The additional sums of $7,733.20, paid for wrapping paper, and $19,277.30, paid for twine, were charged to the appropriation for railroad transportation for the year ended June 30, 1884, being for supplies of these articles furnished for use of the railway mail service. STATIONERY, FIRST AND SECOND CLASS POST-OFFICES. Fiscal year 1883–84. Amount of appropriation..... $60,000 00 Amount expended by the division of post-office supplies for articles under contract.. Amount expended by the division of post-office supplies for exigency items... 36,518 66 10,694 86 Total.... 47, 213 52 Amount expended by postmasters and allowed in their accounts (exigency items)... 12,786 48 60,000 00 Percentage of the total amount expended by the division of post office supplies for "exigency" items. 22.6 Percentage of the total amount of the appropriation, expended by postmasters... 21.3 Percentage of the whole appropriation, expended for "exigency" items by the division of post-office supplies and by postmasters 39.1 Fiscal year 1884-'85. Amount of appropriation.. Amount expended to April 20, 1885, by the division of post-office supplies for goods under contract. Amount expended to same date by the division of post-office supplies for exigencies... Total expended by the division of post-office supplies Amount authorized to be expended by postmasters for exigencies.. Total.. Percentage of the total expenditure made by the division of post-office supplies for "exigency" items. Percentage of the total appropriation, expended by postmasters (“exigency' items) Percentage of the total amount expended to date, for exigency items, by the division of post-office supplies and by postmasters DEPARTMENTAL STATIONERY. Fiscal year 1883-84. Amount of appropriation (including deficiencies) Amount expended for contract articles. Amount expended for exigency items Total expended during the year.. Percentage of the total amount expended, paid for exigency items..... Fiscal year 1884-1885. Amount of appropriation.... Amount expended for contract articles.. Amount expended for exigency items Total expended to date (April 20, 1885).... Percentage of the total expenditure, paid for exigency items... 25.7 The appropriation for wrapping-paper for 1833-84 was $25,000, but the total value of the wrapping paper bought by the division of postoffice supplies from the contractor was $32,771.38. The sums of $3,643.20 and $4,140 (total $7,783.20) paid for wrapping paper furnished for use of the Railway Mail Service for facing slips were charged by the Auditor for this Department to the appropriation for railroad transportation. The appropriation for twine for 1883-'84 was $63,000, but the total value of the twine bought by the division of post-office supplies was $82,275.71. The sums of $9,019.20 and $10,258.10 (total $19,277.30) paid for twine furnished to the Railway Mail Service were charged by the Auditor to the appropriation for railroad transportation. The letters requesting these transfers were signed in one case by the First Assistant Postmaster-General, and in another by the Superintend ent of the division of post-office supplies. They were addressed to the Superintendent of Railway Mail Service, and by the latter were referred to the Auditor, with an acknowledgment in each case of the receipt of the twine or wrapping-paper, as the case might be, and with a request that the desired transfer be made. The subjoined statements exhibit the condition of the appropriations for wrapping paper and twine, respectively, at each of the dates on which a transfer was requested. Transfer (requested February 5, made by Auditor March 7, 1834) Total transfers.. Total appropriated....... Total expended............ Balance 4, 140 00 4,619 04 4,607 22 11.82 3,643 20 4, 140 00 7,783 20 25,000 00 32,783 20 32,771 38 11 82 TWINE. Appropriation....... Twine ordered up to February 5, 1884. Balance.... Letter written February 5, 1884, requesting transfer of Amount then available.. Twine ordered up to April 22, 1884 Balance.... Letter written April 22, 1884, requesting transfer of.. Amount then available... Twine ordered up to close of fiscal year Balance unexpended Transfer (requested February 5, made by Auditor March 7, 1884). Total transfers Total appropriated.......... Total expended ..... Balance... 63,000 00 46,794 00 16,206 00 9,019 20 25, 225 20 15,979 00 9,246 20 10,258 10 19,504 30 19,502 71 1.59 9,019 20 10, 258 10 19,277 30 63,000 00 2,277 30 82,275 71 1 59 We ascertained that similar transfers had been made during the years 1881-82 and 1882-'83. Your commission do not think it a correct method to purchase supplies from the contractors whose contract rests upon a specific appropriation for a given article, and to charge the cost of such supplies, when furnished to another division of the service, against an entirely different appropriation. In our opinion, which we respectfully submit to your judgment, the appropriations made in terms by Congress for wrapping paper and twine were intended to cover the cost of all wrapping paper and twine used in the postal service, whether in post-offices or by the railway-mail service. A railway postal car is, in fact, a trav eling post-office. It is, we are convinced, substantially an evasion of law to obtain available funds for the purchase of additional supplies by taxing another appropriation with the cost of a portion of the supplies already purchased and paid for. Vide Stat. L., v. 15, sec. 2, p. 36, and § 3678, U. S. Rev. Stat.) It is but proper to remark that no concealment of facts has been made or attempted as regards these transactions. A full description thereof will be found in the annual report of the Acting First Assistant Postmaster General for the year 1883-84. (See pages 64 and 65, Annual Report of Postmaster-General for that year.) It may also be stated that for the current fiscal year Congress made increased appropriations for wrapping paper and twine, which circumstance may be taken as indicative of the sense of that body that the former practice should be discontinued. Expenditures have not always been judiciously made. Your attention has already been invited to the large amount of the "exigency" purchases, so called. Many of these purchases were imprudently made, and some were wholly unnecessary. To particularize: (1) William Ballantyne & Son were the contractors for furnishing mucilage for the use of first and second class post-offices during the *fiscal year 1883-'84, at the price of $2.29 per dozen bottles. On November 14, 1883, there were bought from G. A. Whitaker, who was not the contractor, 331⁄2 dozen bottles of mucilage, at $2.55 per dozen, an excess in cost to the Department of $8.71. On November 5, 1883, nine days before this exigency purchase, there were received from the contractors, according to the books of the stationery branch, 230 dozen bottles of mucilage, of which only 2,395 bottles, according to the same books, had been issued to postmasters up to December 31, 1883, leaving a stock on hand December 31, 1883, of 365 bottles, or 30 dozen. There could, therefore, have been no exigency of the service on November 14, 1883, which demanded the purchase of 334 dozen bottles of mucilage from another than the contractor. (2) Joseph L. Savage was the contractor during 1884-'85 for furnishing Dixon's American graphite pencils for the use of first and second class post offices, at the rate of 32 cents per dozen. On February 17, 1885, 50 dozen of these pencils were ordered from J. R. Michael, of New York, as an "exigency" purchase, the contractor, Savage, having died, as we are informed. The price paid Michael was the same as the contract price. Our July 29, 1884, there had been received from Savage, the contractor, 1,000 dozen of these pencils, and we found on hand, when taking account of stock, 890 pencils of this make, i. e., graphites. There has been none ordered since the 600 pencils were purchased from Michael. That is to say, there are still on hand, at the present date, 290 of the pencils bought from the contractor, and therefore no "exigency" of the service could have existed on February 17, 1885, to warrant the purchase of the 50 dozen pencils referred to above. (3) J. R. Michael was the contractor, 1883–84, for furnishing Carter's combined writing and copying ink for the use of first and second class offices at $5.75 per dozen bottles. On January 23, 1884, 50 dozen quarts of Thomas's writing and copying ink (not a contract article) were bought from Michael at $4.88 per dozen as an "exigency" purchase. (Michael's contract price for the latter ink the following year was $4.45.) (4) George McDowell & Co. were the contractors, 1883-'84, for furnishing Stafford's carmine ink (pints) for the use of first and second class post offices, at $8 89 per dozen. On January 23, 1884, 50 dozen pints of Thomas's carmine ink were ordered from J. R. Michael, at $8.75 per dozen. (Michael's contract price for Thomas's carmine ink the following year was 86.90.) (5) J. R. Michael was the contractor, 1883–84, for furnishing Faber's black pencils for the use of first and second class offices, at 33.9 cents per dozen. On February 20, 1884, there were ordered from Michael, to meet an alleged "exigency" of the service, 2,400 dozen "Michael" pencils, at 334 cents per dozen. Of these 2,400 dozen (28,800) pencils received and paid for over a year and one month ago (bill passed for pay. ment March 27, 1884), we found on hand, upon taking account of stock, 27,648. Mr. Baldwin, a laborer, states that "Michael" pencils were issued to postmasters to a quantity about one third or one-fourth that now on hand (one-third or one fourth of 27.648), so that it is evident (only 28,800 of the "Michael" pencils having been bought as such, and Mr. Yautis admits as much) that other " Michael" pencils were received, accepted, and paid for as "Faber's" pencils. (6) W. A. Wheeler, jr., was the contractor, 1883-'84, for furnishing "Treasury" blotting paper for the use of first and second class postoffices, at $14.50 per team. On March 19, 1884, 100 reams of " Climax" blotting paper were ordered from J. R. Michael, as an "exigency" purchase, at $14.40 per ream. (Michael's contract price this year for "Climax" blotting paper is $11.90 per ream.) (7) William H. Dempsey was the contractor, 1883–84, for furnishing rubber bands for the use of first and second class post-offices, at $1.85 per pound. On May 9, 1884, 1,000 pounds of rubber bands were ordered from J. R. Michael, at $1.50 per pound. (Michael's contract price for rubber bands the present year is $1.50 per pound.) (8) J. B. Adams was the contractor for furnishing Faber's red, blue, and green pencils for the use of first and second class offices, year 1884-85, at 52 cents per dozen. On October 28, 1884, 2,400 dozen Eagle blue pencils (white wood) were ordered from J. R. Michael, as an “exigency" purchase, at 41 cents per dozen. We find that these 2.400 dozen (28,800) pencils were the only white-wood blue pencils of this kind ever ordered, yet we found on hand 29,532 of these pencils, and many such had been issued to postmasters. Some of these must, therefore, have been received and accepted in lieu of another article. (9) Upon the blotter of orders given upon contractors and others, kept by the stationery clerk, we found the record of an order upon J. R. Michael, dated October 24, 183, for 100 dozen quarts of Thomas' black ink. The quantity entered in the book showing receipts of stock was 125 dozen quarts, and the bill which was paid November 27, 1883, was for 125 dozen quarts. The quantity in the order we found had been erased and altered, in what appeared to us and to the stationery clerk to be the figures of the superintendent, from 100 to 125 dozen. In explanation of this alteration we beg to add that we found, among the corre spondence of Mr. Rhodes, a letter from the contractor, J. R. Michael, who stated that he was obliged to buy a larger quantity than that called for by the Department in order to obtain a satisfactory price from the manufacturers, and asked that the entire quantity be accepted. With this end in view the alteration was probably made. |
