The Contract Commission

Hon. Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, and Hon. Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana, recently appointed on a special commission by the Secretary of War, are busily engaged in the onerous and manifold duties upon which they have entered.  They have been clothed with absolute power to decide all uncompleted contracts for guns, cannon, ordnance, and ammunition of all kinds, and it is said there are claims before them equal to sixty millions of dollars.  They intend to act strictly in reference to the rights of the claimants and the rights of the Government, without being prejudiced on behalf of either party.  Their theory is not only to relieve the War Department and the Ordnance Bureau, but even Congress from contests certain to arise out of the applications of interested parties.  Their judgment will be final on the subject, of course open to the acceptance of the contractors.  Should they refuse the award of the Commission, they will be thrown upon Congress for relief.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 2