by contractor's tank trucks f. o. b. Bowman Field, Louisville, Ky., at top price of $0.126 per gallon.

2. The payments at 11 cents per gallon referred to in paragraph 2 of basic letter are found to cover concesutive deliveries on item 1 (a) of the contract, to a total amount of 58,849 gallons of fuel. Vendor claims wrong price was given in the invoices involved through using posted tank-wagon prices of another grade of aviation gasoline, through clerical error.

3. It is recommended that claim in the amount of $941.59 be paid for the difference in cost of the gasoline involved at contract price of $0.126 per gallon over amount paid at price of $0.11 per gallon as set forth in paragraph 2 of basic letter, such settlement to be made out of funds under appropriation, Air Corps, Army, fiscal year 1937, Procurement Authority AC 27 P 83-0235 A 0705-7. (This was formerly AC 27 P 83-0235 A 570-7.) For the Chief of the Matériel Division:

1. The attached voucher in favor of the Standard Oil Co., Louisville, Ky., in the amount of $941.59 representing underpayment for gasoline delivered under contract No. W 535 ac 8868, dated June 17, 1936, is forwarded for remark and recommendation, attention being invited to the information furnished in the foregoing correspondence.

For the Chief of Finance:

TO CHIEF OF FINANCE:

Washington, D. C., March 24, 1937.

Recommending that attached voucher be sent to the General Accounting Office for settlement. It is further recommended that the claim of the Standard Oil Co. of Kentucky be allowed.

For the Chief of the Air Corps:

M. F. DAVIS,
Lieutenant Colonel, Air Corps,

Executive.

[Fifth endorsement]

167/234660 FAA-3 (Standard Oil Co., Kentucky).

5th Ind.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE, CHIEF OF FINANCE,
Washington, March 26, 1937.

To GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, RECORDS DIVISION:

1. The attached voucher in favor of the Standard Oil Co., Louisville, Ky., in the amount of $941.59, representing underpayment for gasoline delivered under contract No. W 535-2c-8868, is transmitted for direct settlement, attention being invited to the recommendation of the Chief of the Air Corps in the preceding endorsement.

2. In this connection, reference is made to letter from your office dated March 1, 1937, R-01697(163)-JSC, which is returned herewith as enclosure No. 4. For the Chief of Finance:

EVERETT L. RICE, Captain, Finance Department

[Settlement certificate]

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE,

STANDARD OIL CO., INC., IN KENTUCKY,

CLAIMS DIVISION, Washington, September 28, 1938.

Louisville, Ky.

SIRS: Your claim No. 01697 (163) in the amount of $941.59, representing balance alleged to be due on account of error in billing for gasoline delivered to Bowman Field, Louisville, Ky., during the months of July, August, September, and October 1936, under contract No. W535-AC-8868, dated June 13, 1936, has been carefully examined and it is found that no part thereof may be allowed for the reasons hereinafter stated.

Under the terms of the contract, as amended by change order No. 1, dated July 24, 1936, you agreed to deliver 108,000 gallons, fuel, aircraft-engine grade 92, in accordance with all of the terms and requirements of United States Army Specification No. 2-95, dated June 19, 1935, in your tank trucks, to Bowman Field, Louisville, Ky., at a price of $0.126 per gallon, or in the total amount of $13,608. The price of $0.126 was subject to adjustment in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 17 of the contract which provided that each and every invoice submitted by you should contain certification as to the currently quoted net tax excluded posted tank-wagon price on the date of delivery of the aircraftengine fuel invoiced, and that the actual price to be paid for the fuel would be your posted tank-wagon price in effect on the respective dates of delivery, less $0.03 per gallon discount, not in excess, however, of the price hereinbefore stipulated.

The records show that for the period July 7, 1936, to October 21, 1936, a total of 60,883 gallons of gasoline were delivered to Bowman Field and that payments were made for deliveries of 2,034 gallons on July 7, 1936, at the rate of $0.126 per gallon, and for deliveries totaling 58,849 gallons at the rate of $0.11 per gallon on various dates, during the period July 15, 1936, to October 21, 1936, on vouchers Nos. 1214, 826, 458, and 74, July, August, September, and November 1936 accounts of Capt. John F. Connell. The payment for the deliveries on July 7, 1936, was made at the contract rate on the basis of your certification that the posted tankwagon price on Stanavo Ethyl gasoline at the time and place of delivery was $0.22, which price, less quantity discount of $0.03 and Federal and State taxes of $0.06, exceeded the maximum price of $0.126 to be paid under the contract. The payments for the subsequent deliveries were made on the basis of your certifications that the posted tank-wagon price on the above gasoline at the time and place of delivery was $0.20, or $0.11 exclusive of quantity discount and Federal and State taxes.

In connection with the deliveries for the period July 15, to October 21. 1936, you now allege that your tank-wagon price on this gasoline on the date of your first delivery under the contract was $0.22, including taxes and that this price remained in effect up to and including October 21, 1936. It is further alleged that the change in price was due to a clerical error wherein the tank-wagon market price on another grade of aviation gasoline was stated instead of the price on the grade of gasoline furnished. Accordingly, claim is made for $941.59, representing an additional charge of $0.016 per gallon for the 58,849 gallons of gasoline delivered during the period in question.

In response to requests of this office for original schedules of posted tank-wagon prices on this gasoline at the time and place of the various deliveries on which the claim is based, in letter dated August 2, 1937, you stated the following:

"The material, namely Stanavo Aviation with Ethyl, called for in the above contract is only handled by this office and ordered in when you require it for your use only, therefore there was no occasion to use a price on it during the life of said contract for any other customer or for any other purpose. Although reference is made to a 'posted' price, no actual physical posting of such a price was made at Bowman Field or at our plant from which this material was drawn. The schedules which you have requested could only be our office records of prices in effect, which records, of course, are supposed to reflect any public postings which we might make."

It thus appears that the prices to be charged the Government under this contract were peculiarly within your knowledge and not a matter of public or general knowledge. The invoices submitted by you were certified as correct and just and appeared to have been paid under circumstances which led the Government to believe that the amount allowed was all that was claimed and that such amount was received in full satisfaction of the claim. Under the circumstances there is no legal basis for making any further payment and, accordingly, the present claim must be disallowed. (See St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Company v. United States, 268 U. S. 169, 174-175; United States v. Garlinger, 169 U. S. 316, 322-323; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company v. Clark, 178 U. S. 353.) I therefore certify that no balance is found due you from the United States. R. N. ELLIOTT, Acting Comptroller General of the United States.

Respectfully,

By F. A. GOEBEL.

О

EARL J. REED AND GILES J. GENTRY

JULY 14, 1939.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. COFFEE, of Washington, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1429]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1429), for the relief of Earl J. Reed and Giles J. Gentry, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

The amendment is as follows:

Page 2, line 5, beginning with the word "Provided" strike out the remaining language of the bill, and insert in lieu thereof the following: : Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay the sum of $1,500 to Earl Reed and Giles Gentry, jointly, of West Palm Beach, Fla., in full settlement of their claim against the United States for the loss sustained by them on account of the estreature on April 23, 1936, to the United States of their cash-appearance bond deposited by them and conditioned upon the delivery in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami, Fla., in criminal case of one Alva Slayton O'Dell, by reason of the nonappearance of said O'Dell, although he was subsequently apprehended.

The facts are fully set forth in Senate Report No. 150, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. Your committee concurs in the recommendation of the Senate.