by John Marshall Harlan, Eastern v. United States — Opinion of the Court
“ If the order made by the postmaster general on that day, fixing certain rates, upon the basis of a reduction of 10 per cent., for carrying the mails from July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1881, and its acceptance by the railroad company, constituted an express contract in respect to the compensation to be paid to it, still as, by the terms of both the order and the notice, those rates were to govern, 'unless otherwise ordered,' there is no ground for the company to complain of the subsequent reduction of 5 per cent. ”
