In September last Commissioner
Hayt advertised for proposals for Indian
supplies and stock cattle. This advertise.
ment was published in the Pioneer Press
and called for proposals for the delivery at
Red Cloud agency Of five hundred 2 year old
heifers, and at the Spotted Tail agency OF
five hundred 2-year old heifers and one
hundred mich cows, and required the cattle
to be delivered at the respective agencies be-
tween March LIST and May lst, 1879 Now,
everybody in the northwest knows that it il
almost a physical impossibili,y to deliver
cattle, and especially two.year old heifers at
these agencies between March Is, and May
LIST; for at this stormy psriod ofthe year the
is generally practically impossible,
and no human being would undertake to
one thousand heifers and one hundred
cows across the plains with any hope that a
tenth of them would reach their des-
alive In view of this we'll known
there has been q great deal of curiosity
10 ascertain what Commissioner Hayt means
by a requirement which it was obviously
impossible to fulfll-and which would nee.
deter any one from bidding to exc
If he believed the requirement was ex-
acted in good faith, with intent to insist up.
on it. Recent developments have thrown
light on this singular requirement. 1t turns
out that its sole object was to deter every
body from bidding except those who were
in the secret of Commissioner Hayt's pur.
pose. Only three bids were received under
this advertisement, where there would have
been = great number if the rest of the
public had been initiated in the secret which
Mr.. Hayt confded to the exclusive circle Of
his ~favorites. Of these three, J. w. Bos.
Ter bid for the delivery of the cattle, not be-
tween March LIST and May LIST, as BY adver-
tised requirement, but between June LIST and
June 18th. "A. keyes, of Yankton, bid for
the delivery between March 1st and MAY
LIST, but with the specification that bad
weather should not be held against him. E.
b. Allen, of Leavenworth, Kansas, bid for
the delivery between March LIST and May
LIST ; but supplemented with a bid of 80 less
per head for delivery between May 18th and
June 18th. This last bid was accepted.
That is to say, a bid was accepted for the
cattle to be delivered between May 18th and
June 10th when, by the terms of the adver.
tisement for proposals, bids were invited on
impossible condition of delivering the
cattle between March LIST and May LIST. All
other bidders were scared off by this adver.
tised condition except the three men who,
in some way had obtained a secret intima-
lion that this would not be insisted on-and
the two bids put in by one of the sue
,essful bidders, that one was accepted
which did not comply with the advertised
'equirement. 1t is safe to say If all the bid
'ers had known what these three
Inew-each probably supposing it was
lis individual ~secret-that they could deliv.
r the cattle between May 18th and June
9th, contrary to the advertised conditions,
hat plenty Of responsible parties would
ave contracted to furnish the cattle at thir.
per cent less than the prices the
overnment had to pay under this clandes-
inc combination. There are several St.
sauI ne rfioo a 1ora loor,aJ -. ---|