The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-09-25
TO CARRY
THE MAIL
Government Wants to Deal
With Carriers Direct.
SPECTATORS BEAT
The Local Bidders Men In Colorado and
Kentucky Make Money on Mail Cen
tracts Montana Counties.

The poStotlicc department mas de
termlnoi 10 Obliterate the foreign
contractor on The star mail routes
TO This end the depart ment has asked
for bids Tor carrying the mail from
people who live in the vicinity of the
routes. Heretofore ii has been the
custom for bidders in Kentucky or
Colorado 10 bid on mail carrying con
ractS i'll Montana and O,ner north
Western states. and low as the orig
inal contract price has been the sub
Ontrac. price has generally been low
er.
This has invariably been the case
for the mail carrying contracts in
his county There ar" six star routes
IN this county. namely. from kalispell
o Marston; to Sheldon, Montford
Ores, on and Echo: to Dayton via
Chau:auqua; from Bigfork to Holt
from Holt to Glen. and from Troy to
Syivanite.
The first of these routes, from this
city to Marston. a distance oi 7g
miles. calls for a twice-a awcek ser
.ice. and los hours. 81 hours each
way. is given in which to make the
rip. There is Il bond OF $4,000 re-
lHired. The present contractor Sc
cured the route 1t price of 81 ,0@5 u
| for the year. and he succeeded in sub
letting it 10 local parties for $y7G 90
per year. or a prof! OF $5SS5.
The route from .talispel to Mont
fort, Holt and intervening points is
in the hands of foreign contractor
al 80 and he sublcts ii for $3.50
| or "A profit of S222.
From Kalispcll 10 Day on the ser
vice pays s}G7.37 per year.
From Holt to Glen the contract has
been let to a forei~n bidder for SIPS
| so yearly, and he has sublct il to a
| local bidder Goi $50
| Just why the local bidders arc will
| ing to do tn n""k for th2 origina
| contractor at a figure very mater
| tally less than the foreign bidder is
| willing to 10 it, is not clear. Prob
| ably the foreign bidder figures tha,
| the local bidders are "suckers," and
he figures show that in most cases
his calculations are correct. But
| sometimes he gets fooled. For in
stance, the foreign contractor agree,
10 carry the mail three times a week
between Iavina and Highfeld. Mon
tana, for S623 50. but he found that
in order to get the work done he had
10 pay $S5o for twicc-a-wack ser
| vice. Instances where the or
iginal contractor got the worst Of il
are rare. however, and the in
| stances whecr he gets the best OF
| it are common
| The purpose Of the postotlicc de
| partment is to eliminate the spccu
lative bidder and get the local mer
to 10 business directly with lnc de
partmcnt. The figures plainly show
,nat if the local bidder will get in
and bid, he can get the contract at
a far better figure than he gets il
| from the speculatOr.
| Bids for the routes in Montana
| have been asked for and will be rc
ceived until sometime in December
Post master Bernard furnishes blanks
and all information ana it will he
to the interest of the present mai
carriers to act independently of the
speculator hereafter. 1t is certainly
a curious proposition if a man in Ken
lucky or Colorado can underbid con
tractors in this county for mail that
| is to be carried in this county.