Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-04-28

test to their action in awarding said. con-
tract. desire in formal manner to record
along with said protest the facts attending
the awarding of said contract and the mo-
tiyes actuating them 10 the award they
made. and for answer thereto they say:
That III consideration of bids offered for
the execution OF said contract they were
actuated, first, by desire to place said
Contract ID the hands of thoroughly re-
liable party, in view of the vast interests
the Commonwealth OF Virginia had at
stake, and secondly. with the view OF OBJ
tanning the execution of said contract at
the lowest price, coupled with a proper
execution of the work; that they admit tho
statement contained in said protest relat-
ing to the number of bids presented to
than. the rejection of one of said bids and
the final decision of the Board in favor OF
the Kendall Bank-Note Company, which
was the lowest responsible bid remaining
for the consideration of. the Board. Tho
reasons assigned in said protest by s..
Brown Allen for favoring the awarding OF
the contract to the American Bank-No ts
Company are not the principal reasons as
signed by him at the meeting Of the Board
on the goth day Of April. 1882. At said
nesting the said 5. Brown Allen urged az
the principal reason why the contract
sh o,1ld be given to the American Bank
No te Company that they had materially
assisted our party cause in the late CAM
naisn. and would give friendly aid in the
fnture. while the Kendall Company was
introduced here by the Richmond Dispatch
the most bitter and yindictive enemy of
our cause. We admit that it appeared
that the Kendall Company was of recent
organization, and that as compared with
the American Company monopoly is par
haps unknown but the specimens and
plans presented by the Kendall Company,
together with the names of Mayor Grace,
sex-MayOr Wickham, Jessie HOyt, George
H. Kendall, Richard A. McCurdy, J. f.
Pierce and Geo. NJ. Turner. all of the city
of New FORK, offered sufficient guaran-
tee as to the respectability and ability of
said company to perform their contract !;
that we did not think either the recOllec-
tion of party favors past Or tho anticipa-
ton bf like favor to come was sufficient
warrant for US, as sworn officers of the
government, to expsnd 81 III moro than
we could get the work executed for. so far
as the allegation contained in said protest
that George "a. Kendall, the negotiating
agent of said company, approached said 5.
Brown Allen with what he understood and
Beloved was intended as an improper, un-
due, and unlawful solicitation-to wit, that
he was willing to compensate said Allen for
any influence he might exert in securing
said contract-we can only say that no
such solicitation having been made to us,
and never hearing of such solicitation or
| improper approach to said S. Brown AL
len until after we had decided at said
Board meeting to award said contract to
! said Kendall Company, we did not deem
| the statement of such a character as to
| cause us to pause in our determination in
| the premises We were then Of the opin-
! ion that any public officer Of Virginia IN
| derstanding u proposition of such nature
| as an assault upon his official Integrity
would Immediately have resented the in
| suit and taken steps to punish the offend.
| er againt decency, propriety and law. This
| not having been done, and taking the vague
statement of Mr. s. B. Allen in connec-
| tion with his desire to award the said con-
tract on party grounds, determined our
course in adhering to the position we had
taken.
| But in order to satisfy ourselves as to
the certaia standing and ability of said
Kendall Company to perform the obliga-
sions assumed by them in their bid We re-
| CURED at the same meeting of April 10th
| that the contractor should enter into bond
with approved security, in the penalty of
800 900, conditioned for the faithful per-
Torrance of said contract. and the surren-
der of the plates to the Commonwealth OF
| Virginia. This bond has been rendered
with sureties, sufficient to cover at least
five times the amount it represents. We
| will not say that had Mr. S. Brown Allen
have made this charge of attempted i'm
proper influence before our position had
been made publicly known we would MT
| have inquired into the matter further but
coming at the point in the controversy to
which he had held it back, we did not give
| it the weight we might otherwise have
| thought it entitled to receive.
We are still confident that our action is
| for the best interests of the Common
wealth of Virginia, and with this re-
ply submit our course to those whosc
duty it will be to approve or disapprove
our action.
u. r. REvELY,
H. III. DYSON.
THE AFFIDAVIT OF MR.. KENDALL.
In connection with the foregoing pro-
ceedings the counsel of Mr.. George H.
Kendall appeared before the Board and
submitted the following affidavit:
State of Virginia, City Of RicInaond-to-
wit:
I, e. D. Ward, notary public in and
for said city, in the State of Virginia, do
hereby certify that George Fl. Kendall this
day personally appeared before me in my
said city. and being first duly sworn, made
oath AS follows. That he is one Of the firm
or company known as the Kendall Bank
Note Company, dong business at No. 155
Broadway, New York; that az the repre-
sentative of said company he visited the
city Of Richmond, Va, and LAID b+fore the
Board Of Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund of the Common wealth of Virginia
(to whom were delegated The power of Civ
ing the contract for engraving and print
ing the bonds, coupons, and certificates re-
CURED under the act of the General AS
sembly of Virginia known as the Riddle
berger bill, approved February IA, 1882,
designs, specimens Of work, and Il list Of
the members of his company or firm, tend
ing to show that they were competent ia
every way to execute the order; that the
bid which he rendered was duly accepted
by the said Board of Comm ssioners, and
a copy cf their resolution awarding SAID
contract was given to said company; that
s. Brown Allen, the Auditor of Public
Accounts, gave hin the specifications of
the said issue, in his Office in the Capitol,
in the presence and under the instruction
of gentleman introduced as Major New
man; that the said S. Brown Allen
made an engagement to visit the said
George Fl. Kendall ia the afternoon
of The same day. which he did, in his room =,
No. 66 Exchange Hotel; that the said y.
Brown Allen there expressed unwilling
ness to award the contract to the Kendall
Bank Note Company, saying his party
were under obligations to the American
Bank Note Company for the sum of $4,000
advanced to assist paying the capitatien
tax to help United States Senator Malone
in his political campaign; that certain
members Of his party had sold short the
bonds of the State of Virginia, and might
be interested in not having the readjust-
ment of the State debt proceeded with to
gain profit by the rising value of said
bonds; that said s. Brown Allen said it
was customary, he believed, to make GER
tain rebates in bank note engraving con-
tracts, and that he might influence, by
means not stated to be improper, the Civ
ing of the contract, mentioning the sum