Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-06
AN IMPOSSIBLE LAW.
The Act I'm Regard to Purchasing Gov.
ernment Supplies

Treasury eSicials have discovered anoth-
er act e the present Congress that is prac-
tically impossible of enforcement 1t is the
act approved January "a, 1894, relating to
the purchase of supplies for the government.
The act requires all purchases or contracts
entered into by the government. whether at
Washington or elsewhere, to be advertised
for, except in cases where the emergency is
such as to require immediate delivery. This
act is amendatory OF section 3109 of the Re-
vfsed Statutes and requires all proposals to
be opened on the same day in Washington
1t does not, however, limit the articles TO
be purchased to such as are to be used in
the executive departments proper, and this
feature, 1t is asserted, is practically i'm
possible Of execution. AS the act passed the
House IL contained words clearly in iicating
that the purchases to be effecIed were the
ordinary miscellaneous articles used in the
oepartments here, or ordinary supple fur
nlshed by the departments TO their agencies
elsewhere. But as IL finally became a law
all words indicating the original purpose Of
the act were stricken out, leaving the .npli-
cation that 1t should apply to all purchases.
therefore, the furniture, fixtures and sup
plies for all of the hundred or more public
buildings now in course Of construction
must all be examined by the government
board here in Washington. This board ac-
cordlng TO the terms OF the act, is to consist
OF one of the assistant secretaries OF the
treasury, one Of the assistant secretaries OF
the interior and one of the assistant post
masters general This duty alone IL is said
would take the entire time OF four sucn
boards, and. besides. these men are usually
professional men, and are not supposed to
have any expert knowledge of furniture and,
therefore, could not be competent judges
of 1t.
The inspection and purchase of furniture
for public buildings, however, will be only
small part of the duties of this board
Ihey Will have to advertise for and pur-
chase all supplies and stores for life saving
stations; supplies and stores for govern
ment ship yards; all supplies for the light
house service; supplies for the coast and
geodetic survey, etc. They would have to
advertise for and buy coal and supplies for
war vessels. and the revenue marine ser
vice, beside all of the purchases for the ex-
ecutive departments here in Washington.
The act makes no exemptions in cases
Where proposals for the next year have
already been received under adyertis ament
ana IN consequence the expense and annoy-
ance OF readvertising will have 20 be under
gone. In many cases contractors knowing
that their bids were the lowest have acted
Cnder the assumption that the contracts
would be awarded them have gone ahead
with their work, and will therefore suFfer
great loss, and more than this, important
III dertaking will have to be tampora r-l,-
abandoned until the situation is in some
way relieved. The first controller OF the
treasury agree with the other officials that
the act as II now stands, is practically i'm
possible of execution, and Secretary Car
lisIe mas taken steps to bring the matter 10
the attention of Congress with a view 10
having the act so amended as TO bring n
within practical limits