LLOYD LOWNDES, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR. 275

or furnishing said supplies or materials, shall be awarded by the
Board provided for in the next section of this Article, and in
the mode and manner as therein prescribed.

15. All bids made to the Mayor and City Council of Balti-
more for supplies or work for any purpose whatever, unless
otherwise provided in this Article, shall be opened by a Board,
or a majority of them, consisting of the Mayor, who shall
be President of the same; the Comptroller, City Register,
City Solicitor, and President of the Second Branch, which
Board, or a majority of them, shall, after opening said bids,
award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. The suc-
cessful bidder shall promptly execute a formal contract to be
approved as to its form, terms and conditions by the City Solic-
itor, and he shall also execute and deliver to the Mayor a good
and sufficient bond to be approved by the Mayor in double
the amount of the contract price. To all such bids there
shall be attached a certified check of the bidder, and the
bidder who has had the contract awarded to him, and who
fails to promptly and properly execute the required con-
tract and bond, shall forfeit said check. The said check shall
be taken and considered as liquidated damages, and not a pen-
alty, for failure of said bidder to execute said contract and bond.
Upon the execution of said contract and bond by the successful
bidder, the said check shall be returned to him. The amount
of said check shall be five hundred dollars, unless otherwise pro-
vided by ordinance, or an order or regulation of the depart-
ment for whose use the bids are made and contract entered into.
The checks of the unsuccessful bidders shall be returned to
them after opening the bids and awarding the contract to the
successful bidder.

MAYOR.

16. The inhabitants of the City of Baltimore qualified to
vote for members of the House of Delegates shall, on the
Tuesday next after the first Monday in May, eighteen hundred
and ninety-nine, and on the same day and month in every
fourth year thereafter, elect by ballot a person of known in-
tegrity, experience and sound judgment, over twenty-five
years of age, a citizen of the United States, and five years a