From the foregoing statement of facts it is evident that the case resolves itself into three propositions: (1) Can the appellant recover for the alleged wrongful termination of his contracts by the Postmaster General? (2) Under the contracts were the services performed in carrying mails from street cars, at the places designated, extra services, for which compensation outside of the contract should be awarded? (3) Under the Boston contract did the service required in carrying the mails to and from Brookline constitute extra service, for which compensation should be awarded?
To determine the first proposition it is essential to have in mind certain provisions of the statute, the preliminary notice to bidders, and, most important of all, the terms of the contract itself. In the notice to bidders it is said:
'There will be no diminution of compensation for partial discontinuance of service or increase of compensation for new, additional, or changed service that may be ordered during the contract term; but the Postmaster General may discontinue the entire service on any route whenever the public interest, in his judgment, shall require such discontinuance, he allowing, as full indemnity to the contractor, one month's extra pay.'
'It is hereby stipulated and agreed by the said contractor and his sureties that the Postmaster General may change the schedule and termini of the route, vary the routes, increase, decrease, or extend the service thereon, without change of pay; and that the Postmaster General may discontinue the entire service whenever the public interest, in his judgment, shall require such discontinuance; but for a total discontinuance of service the contractor shall be allowed one month's extra pay as full indemnity.'
Section 817, Postal Laws and Regulations, 1887, provides:
'The Postmaster General may discontinue or curtail the service on any route, in whole or in part, in order to place on the route superior service, or whenever the public interests, in his judgment, shall require such discontinuance or curtailment for any other cause, he allowing as full indemnity to the contractor one month's extra pay on the amount or service dispensed with, and a pro rata compensation for the amount of service retained and continued.'
Under the power supposed to be conferred upon him by the terms of the contract, made in pursuance of the preliminary advertisement and the authority vested in him by the Postal Laws and Regulations, above cited, the Postmaster General, having decreased the service under the contract, by reason of the introduction of the method of carrying the mails on the street railways, until the service required originally would be much more than paid for by the compensation agreed upon, discontinued the original service, and, the contractor declining to perform the work remaining at the lower compensation, put an end to the contract by an order of discontinuance, allowing the contractor one month's extra pay as full indemnity. It is contended by the appellant that this contract, properly construed, while it permits the Postmaster General to make changes in the schedule and termini of the route, to reduce the same, to increase, decrease, or extend the service, without change of pay, does not confer the right to cancel the contract except upon abandoning the entire service, which may be done with the allowance of one month's extra pay to the contractor. But, it is insisted, so long as any part of the service remains to be performed, it is not within the power of the Postmaster General to put an end to the service of the contractor, and relet a part of it to another, substituting a different character of service for a part of the filed theretofore covered by the contract. In other words, it is contended that the total discontinuance of service, which only can terminate the contract, must not leave any service to be performed in the district covered.