Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-21
COAL For POST OFFICE
Award of Contract to the
Lowest Bidder.
AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE
5G
II 1u
ORDER OF THE POSTMASTER GEN
ERAL.
= Of.
Offer of Machen Bros. for Supplying
the Department the Rest Of the
Fiscal Year Accepted.

by order of the Postmaster General the
contract for supplying the Post Office De-
partment with 1900 tons of bituminous coal
to be used during the remaining months of
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1903, will be
awarded to Machen Bros. of this city, the
contract price being 1915 per ton. An or
der to this effect was signed by Postmaster
General Payne this morning and will be
forwarded to the proper officials this after
noon. The order follows:
The Postmaster Generals Order.
January q, 1903.
"Order No. 50.
Owing to the unusual conditions prevail
ing at this time. on account Of the scarcity
of fuel. and in consideration of the fact that
there is saving to the department of $3.50
per ton, the saving in the aggregate
amounting to not less than $500, am of
opinion that In the interest of economy
am justified in awarding the contract for
coal to the lowest responsible bidder, Ma
chen Bros, Notwithstanding the fact that
an employe of this department is member
OF the firm. While the policy of permitting
persons who are employees of the Post Office
Department to be interested in or in any
way parties to contracts made with the de-
partment for furnishing supplies for Its use,
Is not as general proposition approved
the circumstances surrounding this case
understood and expressly stated that the
proposed action in this case Is not to be
taken as a precedent.
ut Is therefore ordered that, in pursuance
Of the recommendation of the committee APP
pointed by order No. 1907. dated December
80, 1902, the contract for furnishing this
department with bituminous coal for the re-
mainder of the fiscal year ending June 30.
1903. be and the same Is hereby awarded to
the firm of -Machen Bros, Washington, u.
C., at the rate Of 1915 per ton.
III. C. PAYNE.
49, POSTMASTER General"
Difficulty in Getting Coal.
The difficulty which the Post Office De-
partment has encountered in obtaining suf-
f1cient coal to tide 1t over the emergency
caused by the rise in coal prices as the out
come of the strike of last summer and fall
was explained some time ago by the Post
master General hi a letter to Senator Stew
art, who had charge of the Senate investi-
cation of tlIs scarcity of COAL The contract
for supplying the department with coal for
the present fiscal year was closed with VIII
liam J. Zehs early in the year. The con-
tractor did mot file a bond Immediately,
and before the department had a chance to
require him to do so he notified the post
Office official that owing to the high price of
coal he could notsupply fuel at the figures
named, and abrogated the contract. The
department was forced to go outside for it's
coal, and bought from this or that dc aler
as it could. There were two emergencies
when it was impossible for the department
to obtain coal from the dealers from whom
it made previous purchases, and Mr.. A. w.
Machen, general superintendent Of free de-
livery, Yoluntee cred to obtain the coal from
firm in which. ne was interested. which
was known as MAchen Bros. and included,
Mr.. Machen and his brother. The depart
ment secured sufficient coal from this firm
to keep the engines and heating apparatus
going, and when bids were advertised for
Ma hon Suh cd a To fur
nish coal for the rest of the year at the
rate Of $0.75 ton. This bid was $255
lower than the next lowest bidder, and on
the whole amount Of coal to be used in the
department during the remaining months of
the fiscal year would save the department
So, 100 There was some question among
the members of the committee which had
charge of the reception of the bids as to
their legal right to award the contract to
Machen Bros, and the matter was referred
to the assistant attorney general for the
Post Office Department for his opinion.
Assistant Attorney Christiancy rendered an
opinion to the effect that he could find no
legal preventative. and the committee there
fore recommended to the Postmaster Cen
eral that the contract be awarded to Mach
en- Bros. Postmaster General Payne sent
the papers in the case to Attorney General
Knox for his opinion, and received a reply
to the effect that the opinion of Assistant
Attorney General Christiancy was approved.
The Postmaster Generals Comment.
This was the status of the matter this
morning when Postmaster General Payne
signed the order relative to the letting of
the contract.
at is not in accordance with the policy
of the department to permit persons who
are employees to be interested in contracts
to furnish supplies to the department" Mr..
Payne told a Star reporter this morning,
"but this is an unusual case. We endeavored
to secure coal several times and could not
do So Had it not been for the fact that we
could secure coal from Mr.. Machen's firm
we would have been compelled to shut
down the department. The bid of the
Machen Bros, is $2.55 lower than the next
lowest bid, and on the 1000 tons to be pur-
chased for use Of the department during the
remainder of the fiscal year $500 viii be
saved
The contract will be entered into imme-
diately, and the supply of fuel VII be main
| tanned by Machen Bros. until the 1st of
| July. when new contracts must be made.
| The department is now being supplied with