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Show CXXII REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF MDIAN AFFAIRS. After the delivery of the goods and before tl~ey are accepted and shipped, an expert inspector examines them and compares the deliveries with the sample or samples on which awards have been made. If equal in quality to sample, they are accepted and shipped; if not, they are re-jected, and the contractor is required to furnish other goods up to saz-pk. If he fails to do so, they are purchased at his expense in open market, and the difference in cost, if any, is charged against him. In some instances, where the necessities of the service require immediate deliveries, and the-deviation from sample is not material, goods not quite up to the sample are accepted, in accordance with a clause iu the cou-tract which provides for such a contingency. In such cases the in-spector fixes the difference in value between the sample upon which the award has been made and the goods offered for delivery, and a deduc-tion of twice the amount lked by the inspector as the difference in value is made from the acconnt. Inferior goods, however, even at a de-duction, are accepted in very few cases, and only when they are needed for immediate use and can not be procured otherwise. For every shipment the contractor makes out invoices in quadrnpli- Gate; the origioal goes to the Treaeury for payment, one copy remains in tbe Indian office, one is mailed to the agent or school superintendent, and the fourth is required to accompany the bill of lading, in order that the freight max be identified when payment is made for itis trans-portation. For the fiscal year ending June 30,1890, over 30,000 in-voices were required for that purpose. In this connection, I desire to say that one cause of great emharrass-ment in the management of the aprlirs of this Bureau is the failure of Oongress to make the appropriations for the Indian service so that de-liveries of goods may be made before winter sets in. Under a ruling of the honorable Second Oomptroller no contracts can be executed until after the President has signed the appropriation act and it has become a law. Much time is necessarily consumed iu work preliminary to let-ting the contracts. Under the law, advertisements must he published for at least three weeks. To abstract the bids, classify the large num-ber of samples offered and make the awards, takes from two to six weeks. Then it takes from fifteen to twenty-five days before contracts can be executed and approved, bidders being scattered all the way from Maine to California, and contracts having to'be mailed to them for execution. Blankets, clothing, wagons, boots, shoes, and a number of other articles, have to be manufactured after contracts and bonds are approved. Itis, therefore, evident that unless the Indiau appropriation bill passes early in the session, (and it should never pass later than the middle of February) many of the goods and supplies can not reach their destina-tion until late in the winter, and in consequence the Indians suffer. Even if the Indian appropriation hill should become a law as early as February, no goods could be shipped under the most favorable |