Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-07-31
said i"Our friends who mever mislead.
or hardly euer, make their statement
technically true, but really false"
Frauds in Letting Mail Contracts

in9heir estimates, orskulduggery on the part
,offSthe department in awarding contracts.--
ISteeens County Tribune. =.
The dissatisfaction caused by the non COM
pliance of the new mail contractors to fulfill
their contracts, the withdrawing of important
routes, is great throughout this portion of the
State. We can hardly pick up an exchange
without seeing an account of the grievances
imposed upon the people, and an expression
OF tho editors righteous indignation. The
Pope County Press man in order to supply
some OF his subscribers, has to act as mail
carrier himself:--Do"glas County Ne'es.
We have heretofore, from time to
time, transferred to these columns
complaints like the above, coming
from various parts of the State. The
persons living outside the State, to
whom the contracts have been award>
ed, have sublet the contracts on all
the routes where they could make
money by so doing, and have failed to
perform any service on the other
routes. The corruption in the various
departments at Washington is simply
appalling. A bidder for Govern
ment contract Of any kind is required
to furnish ample security with his bid,
in order to insure good faith and the
performance of the specified service.
The numerous stage coach mail routes
in this State were generally bid for by
people living near the lines where the
service was to be performed, and in
each case security was furnished &C.
ceptable to the Government. But af.
ter the bids had been opened, it ap>
peared that persons living outside the
State, and having their headquarters
in Washington, had been the lowest
bidders on all or nearly all the routes.
1t is difficult to. believe that this
result was possible unless the WASH
ington bidders had access to all the
bona fde bids that had been sent in.
But the strongest evidence of fraud is
apparent in the fact that while each
bona fde bidder was compelled to
furnish ample security for the faithful
performance Of the service, if the con-
tract should be awarded to him, these
straw bidders at Washington we're not
required to do anything of the kind.
If they had been compelled to furnish
sufficient security, as the law requires
there could be no failure in the per-
formance of the service. And further
than this, the law makes the refusal
or failure to perform the service, by
the person to whom the contract has
been awarded, a criminal offense pun~
ishable by fine and Imprisonment, and
provides similar penalty for the post
master or other officer of the postofioe
department who signs false or illuso>
ry certificate Of suficicncy Of sureties.
The law is seemingly perfect in this
respect, and renders fraud impossible
unless participated in by the officers of
the Government. To place this as
sertion beyond all doubt, we will quote
the following sections, in relation to
contracts for carrying the mails, from
the Revised Statutes of the United
States.
Section 3947. Any postmaster or other
officer of the Post Office Department who shall
affix his signature to the certificate of sufi-
eiency of guarantors or sureties before the
guarantee or contract is signed by the guar
antors or sureties, or shall knowingly make
any false or il!usory certificate, shall be forth
with dismissed from Office, and shall be deem
ed guilty of misdemeanor, and be punisha-
BILE by fine of not more than one thousand
VI NY upF1SOum0Ot uOG luOEo tudu
one year, or by both.
Section 1854. Any person or persons bid
ding for the transportation of the mails upon
any route which may be advertised to be let,
and receiving an award of the contrct for such
service, who shall wrongfully refuse or fail to
enter into contract with the Postmaster Gen
erai IN due form to perform the service de-
scrlbed in his or their bid or proposal, or hav-
ing entered into such contract shall wrong
fully refuse or fail to perform snch service,
shall, tor any such failure or refusal, be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be pun
lshed by a fine of not more than five thousand
dollars, and by imprisonment for not more
than twelve months. And the failure or re-
tusal OF any such person or persons to enter
into such contract in due form, or having en-
tered into such contract the failure or refusal
to perform such service, shall be prima a-facie
evidence in oil action or prosecutions arising
under this section that such failure or refusal
was wrongful.
Section 1862. The Postmaster-General
may make deductions from the pay Of con-
tractors, for failures to perform service ac-
cording to contract, and impose fines upon
them for other delinquincies. He may deduct
the price Of the trip in all cases where the trip
is not Performed; and not exceeding three
times the price if the failure be occasioned by
the fault Of the contractor or carrier.
Nov in all candor we ask any fair
minded person, regardless Of his polit-
ical views, whether the present deplo>
rable condition of the mail service IN
Minnesota and other States could be
possible without the most fragrant and
outrageous corruption in the postohce
department. The law bearing upon
the case is comprehensive and far
reaching, and severe penalties are pro-
vided for every conceivable kind of
fraud or failure in relation to the
mail service. Yet the corrupt ring
Of straw bidders are growing fat At
the public crib in Washington, un>