1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



523 



contract is signed. They seem to for- 

 get that an employee of the govern- 

 ment cannot modify the contract, no 

 matter how onerous it may be, and that 

 their property and that of their friends 

 who have gone on their bond must be 

 taken by the government in default of 

 the work. 



The warnings givcm these people 

 frequently have been treated with con- 

 tempt, under the belief that the engi- 

 neers had some friend they wished to 

 favor. In several instances the low- 

 est bidders have been frequently told 

 that they could not do the work for 

 anything like the amount offered, and 

 that, if they entered into a contract, they 



to give to the government all of his 

 property, the results of years of hard 

 toil, if his friends could be relieved 

 from liability. But unfortunately there 

 there is no way by which relief can 

 come to him, and he must day by day 

 see his property eaten up, the bonds 

 being so complete and the terms so ex- 

 acting that he cannot escape. 



In other cases men seek to slight 

 their work or to induce inspectors to 

 pass it without full compliance with 

 the terms. There thus results a con- 

 tinuous and exasperating warfare, the 

 man losing money and the government 

 agents insisting that he perform his 

 work according to specifications. 





Completed Diverting Dam and 



must fulfill it to the letter and spirit. 

 They have laughingly retorted that 

 they know how to do business ; have 

 executed bonds, and then have awak- 

 ened to the dismal fact that they must 

 carry out the law and obligations and 

 cannot secure relief. One poor fellow 

 who should have known better secured, 

 after great exertion, a contract for 

 hauling supplies over a high mountain 

 range. He put all his possessions and 

 that of his friends into an excellent 

 equipment, but discovered too late that 

 the price he had bid was far below 

 what it would cost to feed his horses 

 and maintain his equipment. He has 

 begged time and again to be allowed 



Spillway, Carson River, Nevada. 



There is no desire on the part of 

 any one connected with the govern- 

 ment to let a contract at less than a 

 fair rate, with reasonable profit. It is 

 far better for all concerned that the 

 contractor make fair wages for his 

 men and a small return upon his capi- 

 tal invested. The engineers of the 

 Reclamation Service, having spent the 

 best part of their lives in such work, 

 know as a rule very nearly what it will 

 cost, and they view with apprehension 

 the incursion into the contracting field 

 of men who have never had experience 

 and who are enamored with the idea 

 of getting a job of this kind. 



