Chapter CCI. *making Appropriations far the Service of the Post-Office Department during the fiscal gear, ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.* March 3, 1855. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled*, That
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Chap. CCI.— An Act *making Appropriations far the Service of the Post-Office Department during the fiscal gear, ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.* March 3, 1855. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled*, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post-Office Department, for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight 1836, ch. 270.hundred and fifty-six, out of any moneys in the treasury arising from the revenues of the said department, in conformity to the act of the second of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six:— For transportation of the mails, five million nine hundred and eighty-one Transportation of mails.thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars.
For the transportation of the United States mail over the Michigan Central Railroad, (five hundred and eighteen miles,) from the ninth June, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, to the twenty-eighth November, of the same year, five thousand one hundred and seventy-seven dollars and sixty cents. For compensation to postmasters, two million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; Postmasters. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, twenty thousand dollars; Ship, &c. letters. Miscellaneous.
For wrapping paper, forty-eight thousand dollars; For office furniture in the post-offices, six thousand five hundred dollars; For advertising, one hundred thousand dollars; For mail-bags, fifty-four thousand dollars; 684 THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 201. 1855. For blanks, eighty thousand dollars; For mail-locks, keys, and stamps, fifteen thousand dollars; For mail depredations and special agents, fifty-eight thousand dollars; For clerks in the offices of postmasters, six hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars:
For postage stamps, and stamped envelopes, seventy thousand dollars; For miscellaneous items, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars; W. M. F. Magraw. For compensation to William M. F. Magraw, for carrying the mail on route number eight thousand nine hundred and eleven, from Independence, Missouri, to Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, monthly, each way, according to the contract under which said service is now being performed, the sum of thirty-six thousand dollars per annum, commencing with the eighteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and continuing one year, and in lieu of the compensation therein stipulated: *Provided,* That the Postmaster-General, with the assent of the contractors, be, and he is hereby, authorized to annul said contract.
Also for compensation to Jacob Hall.Jacob Hall, for carrying the mail on route number eight thousand nine hundred and twelve, from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fé, Territory of New Mexico, monthly, each way, according to the contract under which said service is now being performed, the sum of twenty-two thousand dollars per annum, for one year, from the eighteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-four: *Provided,* That the Postmaster-General, with the assent of the contractors, be, and he is hereby, authorized to annul said contract.
G. H. Giddings. For compensation to George H. Giddings, for carrying the mail on route number twelve thousand nine hundred, from Santa Fé, New Mexico, to San Antonio, Texas, monthly, each way, according to the contract under which said service is now being performed, the sum of thirty-three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, commencing with the eighteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and continuing one year, and in lieu of the compensation therein stipulated: *Provided,* That the Postmaster-General with the assent of the contractors, be, and he Mail contractors in territories may establish stations, and have preemption right thereto.is hereby, authorized to annul said contract.
And that each contractor engaged, or to be engaged in carrying mails through any of the Territories west of the Mississippi, shall have the privilege of occupying stations at the rate of not more than one for every twenty miles of the route on which he carries a mail, and shall have a preemptive right therein, when the same shall be brought into market, to the extent of six hundred and forty acres to be taken contiguously, and to include his improvement; but no such preemptive right shall extend to any pass in a mountain or other defile.
Pay of postmaster at Washington. 1861, ch. 270. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved fifth August, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, entitled, “An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department, during the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five,” be, and the same is hereby continued for one year from August fifth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and that the allowance granted by said section to the deputy postmaster at Washington city, District of Columbia, of one mill per pound upon the aggregate weight of public documents printed by order of Congress, and deposited in the office of the said postmaster to be mailed, shall be so construed as to commence on the fifth of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-three.
Semi-monthly mail from San Francisco to Olympia. Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby, authorized to establish and put in operation a semi-monthly mail, by sea, from San Francisco, in the State of California, to Olympia, in the Territory of Washington, touching at Humboldt Bay, Trinidad, and Crescent City, in the State of California; Port Orford, Gardiner City or Umpqua, and Astoria, in the Territory of Oregon; Shoal Water Bay, Port Townsend, in the Territory of Washington; and 685at such other points as shall be designated by the Postmaster-General: *Provided,* That the contract for the said service be advertised by the Postmaster-General, in pursuance of existing laws, and let to the lowest bidder: *And provided further,* That the whole cost of said service shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars per annum: *Provided further,* That the Postmaster-General may, if he shall deem it for the public interest, contract for said service with the lowest bidder as aforesaid, under the advertised proposals heretofore made for mail service between the points aforesaid.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That the right to frank letters and Franking privilege of vice-presidents.documents, now allowed by law to the Vice-President, be continued to those who have heretofore, or shall hereafter, hold that office, during life. Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* That all books, maps, charts, or other Copyright deposits may be sent free by mail. 1846, ch. 178.publications, entered for copyright, and which, under the act of August tenth, eighteen hundred and forty-six, are required to be deposited in the Library of Congress, and in the Smithsonian Institution, may be sent through the mails free of postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General may prescribe.
Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted,* That the Postmaster-General be, Settlement of accounts of Waterville postmaster. and he is hereby, authorized, in the settlement of the accounts of the late postmaster at Waterville, Maine, to allow such sum, in addition to the commissions which accrued at his office during his term of service, as will make his compensation equal to one hundred and seventy-five dollars per quarter, and cover all such necessary items of incidental expenses as have been usually incurred and allowed in a post-office of this class: *Provided, however,* That the whole compensation and expenses shall not exceed four hundred and twenty-five dollars per quarter.
Sec. 7. *And be it further enacted,* That the first Comptroller of the Settlement of claim of W. R. Glover and Thos. W. Mather.Treasury be instructed to examine the claim of William R. Glover, and Thomas W. Mather, and their associates, and ascertain and allow such damages as they are entitled to, in justice and equity, in consequence of the refusal of the Postmaster-General to carry into effect the contract entered into between William R. Glover and Thomas W. Mather, and the Postmaster-General, in eighteen hundred and fifty-three, for the transportation of the mails on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and that such damages be paid to the said William R.
Glover, and Thomas W. Mather, and their associates, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: *Provided,* The sum allowed shall not exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted,* That the Postmaster-General be, Payment to Uriah P. Monroe.and he is hereby, authorized to pay to Uriah P. Monroe, his representatives or assigns, as pay in full for extra mail service on the mail route from Sacramento to Shasta, in the State of California, commencing October the first, A.
D. eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and ending July the fifteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, the sum of five thousand five hundred and forty-one dollars and sixty-six cents. Sec. 9. *And be it further enacted,* That the proper comptroller of the Adjustment of claim of W. L. Blanchard.treasury, under instructions of the Attorney-General, inquire whether the contract made by the Postmaster-General with William L. Blanchard, for carrying the United States mail on route numbered five thousand and sixty-six, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-three, was violated by the Postmaster-General without legal and adequate cause given by said Blanchard; and if it was so violated, then to ascertain and allow such damages as he is entitled to in equity and justice, by reason of such violation, and that such damages be paid to said Blanchard out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Approved, March 3, 1855.