Stephen Johnson Field

“ If the contract for extra allowance was void by reason of fraud or clear mistake, the action becomes simply one for the return of moneys paid for services of stock and carriers never rendered, but which, when payment was made, were believed to have been rendered. ”

“ Reasons for the application of the rule are much more potent in the case of contracts of the government than of contracts of individuals; for the government must necessarily rely upon the acts of agents, whose ignorance, carelessness, or unfaithfulness would otherwise often bind it, to the serious injury of its operations. ”

“ That if the agreement for compensation for the additional service was made without authority of law, and in excess of all provisions of the statute, the government could not recover any part of the consideration paid the defendants for carrying the mail, unless in the making of the contract there was fraud, participated in and countenanced by the officers of the department who acted in the matter ”

“ Having extended the route 110 miles, and allowed the additional compensation provided by the statute upon such extension, it also allowed compensation for expediting the service on the new line, upon this extravagant estimate, at the rate of $15,994.77 a year. That sum for the increased expedition was regularly paid during the term of the original contract. It is admitted that no additional horses and men for which this allowance was made were ever employed. ”

“ Hon. Thomas J. Brady, Second Ass't Postmaster General,-Sir: To perform the service on route No. 38,146, between Lake City and Ouray, on the present schedule of seventy-two hours, requires twenty-two horses and eleven men, and to perform the same service on a schedule of thirty-six hours it will require (66) sixty-six horses and twenty-two men. ”