The Washington herald., 1908-01-05

Ailo"il5 - oo@lA Oii LAlc lCbNSt -t4N-No "a AA4N
Audit System to be its vice president
and general manager.)
Mr.. Raynor did not seem 10 be espe-
cially cordial about telling what was
wanted TO the man I had sent down to
the Government Printing Office to pre-
pare bids on government work. so l
concluded TO 90 down myself. After
going through the form Of having my
name and business telephoned upstairs 1
at last was ushered into the outer office
and told exactly which seat TO take
Mr.. Sullings I was able 10 see after
waiting about an hour and a half He
hadn't much TO say about the matter,
and referred me TO Raynor. Raynor final
ly consented that he. man by the name
of M0oers. and another could come up
10 my Office and look things over.
Manage 10 Put Ia "a Bid.
They did come up. but seemed not
70 be al all satisfied After a great zeal
more trouble, in which Raynor, / be-
lieve, did all he could to hinder giving
as the information we needed, we were
able TO get in a bid The same trouble,
l know, was encountered by another firm
in this city"
in the request for bids. this man
stated it was directed that there should
be two bids. each for the same objects,
but each for different qualities of those
objects.
His bid for the high-grade stun amount
ed 10 S4953 s., and on the lower grade
II was S3,1065 The other firm, which
has been mentioned, bid FOR the high
grade A53,50 and for the Iow-gTade
S3,S34.50 The bid of the man who told
this story was sent In on May IS, 1907
on July 10, 1907. or something like six
weeks later, he received the following
notification;
Notice of the Award.
Number 1852
Referring 70 your proposition Of SIay O. lg97. quot
ing a price Of S7C65 and s. 953 IS for drawer see
tons and panels / have 70 inform you that this ma
terial viii b ordered from the Audit System at
S,lls. Yery truly yours.
CHAs. A. sTILLINGS, Public Printer
The representative of one Of the firms,
after receiving this queer notice of award.
which came so long after the bid was sub
mitted-he had before been unable 10 find
out when or where or how they would be
opened-calIed Mr.. SuIlings up one even
illE 10 Dish MIN dDbNl the award
Mr. Sullings, this representative said,
seemed To be petulant about the matter.
He was asked to reopen the case, TO let
new bids be submitted or to permit the
old ones to be recOnsidered. Mr.. Sullings.
prefacing or possibly suffixing a few
naughty words. which the telephone girl
should not have heard. said he was tired
of having you fellows make a howl about
deals down in the Government Printing
Office"
Long Hours of Work.
Mr.. SdlIings, this representative said,
informed him that he worked enormously
long hours down at the printing estab-
Hshment, and said. Il have no time to go
Anto these matters-they were talking
about contracts, and one in particular in
volvingI almost s., COO
1t was then remarked by the representa-
tive that Mr.. Stillings was paid to have
time to take care Of government business.
Mr.. Stillings, again accompanying his dull
Get tones by a few sulphurOus epIthets,
which no Public Printer would like to see
in public print, said that If people didn't
shut up. he would have an investigation
by Congress called, to look into his trans
actions.
After a few other pleasant words, and
after the representative had told Mr..
Stillings he ought to go ahead with this
brilliant suggestion, the Public Printer
told him how nice the weather was in
some well advertised winter resort, and
hung up his simple little telephone.
AS the contract was awarded early in
July. Mr., Stillings has had, it would
seem. ample time in which to call that
Investigation which he threatened to
call. on an evening that was not very
far away from the tenth.
Disregarding the ill-favored word,
deal" which Mr.. Stillings is said to
have used on that evening, and disre-
garding the fact that he said he hadn't
time TO bother his head with the award
of contracts, which he himself signs.
let us turn to another phase of this
particular award.
Notice of the award.
In the notice Of the award, as sent
to the man who gave this information,
no reference is made to any other bid
ders. although there may have been a
dozen besides The Audit System, and
the one now referred to. No trouble is
taken. either, to let the man who was
not awarded the contract know that The
Audit System was to supply the high
grade or the low grade stuff.
While the representative was telling
this story, he had before him 2 notice