Evening star., 1915-02-15
OVER 2,0O0,0O0,0O0
ENVELOPES NEEDED
Post Office Department Opens
Bids Preparatory to Award
ina Four-Year Contract.

Bids just opened at the Post once
Department for the four-year contract
to supply Congress and the govern
ment departments with envelopes re-
veal sharp competition between four
teen large manufacturers. and the new
prices are reported by the department
to average about 10 per cent below the
prices now current. Postmaster Gen.
eral Burleson also recently called for
bids for transportation service for the
collection and delivery Of mail in
ninetyf1ve cities in Ohio. Indiana.
Michigan. Minnesota. Illinois. Missouri
and Iowa, to improve the handling of
ordinary mail and to meet the rapid
expansion of the parcel post service.
According to the information given
out by the post Office, the governments
annual bill for envelopes used in the
executive and legislative branches of
the federal service is now about $780,
600. total of 2,500.00O.000 stamped
envelopes are used annually by all de-
partments concerned in the contract.
and a contract for this type. on terms
which assure a large saving, has re-
Gently been awarded by the Postmas-
ter General. There are in all 315 diff
ferent styles, sizes and grades of wrap
pers used at the Capitol and in the
departments. and the awarding of the
contract to cover this field is to be
made in the near future.
Great Variety Required.
The large omnibus contract, provid-
ing for all manner of envelopes, rang
ing in size from l Il inches by inches
to Is inches by IS inches. and in ma
terials from the cheapest manila, jute
and rope grades to the rarest and most
expensive styles made of linen and
parchment, is also to be awarded in
the near future. The colors of au-
tumn are scarcely more varied than are
the hues of government envelopes.
The finer grades range from snow
white and cream to blue, brown. green.
yellow, amber, golden rod, azure and
pink.
The government is an eXacting con-
tractor. 1t is stipulated that all paper
from which the envelopes are made
shall be clean and free from all i'm
thickness and strength. 1t is also
stipulated that all envelopes be Of the
dimensions given and made in the m ost
thorough workmanship possible. The
seal flaps and seams must be wide to
insure strength. All adhesive material
must be free from ingredients that
would tend to discolor the paper.
Bear the Penalty Clause.
OF course, on the envelopes thus
| bought will appear the familiar pen
anty clause" 1t is to this chiefly that
the distinction between plain and
printed envelopes, in the specifications,
has reference. When the contractor
delivers the envelopes plain, the penalty
clause is added at the government
printing office. The printing includes
the words Official Business" the name
of the department and ONCE where the
envelopes are used. and the warning:
Penalty for Private Use to Avoid
Payment of Postage. $780,
The fourteen bidders who competed
upon some or all of the three hundred
and fifteen items are the following:
r. P Andrews Paper Company, Balti-
more Paper Company, George p. Kill
liam, Southworth Company New Eng
land Envelope Company. Samuel Cup
plies Envelope Company. B. F. Bond
Paper Company, Union Envelope Com
pany, the United States Paper Goods
Company. the American Envelope Com
pany, r. Carter Ballantyne, Commercial
Envelope and Box Company, Louis
Wolf and the United States Envelope
Company.
Transportation Service.
In regard to the bids for transporta-
ton service in the cities mentioned
above, the department has announced
that in forty-one of these cities the
bids are solicited on one-contract
basis. whereby all vehicles required
will be furnished. The adoption OF this
plan. postal authorities believe. will re-
suit in a material degree Of simplifica-
tion and expedition in mail transporta-
tion.