Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-12-29

stables. all with the expectation Of the
continuance OF the contract from July
/. 1904 to July l. 1910. The service
was discontinued Sept 80, 1908. and
the contractor turned adrift with one
months extra pay.
AS II this were not enough to hold
contractor where the department. could
break him in two financially II It
chose, section 1877 Of the postal laws
and regulations provides that "the
postmaster general may discontinue or
curtail the service on any mail route,
in whole or in part in order to place
on the route superior service. or when
ever the public interest, In his 5udg-
ment, shall require such discontinuance
or curtailment for any other cause, he
allowing as full Indemnity to the con-
tractor one months extra pay ON the
account Of service dispensed with and
a pro rata compensation for the amount
Of service retained and continued
Thus it Is evident that even had the
Crittenden contract not contained the
clause first quoted, he still would have
obligated himself. whether he knew 1t
! or not. to submit to any curtailment or
discontinuance Of his service the de-
partment might have seen At to order.
The court of claims, which tried the
! case, held that 1t had no option but to
/ uphold the law and the petition was
dismissed. 81 the provisions of the con-
tract respecting the authority OF the
! postmaster general to discontinue the
service was susceptible Of interpreta-
! ton. we should. in view Of the evident
| hardships imposed in this case. re-
solve the doubt in favor Of the claim
| ant said the court.
/ Do Not Always Win.
| But these high handed methods OF
/ the government do not always win. The
! courts have repeatedly expressed their
/ sympathy for the claimant in cases d
! this character and said in so many
! words that they would award him rep
/ aration but for the plain provisions OF
! the law. Sometimes the. see theii
chance to pass out a little concrete JUS
tice at government expense.
They have Just done this in the case
Of the Purcell Envelope Company
which has been hanging IRE in the
/ court of claims since 1898. This was &
Holyoke. Mass, concern incorporated
under the laws of New York in 1894
! Feb. 90, 1898, Postmaster Genera
James A. Gary awarded the compan!
a contract for furnishing stamped en-
velopes and newspaper wrappers "
quantities as required for four years
from Oct !, 1898. The contract wa!
signed by the company and bono
furnished by the Fidelity s. DEPOSIT
Company of Maryland, the compan,
and its sureties being liable under thu
contract to a forfeit of 100000 for fail
ure to carry out any part of the con
tract. The contract was returned to tn
department but was not signed on be
half of the department. postmaste
General Gary having quit public Of
flee. The new postmaster general
Charles Emory Smith. cancelled tn
contract and made another with tn
Plimpton Manufacturing Company o
Hartford and the Morgan Envelop
Company Of Springfield. Mass. Mem
time the Purcell Company had gon
ahead in good faith and at its own ex
pense in making preparations to turf
out the envelopes and wrappers Sui
was brought to recover estimated prof
fits and the court of claims has Just al
lowed them, amounting to $1S5. 3S1.76-
this notwithstanding that not an en-
velope or wrapper had been delivcre'
to the department Apparently tn
court reached its decision as TO dam
ages by a very simple calculation i
arithmetic. The claimants contract pric
was s2.4SU.556.zz. The total cost I
claimant of materials and manufactur
would have been s2.275.2244S TIL
court simply deducted the cost from III
contract price and gave judgment 10
s1S5.33176, representing claimant
profit had it been allowed to complet
its contract
Nor was the court impressed by tn
contention of the postmaster genera
that the claimant was not a suifa bl
person or body polite to be ent-uste
with the carrying out of the cortrac'
The court of claims sustained the fiGd
ing of the supreme court Of the distric
OF Columbia that there was no stipula
, ton or provision in the contract an
thorizing the Postmaster General I
avoid il or annul it on that ground. L
the course OF his opinion Judge Ander
son cites these pungent lines from III
opinion In the case OF Cooke VS.. tn
United States, 81 U. s.. 1913: III tn
United states comes down from its pc
sition of sovereignty and enters tn
domain OF commerce. it submits itsel
to the laws that govern individual
there"