The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-23

Washington, July 2.-(Special. .)-An ap- peal to President Roosevelt may be made by the members of the United Typothatae of America, which at it's recent conyen- ton. at Atlantic City, adopted resolutions against letting the contract for the print ing of money order blanks to Paul Her man of Rutherford, N. J. A committee of the Typothatae presented the protest to Postmaster General Payne, who the same afternoon directed that the contract be awarded to Herman. A number or the members of the protesting organizatlon feel that but scant consideration Was given by the Postmaster General to tnelr formal representations and that his sup sequent action was nasty, and, in their opinion, ill advised
 It is stated that the Typothatae repre- sents 5000 establishments with 2S0,OOO workmen and invested capital Of over $l2o, 900 and that protest rom suc1 an organization should have received more attention from the Postmaster Gen eral than was accorded the one presented
 The membership of the Typothatae in- cludes substantially all the concerns of the country doing work similar to that on money order blanks and the members want to know what IS to prevent any or their employees. when the contract. IS let again four years from now. from pursu- ing the same course as Herman has in this instance. They feel that if the Post: master General endorses his conduct, all bidders, in the future. will be at the mercy of interruptions employees, who. af- ter assisting in compiling their employer bids. can resign and submit lower bid with the expectation Of securing bacKing from somewhere sufficient to secure the contract, in case their bid turns out to be the lowest. This state of affairs, they assert, would demoralize the whole bus. mess of bidding on Government work Of this character, and an appeal to the Pres ident Is therefore contemplated on the ground that the protest to the Postmaster General was not given the consideration uy ha Yla V- pothatae of America believe 1t was en- titled.
 When Congress. after the unsavory star route" scandals in the Postoftice Department. determined to revise the laws relating to the postal service, the question of the printing of blanks for the House. Up to that time they had been furnished by the Public Printer but 1t was believed the work could be. done cheaper by private contract, and this theory Representative Bingham, of Penn sylvania. then. as now. member of the Committee on Postoffices and Postroads. proceeded to exploit on the floor of the House As the result of the work & of this ,is been awarded by contract to private par ties from that time to the present Con- sequently, the trouble which has arisen over the recent awards on the bids on June is nothing new For about sixteen years the contract has been in the hands of the Wynkoop. Hallenbeck. Crawford company or NeW 1OTh OIly, WHICH COH- cern has a ten story building and is said to possess the finest plant of this kind In the United States. In the employ of this company was Paul Herman. who occupied a minor position and supervised the me- chanical details of the money order bus mess. It is said that some time ago Her man. becoming chagrined over some in- terference with his department, suggested to a fellow employe that they should leave their place of employment and com bine to bid on the contract for furnishing money order blanks which offer was re- jected.
 In preparing their bid for the coming four years. contract, Wynkoop, Hallen- beck, Crawford Company called on Her man to submit an estimate for the low est figure at which the work could be done at reasonable profit He furnished his figures but before the bids could be opened he resigned his position and sub- mitted a bill to his former employers for $S,000 for money which he claimed was due him on account of the money order contract which they were then executing. Drifting around In New York, Hermain sought employment with various firms, including Sackett and Wilhelms, which firm made preparations to bid on this work but later determined not to do so. A few days later Herman put in bid of his own on which he has been awarded the contract. He filed with his bid bond from a bonding company. instead of a certified check. Having submitted the lowest bid for this work, Herman sought a means for filling the contract should he receive it. and it is alleged, called on the Metropolitan Printing Com pany' of New York City. and stated he was about to receive the contract and that he had no plant and no facilities for doing the work and wanted that com pany to make arrangements with him to do the work. He failed to make the ar engagements desired. as he did with the J. W. Pratt Company. to whom he stated From some source. which has not yet been shown, Herman obtained backing and rented a portion of the premises at POP Centre Street New York City. The bids were opened six weeks ago and the award was made to Herman about three weeks later and he has yet been unable to satisfy the Postoffice Department that he can supply the blanks in accordance with the contract If 1t shall be awarded to him.
 The printing of money order blanks is an extensive business. An entire floor in a building wh oh rents at $l0,0O0 a floor