Chapter CIX. making Provision for the Postal Service in the State of California and in the Territories of Oregon and Washington
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Chap. CIX.— An Act making Provision for the Postal Service in the State of California and in the Territories of Oregon and Washington. July 27, 1854. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Letter-carriers for delivery of letters from any post-office—appointment and powers. That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby, authorized to empower the special agents of the Post-Office Department in the State of California, and in the Territories of Oregon and Washington, to appoint letter-carriers for the delivery of letters from any post-office in the said State or Territories, and to allow any letter-carrier so appointed to demand and receive a sum for all letters, newspapers, or other mailable matter, not more than may be recommended by the postmaster for whose office such letter-carrier may be Proviso.appointed: *Provided*, That not more than twenty-five cents shall be charged for any letter, newspaper, or ounce of other mailable matter.
All such appointments may be determined, and rates of compensation modified within the limits aforesaid, whenever the same is found expedient Further proviso.in the opinion of the appointing agent: *And it is further provided*, That all such appointments and contracts shall be subject to the approval of the Postmaster-General; and upon notice to any carrier of his rejection by the Postmaster-General, his appointment and contract shall be determined; and that all the letter-carriers appointed in pursuance of this act shall be subject to the provisions of the forty-first section of the 1836, ch. 270.act entitled “An act to change the organization of the Post-Office Department, and to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts thereof,” approved July second, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 110. 1854. 313 except as herein otherwise provided: *Provided*, That no letter or lettersProviso. or other mailable [matter] shall be delivered by any postmaster to said carriers, unless requested in writing by the person or persons to whom said letters or other mailable matter may be directed. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted*, That each and every letter-carrierLetter-carrier routes deemed post-routes. route which may be established under the provisions of this act, shall be deemed a post-route during its continuance; and the provisions contained in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and fifteenth sections of an act entitled “An act to reduce the rates of postage, to limit the use and correctPart of the acts of 1845, ch. 43, and 1862, ch. 113, applied to said letter-carrier routes. the abuse of the franking privilege, and for the prevention of frauds on the revenues of the Post-Office Department,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and forty-five, and the fifth and eighth sections of an act entitled “An act to establish certain post-roads, and for other purposes,” approved August thirty-first, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, are hereby made applicable to said letter-carrier routes.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General be,Dead letters to be returned to post-office in San Francisco—their disposal. and he is hereby, authorized to cause the dead letters which may accumulate in the post-offices in said State and Territories after the thirtieth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, to be returned in periods not less than quarter-yearly to the post-office at San Francisco, to be there opened and examined under the direction of the postmaster of that office, who shall, according to such regulations as the Postmaster-General may prescribe, return to the Post-Office Department such of said letters as shall be found to contain money, valuable papers, or matters of consequence, to be disposed of according to law, and destroy such letters as shall be found to contain nothing of value: *Provided, however*,Proviso.
That no dead letter shall be opened which the postal arrangements of the United States with foreign countries require to be returned unopened to such countries respectively. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General may allow to the postmaster’s in said State and Territories from the first dayCompensation of postmasters after July 1, 1853. of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, such sums out of the postages collected at their respective offices as will, in addition to the commissions, allowances, and emoluments, be sufficient to defray the actual and necessary expenses of their offices.
Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General be,Compensation Of postmasters serving before July 1, 1853. and he is hereby, authorized and directed, in the settlement of the accounts of postmasters in the State of California and Territory of Oregon, serving as such previous to the thirtieth of June, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and fifty-three, to allow to such postmasters all just and reasonable expenses incurred by them in and about the business of their respective offices and the discharge of their official duties: *Provided*, That noProviso. allowance shall be made whereby the United States shall be charged with any indebtedness whatsoever.
Approved, July 27, 1854.