OCR Text |
Show 158 REPORT OF THE BOARD OP INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. their recommendation giving the freight to this line. We learned, some three weeks later, that the goods and supplies were^ being forwarded by the Erie Railroad Company, and ascertained, on inquiry from the Department, that the managers of that line had, subsequently and privately, put in a lower bid than that upon which the award had been made, and much lower than their own first bid. We found the Commissioner had accepted this without giving any of the other companies any opportunity of further competition, and without the knowledge or advice of your committee. The abuses incident to transportation of Indian goods led the board in their first report to recommend that the supplies and goods should, if possible, be transported by the Army Quartermaster's Department, so far as it relates to western transportation. Subsequent experience confirmed the board in this opinion. At a meeting of the board in New York in April last, the Commissioner submitted to the board for advice a propo-sition of Durfee and Peck to transport the Indian goods on the Missouri River. The proposal was found on examination to be two cents lower than the Quartermaster's contract, which had been already made after a lawful advertisement for proposals. If this contract, allotted lawfully to the lowest responsible bidder, was understood by the bidders, as it was expressed in the contract, to cover the transportation for the Indian Department, then it was manifestly improper to receive and consider any proposition of a disappointed bidder after the allotment had been made and the terms known. Such was the proposal of Durfee and Peck, following a shade lower all the prices of the contract. If, on the other hand, the Indian goods and supplies were not definitely understood to be covered by the contract, then the only proper course for the Commissioner of In-dian Affairs was to advertise for proposakVaccording to law, and give the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. In this view of the case, submitted for their advice, the board unanimously recom-mended that the Indian goods and supplies should be carried on the Missouri River under the Quartermaster's contract, or if not, that proposals should be invited by advertisement, and the transportation awarded to the lowest bidder. Taking our stand on the recognized principle of morality, we entered our protest against that method of obtaining and awarding contracts a method which clearly implies that, after a fair opportunity to bid has been offered to several competing par-ties, and the prices made known, one of them may be permitted subsequently and privately to underbid all other competitors. Such a course evidently must be destruct-ive of ail fair and honorable competition. With further modifications in the form of advertising, as suggested by our experience, and which may yet be made, your committee are more than ever convinced that all " Indian rings" can be broken up, and that the wards of the nation, who have been so long the victims of greedy and designing men, ought and mus. t be treated in a manner worthy of the highest moral obligations of a Christian government. That it has been and still is the sincere purpose of our Government to fulfill such obligations we trust has been evident in the history of the past year. Respectfully submitted by the committee. GEO. H. STUART, Chairman. JOHN V. FARWELL. ROBERT CAMPBELL. WILLIAM E. DODGE. PHILADELPHIA, December 6, 1871. CONFERENCE WITH MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. The board of Indian commissioners met at the Arlington House, Washington, D. C., on Thursday, January 11, 1872, at 11 o'clock a. m. Present: Commissioners Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburgh ; Robert Campbell, St. Louis; Nathan Bishop, New York; William E. Dodge, New York; John V. Fjmvell, Chicago; George H. Stuart, Edward S. Tobey. John D. Lang, N. J. Turney, and Vincent Colyer. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Brunot, president of the board. The ' fol-lowing- named gentlemen were present : Hon. Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior; B. R. Cowan, Assistant Secretary of the Interior; Hon. F. A. Walker, Com-missioner of Indian Affairs; Revs. S. B. Treat, D. D., secretary A. B. C. F. M. ; John C. Lowrie, D. D., secretary Presbyterian board; W. L. Harris, D. D., Methodist board; Jay L. Backus, D. D., Baptist Home Missions ; George Whipple, D. D., American Mis-sionary Society ; J. M. Ferris, D. D., Reformed Church; H. Dyer, D. D., Hon. William Welsh, Senator Stevenson, of Kentucky, Benjamin Stark, Ohio, John A. Kink, New York, Rev. T. U. Dudley, Colonel E. C. Kemble, secretary Episcopal Indian commis-sion, Dr. William Nicholson, Kansas, Francis T. King, Baltimore, Benjamin Tatharn, New York, Orthodox Friends ; Samuel Townsend, Samuel M. Januey, Thomas Y. Can by, |