In a contract by which the owner of a quarry on an island on the
coast agrees to furnish and deliver at a public building in the
interior the granite required for its construction at specified
prices by the cubic foot, and to furnish all the labor, tools and
materials necessary to cut, dress and box the granite at the
quarry, the United States, under a stipulation to pay "the full
cost of the said labor, tools and materials, and insurance on the
same," are not bound to pay anything for insurance unless effected
by the other party; nor are they, under a stipulation to
Page 129 U. S. 102
"assume the risk of damage to cutting on said stone while being
transported to the site of said building," bound to pay any part of
the expense of raising granite sunk by a peril of the sea with its
cutting uninjured.
The case is stated in the opinion.
MR. JUSTICE GRAY delivered the opinion of the Court.
This was a suit to recover money under contracts made in 1873
and 1877 between the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, in
behalf of the United States, and the petitioners. The Court of
Claims dismissed the petition. 20 Ct.Cl. 213. The petitioners
appealed, and at the argument in this Court have insisted upon two
claims only. By the contract of 1873, the petitioners agreed to cut
and furnish from their quarry at Hurricane Island, in the State of
Maine, and to deliver at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, as
much granite as might be required for the construction of a custom
house at St. Louis; the United States agreed to pay them specified
prices by the cubic foot for the granite upon its delivery and
acceptance at the site of the custom house, the petitioners agreed
"to furnish all the labor, tools, and materials necessary to cut,
dress, and box at the quarry all the granite aforesaid," and the
United States agreed to pay them, "in lawful money of the United
States, the full cost of the said labor, tools, and materials, and
insurance on the same, increased by fifteen percentum thereof." The
Court of Claims found as facts that in performance of this
contract, the petitioners delivered at St. Louis a large quantity
of dressed granite, which was transported by sea from Hurricane
Island to Baltimore, and thence by railway to St. Louis. It also
found the reasonable price and value of marine insurance on the
granite from Hurricane Island to Baltimore, as compared with the
value of the granite, and
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with the cost of cutting it; that no part of such insurance, or
of fifteen percent thereon, had been paid to the petitioners, and
that no insurance on the granite was actually effected or paid for
by them.
The first claim is based upon the clause in this contract by
which the United States agreed to pay to the petitioners "the full
cost of the said labor, tools, and materials, and insurance on the
same." The petitioners contend that the insurance thus agreed to be
paid for is insurance on the cost of the labor, tools, and
materials used -- that is to say, on that part of the value of the
cut granite which was represented by the cost of the labor, tools,
and materials used in cutting and boxing it. We have not found it
necessary to consider whether the words "insurance on the same"
mean insurance on the granite, or insurance on the cost of the
labor, tools, and materials used in cutting and boxing it, or only
insurance on the materials so used, because, it being found as a
fact that the petitioners never did effect or pay for any insurance
whatever, we are clearly of opinion that they are not entitled to
recover anything for insurance. The United States have not agreed
to obtain insurance or to become insurers themselves, but only to
pay to the petitioners the "cost of insurance," which is as much as
to say, "reasonable premiums of insurance paid by the petitioners."
By the terms of the contract, the United States are no more bound
to pay for insurance which has not been effected than for tools or
materials which have not been used or for labor which has not been
performed.
The second claim arises under the contract of 1877, in which the
contract of 1873 was modified, the clause as to insurance omitted,
the petitioners agreed to furnish, cut, dress, and box, and deliver
at St. Louis, the granite required for the exterior walls of the
building, and the United States
"assume all risk of damage to cutting on said stone while being
transported to the site of said building, provided such damage does
not result from the carelessness or negligence of"
the petitioners. A vessel laden with granite cut and dressed
under this contract
Page 129 U. S. 104
was sunk at sea by collision, and her cargo was raised by
wreckers employed by the master, and was taken to Baltimore in
another vessel. The petitioners seek to recover from the United
States such a proportion of the expense of raising the cargo as the
value of the cutting bore to the whole value of the granite.
But the only risk assumed by the United States under this
contract was of "damage to cutting on said stone while being
transported," which evidently looks only to injuries to the smooth
surface or the sharp edges of the cut granite in the course of
transportation, and not to a loss, by a peril of the sea, of the
granite with its cutting uninjured. Such a loss, as well as any
expenses incurred by the petitioners in recovering the granite,
fell upon them by virtue of their agreement to deliver the granite
at St. Louis.
Judgment affirmed.