CHAPTER THREE.

ADVERTISEMENTS, PROPOSALS, AND CONTRACTS FOR CARRYING

THE MAIL.

Sec. 573. Advertisement of General Mail-Lettings.-The Postmaster- V General shall cause advertisements of all general mail-lettings of each State and Territory to be conspicuously posted up in each post-office in the State and Territory embraced in said advertisements for at least sixty days before the time of such general letting; and no other advertisement of such letting shall be required; but this provision shall not apply to

any other than general mail-lettings. (Act March 3, 1879, § 1, 20 Stat., p. 356.) See R. S., § 3941; see 19 Stat., 78, 383.)

See also section 578.

Sec. 574. Division of the United States into Contract Sections.-The United States is divided into four contract sections. A general letting for one of these sections occurs every year, and contracts are made at such general lettings for four consecntive years, commencing on the first day of July. The sections and their current contract terms are

1. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massschusetts Rhode Island. Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia; current term, July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1881.

2. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana; current term, July 1, 1876, to June 30, 1830.

3. Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri; current term, July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1883.

4. Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California; current term, July 1, 1878, to June 30, 1882.

Sec. 575. Advertisement of Routes Omitted in General Letting.—Whenever by reason of any error, omission, or other cause any route which should properly be advertised for the regular letting is omitted, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General to advertise the same as soon as the error or omission shall be discovered, and the proposals for such route shall be opened as soon as possible after the other proposals in the same contract section; and the contract made under such supplementary advertisement shall run, as nearly as possible, from the beginning to the end of the regular contract term, and during the time necessarily lost by reason of such error, omission, or other cause, the Postmaster-General shall provide for the carrying of the mail on such route at as low rate as possible, without advertising. (R. S., § 3957.)

Sec. 576. Notice of Intention to Change Terms of Contract.-Whenever it becomes necessary to change the terms of an existing contract for carrying the mail otherwise than as provided in (the preceding) section [618 and 619], notice thereof shall be given and proceedings had thereon the same as at the letting of original contracts. (R. S., § 3958.)

Sec. 577. Miscellaneous Mail-Lettings Defined.-The lettings for service upon new mail-routes established by Congress in any contract division of the United States during a contract term, and upon routes where the contractor has failed or abandoned his contract, are denominated miscellaneous mail-lettings. Such lettings are made under advertisement to cover the mail service on such routes until the expiration of the contract term, when the service, if continued, is embraced in the general mail-letting.

Sec. 578. Advertisement of Miscellaneous Mail-Lettings.-Before making any contract for inland mail transportation, other than by railroads and steamboats, except for temporary service, as provided for in [sections] 693-605] [an act approved August eleventh, eighteen hundred and seventysix, amenlatory of sub-sections two hundred and forty-six and two hundred and fifty-one of section twelve of an act approved June twenty-third, eighteen hundred and seventy-four] the Postmaster-General shall cause to be published, in not exceeding ten newspapers published in the State or

Territory in which such service is to be let, one of which shall be published at the seat of government of such State or Territory, once a week, for six consecutive weeks, preceding the time of letting, a notice in displayed type, not to exceed six inches of space in one column of a newspaper of the following purport:

MAIL LETTINGS.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS.

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
Washington, D. C.,

18-.

a. m., of

Proposals will be received at the Contract Office of this Department until 18-, for carrying the mails of the United States upon the routes, and according to the schedule of arrival and departure, specified by the Department, in the State (or Territory) of from 18-. Lists of routes, with schedules of arrivals and departures, instructions to bidders, with forms for contracts and bonds, and all other necessary information, will be furnished. upon application to the Second Assistant Postmaster-General.

18-, to

Postmaster-General.

and no other advertisement of miscellaneous lettings shall be required: Provided, That said contracts for mail letting shall not take place in less than sixty days after the first publication. (Act May 17, 1878, § 1, 20 Stat., p. 61.)

Sec. 579. Rates to be Paid for Advertisements.-Hereafter all advertisements, notices, proposals for contracts, and all other forms of advertising required by law for the Post-Office Department may be paid for at a price not to exceed the commercial rates charged to private individuals with the usual discounts, such rates to be ascertained from sworn statements to be furnished to the Postmaster-General by the proprietors of the newspapers proposing to so advertise. But the Postmaster-General may secure lower terms at special rates, whenever the public interest requires it. (Act May 17, 1878, § 4, 20 Stat., p. 61.)

Sec. 530. Proposals for Carrying the Mail, how Delivered and Opened.Proposals for carrying the mail shall be delivered sealed, and so kept until the bidding is closed, and shall then be opened and marked in the presence of the Postmaster-General, and one of the Assistant Postmasters-General, or of two of the Assistant Postmasters-General, or of any other two officers of the Department, to be designated by the Postmaster-General; and any bidder may withdraw his bid at any time before twenty-four hours previous to the time fixed for the opening of proposals, by serving upon the Postmaster-General, or the Second Assistant Postmaster-General, notice in writing of such withdrawal. (R. S., §3944.)

Sec. 581. Proposals Accompanied by Bonds Approved by Postmasters.

Every proposal for carrying the mail shall be accompanied by the bond of the bidder, with sureties approved by a postmaster, and in cases where the amount of the bond exceeds five thousand dollars, by a postmaster of the first, second, or third class, in a sum to be designated by the Postmaster-General in the advertisement of each route; to which bond a condition shall be annexed, that if the said bidder shall, within such time after his bid is accepted as the Postmaster-General shall prescribe, enter into a contract with the United States of America, with good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Postmaster-General, to perform the service proposed in his said bid, and, further, that he shall perform the said service according to his contract, then the said obligation to be void, otherwise to be in full force and obligation in law; and in case of failure of any bidder to enter into such contract to perform the service, or, having executed a contract, in case of failure to perform the service, according to his contract, he and his sureties shall be liable for the amount of said bond as liquidated damages, to be recovered in an action of debt on the said bond. (No proposal shall be considered unless it shall be accompanied by such bond, and there shall have been affixed to said proposal the oath of the bidder, taken before an officer qualified to administer oaths, that he has the ability, pecuniarily, to fulfill his obligations, and that the bid is made in good faith, and with the intention to enter into contract, and perform the service in case his bid is accepted. (R. S., § 3945, as amended by act June 23, 1874, § 12, 18 Stat., p. 235.)

Sec. 582. Sureties on Bidders' Bonds must Qualify.-Before the bond of a bidder provided for in the aforesaid section is approved, there shall be indorsed thereon the oaths of the sureties therein, taken before an officer qualified to administer oaths, that they are owners of real estate, worth, in the aggregate, a sum double the amount of the said bond, over and above all debts due and owing by them, and all judg ments, mortgages, and executions against them, after allowing all exemptions of every character whatever. Accompanying said bond, and as a part thereof, there shall be a series of interrogatories in print or writing, to be prescribed by the Postmaster General, and answered by the sureties under oath, showing the amount of real estate owned by them; a brief description thereof, and its probable value; where it is situated; in what county and State the record evidence of their title exists. And if any surety shall knowingly and willfully swear falsely to any statement made under the provisions of this section, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and, on conviction thereof, be punished as is provided by law for commission of the crime of perjury. (R. S., § 3945, as amended by act August 11, 1876, 19 Stat., p. 129.)

Sec. 533. Amount of Bond Required Stated in Advertisement.-The amount of bond required with bids, and the present pay when it exceeds ($5,000) five thousand dollars, are stated in the advertisement under the appropriate route.

Sec. 531. Qualification of Sureties on More than One Bond.-When the same persons are sureties on more than one bond such real estate must equal in value

not less than one-fourth the aggregate of all the bonds on which they are sureties. A married woman will not be accepted as surety, either on the bond of a bidder or contractor.

Sec. 585. Bids to be Accompanied by a Certified Check or Draft.-Hereafter all bidders upon every mail route for the transportation of the mails upon the same, where the annual compensation for the service on such route at the time exceeds the sum of five thousand dollars, shall accompany their bids with a certified check or draft, payable to the order of the PostmasterGeneral, upon some solvent national bank, which check or draft shall not be less than five per centum on the amount of the annual pay on said route at the time such bid is made, and, in case of new or modified service, not less than five per centum of the amount of the bond of the bidder required to accompany his bid, if the amount of the said bond exceeds five thousand dollars. (In case any bidder, on being awarded any such contract, shall fail to execute the same with good and sufficient sureties, according to the terms on which such bid was made and accepted, and enter upon the performance of the service to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General, such bidder shall, in addition to his liability on his bond accompanying his bid, forfeit the amount so deposited to the United States, and the same shall forthwith be paid into the Treasury for the use of the Post-Office Department; but if such contract shall be duly executed and the service entered upon as aforesaid, said draft or check so deposited, and the checks or drafts deposited by all other bidders, on the same route, shall be returned to the respective bidders making such deposits.) No proposals for the transportation of the mails where the amount of the bond required to accompany the same shall exceed five thousand dollars shall be considered, unless accompanied with the check or draft herein required, together with the bond required by a preceding section: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed or intended to affect any penalties or forfeitures which may have heretofore accrued under the provisions of the sections hereby amended. (R. S., § 3953, as amended by act June 23, 1874, § 12, 18 Stat., p. 236.)

Sec. 588. Time of Returning Drafts to Unsuccessful Bidders.-The checks or drafts required to be deposited by the preceding section will be retained until after the contract has been duly executed and the service commenced by the accepted bidder. Checks and drafts of unsuccessful bidders will be returned to them by mail on the written request of the bidders, or delivered to any one on their order. See section 598.

Sec. 587. Penalty for Illegally Approving Bonds.-Any postmaster who shall affix his signature to the approval of any bond of a bidder, or to the certificate of sufficiency of sureties in any contract before the said bond or contract is signed by the bidder or contractor and his sureties, or shall knowingly, or without the exercise of due diligence, approve any bond of the bidder with insufficient sureties, or shall knowingly make any false or fraudulent certificate, shall be forthwith dismissed from office, and be thereafter disqualified from holding the office of postmaster, and shall also be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding five