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Show Rluok Bids lor Poaial Ton-! tretn. Washington, 2. Complaint bas been made to the pn-iolhie department depart-ment that a number of puatmaalers in various parts of California have certified certi-fied bonds accompanying bl.mk bids for postal contracts, and that some persons contend that audi certification certifica-tion vitiates tlie bids, even though they arc mb-i qnently nihil up before orientation to the department. 1'hia w a loul tnirtUkp. No bids will be rejected lor this HA-ise, and it it vr-ry doubtful whether a poatmasuv uu bo held to any oenoun account for acting in accordance with inia very common and long-eslablished practice, winch is not prohibited by any existing law -nd which is justifiable by several coDsid-rjiMonh of prudence and public benefit. Build a tu:eoiiipanying bids under tbe present systftm are not ! based upon the amounts for whioh the parties uudertake to perlorm tbe service, but upon the previous cnt of the service, which is specifically sot forth in tbe department's advertise ment. Tney are made conditional upon the faithful performance of the service, in esse the bidder shall he awarded tbe contract, and as a quali fi cation of sureties is made dependent upno their ownership of unencumbered unencum-bered real esUte, worth double tbe amount of their liability on the bond, the security seems to be perfect whether the bid is blank or not. On the other hand, tbe number and con- petition of bidders would be lessoned if all persons were to run tho risk of local postmasters dincloaing to other parties the amounts bid for any particular routes, which would be the case if the bids were completed before submitting the bonds for certification. The department de-partment has long known of tho existence of the practice above indicated, in-dicated, but baa never been called upon to make a formal ruling in regard io it, until quite recently, when Postmaster Copy telegraphed for instructions, when the second as-aisLaut as-aisLaut postmaster general replied by telegraph as follows: "Proposals and bonds must be perfected belore the execution of postmaster's certificate. This ruling refiects the verbal opinion of the present law offioera of the post office department but has not yet been promulgated for genera1 i "uidauce, and is Bubject to reversal or I modification; at all events, it will not be construed to affect the validity of any bids received up to tbe present time at tbe department in a completed com-pleted form, even though they may be proved to have been filled only at the last minute before 3 o'clock of the day when the acceptation of bids for the next term of four years on the Pacific coast and elsewhere west of tbe Mississippi river was germinated." |