Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-25

d. c.. because he does not employ
union labor.
Section S7O9 Of the Reised Statutes
as amended and interpreted by the gen.
eral accounting ONCE, requires that
competitive bids be obtained for such
work after advertising and that the
contract be awarded to the lowest re-
sponsible bidder, In this case, -four
bids were received and that of r. K
Ferguson, Inc, was the lowest bid
Before making award to the lowest bid
der, since 1t is recognized that any
work done at the White House must be
high-grade work and can only prop
erly be done by a contractor with the
necessary experience and competent
personnel, the qualifications of the low
bidder to do the work were given a
special investigation in this case. II
was found that he had already done
Government work as follows: % The
rotunda of the National Museum. Sll,-
1922: (2) Treasury Building, interior
painting, $3.50; go Naval Hospital
$2.500, and "a Veterans Hospital, New
York, $18,5o0.
Work Of Excellent Quality.
"It was found that in each of these
cases Mr.. Fergusons work had been ex-
cellent in quality and that he had salts
factorily fulfilled every expectation
under his contract. The following quo
tation from letter from the chief clerk
of the Treasury Department is Of par
ticular interest in this connection:
"'In reply, you are advised that Mr.
Ferguson has been low bidder on q
number of jobs In and about the Treas
ury Department and Its anneXes during
the past several years, and ! am advised
by the assistant superintendent and in
spectors that his work has been highly
satisfactory in every respect. They
further state that Mr.. Ferguson is a
man of high character, has been pleas
ant to deal with, has been perfectly
honest, and always furnished a great
job
From the foregoing 1t is evident that
r. X. Ferguson, Inc, has been proven
by previous contracts with the Govern
ment to be an entirely competent.
capable and qualified contractor for
this job. The law, as interpreted by
the Controller General, does not give
the administrative oficer any dis
cretion in the matter of selecting the
bidder to whom award Is made, when
this is the case. For me to have
bidder because he employed union
labor and the low bidder did not, would
have been a violation of the statutes
passed by Congress Nevertheless, ap-
preciating the policy of the admins
tration, not to permit the temporary
financial stringency of the country to
lower the scale of living of American
workmen, took the precaution in this
case to inquire into the wages being
paid and that would be paid on this
job by r. K. Ferguson, Inc. found
he hx, Es-YRa
equal to or higher than those paid by
the Government itself under the per-
sonnet classification act, as amended
by the WEIGH and Brookhart bill, for
similar classes of work, and a condi-
ton that wages not less than those paid
by the Government would be paid in
every case by the contractor on this
contract was made a supplement
thereto.
Action without Alternative.
From the foregoing, 1t is evident
that this Office could not have made
an award to one of the higher bidders
without violating a principle we'll es-
tablished by law. and that, If Govern
ment contracts are to be awarded only
to the employers of union labor, OF
! those having agreements with the I'M
ion, legislative action Is necessary
AAAab bAilo OAICS 10 llOb pAOklC VI lI-
clined to give contracts to the en-
ployerS of non-union labor, except as
required by the laws governing adj
mtniStrative officers. is shown by the
fact that contracts for construction Oh
similar work have been entered into by
me since January ]. 1880, aggregatinq
$402, l67, and that this and one other
| contract are the only two for such work
which have gone to non-union firms
For the White House alone, a total OF
Silt 805 worth Of work has been done
by contracts entered into during the
! same period, and this one painting Job
| costing $500. is the only one by q
non union contractor.
| II this complaint is instigated by
Lne local union of the Brotherhood OF
Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers
OF America, 1t comes as a surprise. be-
cause 1 had lengthy conference with
Their representatives before entering
INTO this contract, at which I explained
! fully the legal situation. When
! checked up on the quality of work
done by r. X. Ferguson, Inc, for the
| Government In past contracts and OBJ
| taineo the assurance that this con-
tractor would pay his employees at least
| the salaries established by the Govern
ment for its own employees doing the
same kind Of work or more, I notified
| the representative of this union as 8
result of my Investigation and he ex-
pressed himself entirely satisfied that
/ could take no other action under the
circumstances"