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2866
THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
April 21,
failure of the bidder or biddera to appear in
response to such a summons and satisfy the
Postmaster General that the bid has been made
in good faith, and that the guarantors thereof
are duly responsible, shall be deemed to be
sufficient cause for setting the bid aside and
entering into contract- with some other person
or persons for the performance of the service.
By the third section, in case of the failure
of any bidder or contractor for the transporta
tion of the mails to fulfill his obligations as a
bidder or contractor, the Postmaster General
is to be authorized to enter into contract with
some other person or persons for the full con-
tract term, or for such portion thereof as may
remain at the time of the failure.
Mr. STEWART. I move in the preamble
to strike out "New Mexico."
The VICE PRESIDENT. That amend-
ment will be made if there be no objection.
Mr. STEWART. I move to amend the first
section of the bill in the eleventh line by
striking out the words "the 1st day of May,"
and inserting in lieu thereof "the loth day of
May."
Mr. CORBETT. I move to amend by
making it read " the 1st day of June."
Mr. STEWART. That will be too far off.
Mr. CORBETT. It is impossible to notify
all bidders by the 15th of May.
Mr. STEWART. Say the 20th of May.
That will be sufficient time.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator
from Nevada moves to insert the 20th of May.
Mr. CORBETT. Upon that amendment I
wish to make some remarks.
Mr. STEWART. It is almost one o'clock.
Mr. CORBETT. I desire to "State that per-
sons in Oregon and Washington and Idaho
have bid on these routes under the existing
law, which provided that they were to file their
bonds by the 1st of July, and on the face of
their bids tliey have until the 1st of July to
give their bonds. It may be a hardship to a
man to require him to come here before that
time. Suppose he is away from home expecting
to file his bonds between thi3 and the 1st of
July, can he come here atamoment's summons?
It is evident that he cannot.
Mr. STEWART. Now, letme calltheatten-
tion of the Senator to the fact that the sham
bidder on the Oregon route is a Utah man.
Mr. CORBETT. I do not know who the
sham biddera are. I do not know anything
about sham bids or who the sham bidders are.
I believe men have bid for service lower than
the mails can be carried for; but where the
man who has made the lowest bid is respons-
ible and can put up his bonds, I am in favor
of his carrying the mail.
Mr. STEWART. So am I.
_ Mr. CORBETT. I do not want to leave it
discretionary with the Postmaster General to
give it to any one else if that man can carry it.
Mr. STEWART. Hear my other amend-
ment and you will see what I propose.
Mr. CORBETT. By the advertisement the
accepted bidders have until the 1st of July to
file their bonds and enter into contracts. Now,
this joint resolution ought to apply hereafter,
because, in the interval between this time and
the 20th of May it will be impossible for these
people to come here from Oregon, because it
takes twelve or fifteen days to send a letter
there, and fifteen days to comeback,provided
they should receive it immediately. There are
people in Washington Territory and Oregon
who have bid. Now, it is impossible to do
justice to them under this proposition unless
you give them sufficient time. I am willing to
make the provision as to sixty days after the
awarding of the bids apply hereafter ; but to
apply it to these men now would cut off all
these bidders. There were a dozen or fifteen
bidders from Oregon and Washington ; and to
say that the Postmaster General can let these
to any man he chooses now in Washington
Mr. STEWART. Well, I will accept the
amendment and name the 1st of June.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The amendment
is so modified.
jj Mr. CORBETT. That satisfies me.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. STEWART. I offer a substitute for the
second and third sections. I move to strike
out the second and third sections'aud insert the
following:
Sec. 2. And be it farther resolved, That in any cas
arising under the aforementioned advertisement, in
which the Postmaster General shall have good reason
to believe that any bid for carrying the mail on any
route has not been made in good faith, he shall bo
authorized to summon thebidderor bidders to appear
before him and show cause why such bid should not
be set aside or immediately executed by entering into
contract, with sufficient sureties ; and the failuro of
the bidder or bidders to appear in response to such
a summons, and satisfy the Postmaster General that
said bid has been made in good faith, and that the
guarantors thereof are duly responsible, or to enter
into such contract, shall be deemed to be sufficient
cause for setting such bid aside and entering into con-
tract with the lowest of the bidders who will do so for
the performance of the service ; and all the bidders
shall bo seasonably notified that such summons has
been issued and that they may be required t# enter
into such contract.
Mr. CORBETT. That is very indefinite—
i "seasonably notified." I should like to know
what is meant by "seasonably." I want this
confined by law to some specified time, so
that it shall not be left discretionary with the
Postmaster General or with any other man.
If it is left discretionary with the Postmaster
General, my colleague and myself will have a
dozen men on our backs who will want to know
. why we did not get this contract for them ; and
they will come here and ask us to influence the
j Postmaster General to give them the contract.
I As the law now stands it is confined by law ;
: but you propose to make it discretionary with
; the Postmaster General. If yo« do that every
; man who does not get a contract will be on the
j back of his representative here.
| Should it be left discretionary to the Post-
, master General? Should it not be confined by
law and determined particularly, as it is now?
It is defined by law now. If you want to make
the time earlier fix the time, prescribe the
, dates, and make the law apply to all bids here-
i after. The time now fixed is the 1st of July,
and they have till that time to make their con-
tracts and file their bonds. Now every man
i is coming in to claim damages, provided you
do not give him the contract when he is the
lowest bidder.
: The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator
1 from Oregon will suspend. The morning hour
having expired, the Northern Pacific railroad
. bill is before the Senate, and the Senator from
California [Mr. Casserly] is entitled to the
floor.
' Mr. STEWART. "We shall get a vote in a
minute or two on this joint resolution, and I
hope we shall go on with it.
Mr. HOWARD. If Senators will stop de-
bating the question and vote on it I will not
interfere.
Mr. STEWART. I shall not debate it.
Mr. CASSERLY. I have no objection to
that. I think this matter ought to be con-
sidered.
Mr. HOWARD. I shall interfere if much
more time is spent in discussing the ques-
tion.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The special
order is passed over by unanimous consent,
subject to a call for the regular order, and the
Senator from Oregon will proceed.
Mr. CORBETT. Mr. President, in making
these remarks I do not desire to reflect on the
present Postmaster General. It may be very
weH to leave this discretionary power with
him; bnt the question is whether any Post-
master General who may be in office hereafter
should have the discretion in any case in which
he may think it advisable to let contracts to
any parties that he may see fit.
Mr. RAMSEY. The Senator must misunder-
stand the proposition. It confines this matter
entirely to the lettings that have recently taken
place on the Pacific coast.
Mr. CORBETr. No ; itapplies to any routes
hereafter.
Mr. STEWART. No; that is stricken out.
Mr. EDMUNDS. If my fiiend from Oivgon
will allow me a moment to explain to hint, I
think he will be satisfied himself. I looked ;tt
this matter and framed this amendment myself
in order to protect us against the very eviu
that he speaks of. In the first place, if lie will
look at the printed bill he will see that the
I words "or which may arise at any time lieie-
after" are stricken out of the amendment, so
that it is confined to the present bids. In ihc
next place, going down to the bottom, where
the summons is to be issued, he will lind that
it is to be issued to all the bidders, and they
are to have a reasonable time. In the next
place, if the bidder whom the Postmaster Gen-
eral thinks has not acted ingood fkith is willing
to enter into the contract, ho cannot be ue-
j privedofit. It is not left to discretion; the
i amended section says in express terms that lie
shall have it if he takes it, but he must give his
sureties.
Mr. CORBETT. The next highest bidder?
Mr. EDMUNDS. No, the lowest one; then
the next after him, the one nearest; and if ho
fails the next one; and so on ; so that no dis-
cretion is left to the Postmaster General.
Mr. CORBETT. Cannot the Senator fix a
time? "Seasonable notice" is rather indefi-
nite. Is the time fixed within which notice is
to be given ?
Mr. EDMUNDS. No; it is provided that
the bidders shall be seasonably notified so as
to be able to attend. I am sure that inasmuch
as accusations of fraud are made in these bid-
dings this is as safe and just a way of leaving
the question and giving everybody his just
rights as can be devised.
Mr. CORBETT. If sufficient time is given,
if these men can have fifteen days' notice, so
that they can come here, at least sufficient
notice to give them time enough to arrive sea-
sonably, 1 shall be content. I do not know
whether the language used is sufficiently ex-
pressive on that point.
Mr. EDMUNDS. I think it better that it
should be "seasonable notice," so that the
remotest bidder may be sure to have a season-
able and reasonable time to appear; and if tho
Postmaster General doej not treat him justly
Congress can interfere. If the Postmaster
General were sodisposed, as certainly he is not,
he would not treat any of these men unjustly,
because he could not make anything by it.
Mr. CORBETT. I have not examined thi
amendment; I have not seen it before. I
have stated the evils I am trying to guard
against. If the Senator from Vermont is satis-
fied that the amendment covers these points I
shall make no objection.
Mr. EDMUNDS. They are precisely the
evils that are covered.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is
on the amendment.
Mr. CORBETT. Does this amendment allow
the Postmaster General to enter into a contract
for the whole four years where the bidder docs
not comply ?
Mr. STEWART. No ; that is struck out.
Mr. EDMUNDS. The third section is out
entirely, so that the measure is confined to
these few bids which are said to be fraudulent.
Mr. CORBETT. The third section is tho
one I had objection to.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. CORBETT. Now, as a third section, I
offer the following:
Sec. 3. And be it further resolved. That all bidders
upon every mail routefor the transportation of muita
upon the same shall hereafter accompany their bids,
where they exceed $5,000, with a certified cheek or
draft of some reliable banking house or institution;
which check or draft shall not bo less than ten per
cent, on tho annual amount they would receive in
any one year under auy such bid. In co.se any bid-
ders shall fail to enter into good andsuflScient bonds
to faithfully carry out their contracts such bidder or
biddera shall forfeit the amount so deposited.
Mr. STEWART. I beg the Senator from
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the Second Session Forty-First Congress; Together with an Appendix, Embracing the Laws Passed at that Session, book, 1870; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30886/m1/38/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.