curtailments of expenses effected by the Department within the preceding year, specifying, in each case, the same particulars as required in cases of additional allowances.
Third, A report of all incidental expenses of the Department for the year ending on the thirtieth day of June preceding, arranged according to their several objects as for “wrapping paper,” “office furniture,” “advertising,” “mail bags,” “blanks,” “mail locks, keys, and stamps,” “mail depredations, and special agents,” “clerks for offices,” “miscellaneous,” showing the sum paid under each head of expenditures, and the names of the persons to whom paid, except only that the names of persons employed in detecting depredations on the mail, and other confidential agents, need not be disclosed in said report.
Fourth, A report of the finances of the Post Office Department for the year ending on the thirtieth day of June preceding, showing the whole amount of balanced due to the Department at the beginning of the year, from postmasters and all others, the whole amount of postage that accrued within the year, the whole amount of the engagements and liabilities of the Department for mail transportation during the year, the amount actually paid during the year, for and on account of mail transportation, and otherwise, stating separately so much of the said amount as may have been paid on account of the transportation of the mail, and for other debts for the same object, in preceding years.
Fifth, A report of all fines imposed, and deductions from the pay of contractors made during the preceding year, for failures to deliver the mail, or for any other cause, stating the names of the delinquent contractors, the nature of the delinquency, the route on which it occurred, the time when it occurred, the time when the fine was imposed, and whether the fine has been remitted, or order for deduction rescinded, and for what reason.
Advertisements for contracts, and regulations respecting them.Sec. 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General, before advertising for proposals for the transportation of the mail, to form the best judgment practicable as to the mode, time, and frequency of transportation on each route, and to advertise accordingly. No consolidated or combination bid shall be received, and no additional compensation shall be made to any mail contractor, so as that the compensation for additional regular service shall exceed the exact proportionAct of March 3, 1845, ch. 43, sec. 18. which the original compensation bears to the original services stipulated to be performed: and no extra allowance shall be made to any contractor, by the Postmaster General, for an increase of expedition in the transportation of the mail, unless thereby the employment of additional stock or carriers, by the contractor, shall be rendered necessary; and in such case, the additional compensation shall never bear a greater proportion to the additional stock or carriers rendered necessary, than the sum stipulated in the original contract bears to the stock and carriers necessarily employed in its execution, and when any extra service shall be ordered, the amount of the allowance therefor, in dollars and cents, shall be signified in the order for such service, and be forthwith entered upon the books of the Post Office Department, and no additional compensation shall be paid for any extra regular service rendered before the issuing of such order, and the making of such entry, and every order, entry, or memorandum whatever, on which any action of the Department is to be had, allowance made, or money paid, and every contract, paper or obligation drawn up in said office, by any officer thereof, shall have affixed to its true date: and every paper relating to contracts or allowances filed in said office shall have the date of its filing endorsed thereon. And whenever it shall become necessary to change the terms of any existing contract in any other manner than that designated in this act, or to enter into a contract for the transportation of the mail at any other time
