760 



UNITED STATES. 



the Civil - Service Commission. Alfred P. 

 Edgerton, of Indiana, was appointed in place 

 of Dorman B. Eaton, and William L. Tren- 

 holm, of South Carolina, in place of John M. 

 Gregory. Mr. Eaton was then reappointed 

 to succeed Mr. Leroy B. Thoman. 



The Navy and New Vessels. Soon after the ac- 

 cession of Secretary Whitney to office, he was 

 notified of the completion of the dispatch-boat 

 "Dolphin," constructed under contract by 

 John Roach, at Chester, Pa., acceptance of 

 which was recommended by the Naval Ad- 

 visory Board. It was provided in the contract 

 that the vessel should be accepted if it were 

 shown to the satisfaction of the Advisory 

 Board and of the Secretary of the Navy that 

 the failure to fulfill certain requirements of the 

 contract was not due to defective workman- 

 ship or materials. The Secretary was not sat- 

 isfied with the report of the Advisory Board, 



WILMAM C. -WHITNEY, 



Secretary of the Navy. 



and suggested a new trial of the vessel. He 

 appointed a Board of Examiners, consisting of 

 Commodore George E. Belknap, Commander 

 R. D. Evans, and Constructing-Engineer Her- 

 man Winter, of the Navy, to take charge of 

 the test. They reported, on June 12, that four 

 trial-trips had been made, and that the vessel 

 did not come up to the requirements in respect 



to power and speed, nor, so far as could be 

 judged, in respect to structural strength. There- 

 upon the Secretary referred to the Attorney- 

 General the question whether the Government 

 was bound by the law and the terms of the 

 contract to accept the vessel. He declared 

 that the report of the Examining Board showed 

 that the Government had not obtained what 

 it had stipulated for, either in respect to 

 strength, speed, or workmanship, and he want- 

 ed to know whether it had on its hands merely 

 a bad bargain by which it was bound, or a 

 broken contract entitling it to something bet- 

 ter. On July 12 Attorney-General Garland 

 submitted an opinion in which he discussed 

 the matter at length, with reference to the 

 provisions of the law, the requirements of the 

 contract, and the powers of the Advisory 

 Board that had supervised and approved the 

 work. His conclusion was, that neither the 

 law nor the terms of the contract 

 had been complied with, and that 

 the approval of the Supervisory 

 Board did not bind the Government 

 to accept the vessel. He went fur- 

 ther, and declared that the contract 

 itself was not valid. In conclusion 

 he said : 



It follows then that no contract exists 

 between Mr. Roach and the United States, 

 and that the large sums of money which 

 have been paid Mr. Roach have passed 

 into his hands without authority of law, 

 and are held by him as so mucn money 

 had and received to the use of the United 

 States and may be recovered from him : 

 and not only so, but the money thus paid 

 him by officials holding a fiduciary rela- 

 tion to the Government having gone into 

 the ship " Dolphin," a court of equity 

 will follow it there and for that purpose 

 entertain a proceeding against the ship 

 itself. 



As Mr. Roach was engaged upon 

 the construction of the three cruisers 

 "Chicago," "Atlanta," and ''Bos- 

 ton," under contracts similar in 

 terms to those for the " Dolphin," 

 he was greatly embarrassed by this 

 decision, and on the 19th of July 

 made an assignment of his property 

 to George W. Quintard and George 

 E. Weed the former being one of 

 his bondsmen in the contracts with 

 the Government. This raised the 

 question what was to be done with 

 the uncompleted cruisers. The con- 

 tracts provided that in case of fail- 

 ure, at any time and for any cause, 

 to go on with the work and make 

 satisfactory progress, the Secretary of the 

 Navy might declare the contracts forfeited, 

 have an appraisal made of the value of the ma- 

 terials furnished and of the work done, and 

 proceed to complete the vessels in accordance 

 with the plans and terms of the contracts, 

 using for the purpose the yard and appliances 

 of the contractor. The matter was arranged 



