OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XLIX embraced in the list of purchases. At the annual letting of conbacts for the current fiscal year two hundred andseventy-nine proposals were received for furnishing the goods required by the department, more than ninetyaeven per centum of which were accompanied by proper certiied checks for five per centum of the amount of bid in each cane, asrequired by the act of March 3, 1875, and the rules of the department. One hun-dred and twen.nty-nine contracts (in quadruplicate) were executed, and proper bonds furnished for -the faithful performance of the same. The contracts were awarded by the Commissioner, with the advice of the Board of Indian Oommissioners, after examination of the samples oEered by the respectire bidders, by competent inspectors or experts appointed for the purpose. The work of receiving, inspecting, and shipping contract supplies is attended with much detail. Each package, when delivered st the gov-ernment warehouse, is weighed, and if found correct the invoice which accompanies the same is properly "checked." If, however, a discrep-ancy exists the same is noted on the said invoice, and the necessary cor-rection made on the package itself. Then commences the work of inspection by the expert, by a comparison of the quality of the goods delivered with the sample upon which the contract was awarded, and of the number of pounds, yards, or other quantity, with the amount noted on tlie hereinbefore-mentioued invoice. Shipments are made in a sys-tematic manner, each package being subject to the same scrutiny on leaving the warehouse that it received upon its entry therein. A com-plete and comprehensive record is kept of the goods received and shipped, so that the office has at all times at its command the ilecessary data by which it is enabled to tell the state of its busines in that regard, or to trace any package that may have gone astray. As an evidence of the com-pleteness of the system .of receiving and shipping goods, and of the record kept thereof, as well as of the magnitude of the business con-nected therewith, I deem it only necessary to state that not one pack-age (and they varied from one ounce to five hundred pounds in weight) is unaccounted for of the twenty.six thousand eight hundred and sixty-one received, whose total weight aggregated four million four hundred and eighty-two thousand eight hundred and seventj=four pounds. It is gratifying to state that less difficulty has beeu experienced this year, in the matter of deliveries of goods, &c., by contractors, than in any former year. But few attempts have been made to force upon the department supplies inferior to those contracted for, which fact is, in my opinion, entirely due to the rigid iuspectiou to which all goods are subjected, and the well-known policy of rejecting all that do not con-form to contract requirements. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, E. M. MARBLE, Acting Comnui8siow. The Hon. SEOEETAEOYF THE INTEPEBIOR. IND-Iv |