iciently, which never gave final satisfaction, and which
generally brought in a set of adventurers. The department and members
of Congress had experienced the annoyance and inefficiency of the
system in the contract for carrying the mails between Key West and
New-Orleans through the Gulf. It was several times given to the
lowest bidder, and as often fell through; being finally awarded by
private arrangement to other parties, at more than double the prices
of the lowest bidders.

In the elaborate Report made in 1852 to the Senate by Gen. Rusk, as
Chairman of the Committee on the _Post Office and Post Roads_, of
which Messrs. Soule, Hamlin, Upham, and Morton were members, in
speaking on this subject the Committee said:

"Contracts to carry the ocean mail should, like all other
contracts made by the Government, be the subjects of a fair
competition, and granted with reference to the public good, due
regard being had to the excellence of the proposals made, under
all the circumstances of the cases which may present themselves.
Your committee are aware that it has been too much the practice to
regard the _lowest_ as the _cheapest_ bid; but experience has
taught them that _lowness of price_ and _cheapness in the end_,
are not convertible terms, as the daily applications, from _low
bidders_, to Congress for indemnity against losses incurred in the
public service, will amply demonstrate. For examples of the kind
the committee would respectfully refer to the numerous
applications for remuneration, in connection with the public
printing, which have for years past occupied the time and
attention of Congress, and threaten to continue to do so to a most
alarming extent, involving, in the end, an accumulation of expense
infinitely beyond the cost that would have attended the
performance of the work, at a fair and liberal compensation. This
may be, by some, called economy, but it is the very worst sort of
economy. It excludes the honest workman, who knows the real value
of the service to be performed, and is unwilling to undertake to
do his duty well, at the expense of himself and family; while it
lets in the needy and greedy speculator who, having nothing to
lose in point of character or money, will readily undertake what
he can not perform, and become dependent upon the magnanimity of
Congress for remuneration for his losses, re