Chapter LXI. regulating the Pay of Deputy-Postmasters
658 words·~3 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-10/chapter-lxi-1228874·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Chap. LXI.— An Act regulating the Pay of Deputy-Postmasters. June 22, 1854. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Commissions allowed to Deputy-Postmasters instead of present compensation. That in place of the compensation now allowed deputy-postmasters, the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby authorized to allow them commissions at the following rates on the postage collected at their respective offices in each quarter of the year, and in due proportion for any period less than a quarter, viz: 1853, ch. 146, §6.Sixty per cent.On any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars sixty per cent; but any postmaster at whose office the mail is to arrive regularly, between the hours of nine o’clock at night and five o’clock in the morning, may be Seventy per cent.allowed seventy per cent, on the first hundred dollars;
Fifty per cent.On any sum over and above one hundred dollars, and not exceeding four hundred dollars, fifty per cent.; Forty per cent.On any sum over and above four hundred dollars, but not exceeding twenty-four hundred dollars, forty per cent.; Fifteen per cent.And on all sums over twenty-four hundred dollars, fifteen per cent.; Twelve and one half per cent.On the amount of postage on letters and packages received at a distributing office for distribution, twelve and one-half per cent, commission may be allowed;
One cent for free letters.Every postmaster whose compensation shall not exceed five hundred dollars in one quarter, shall be allowed one cent on every free letter delivered out of his office, except such as arc for the postmaster himself. Exception.But the special allowance now made by law, to the postmasters at New Orleans and Washington City, shall not otherwise be either increased or diminished; Ten cents for return of register.Each postmaster who shall be required to keep a register of the arrival and departure of the mails, shall be allowed ten cents for each monthly return which he makes to the Postmaster-General;
Two mills for newspaper not chargeable with postage.Each postmaster may be allowed two mills for the delivery from his office to a subscriber of each newspaper not chargeable with postage:THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 62, 68. 1854.299 *Provided*, That to any postmaster of a distributing office at which theProviso. commissions, allowances, and emoluments, since the thirty-first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, have been insufficient to defray actual and necessary expenses, and afford the postmaster the annual compensation derived from commissions at the office before said thirty-first of March, the Postmaster-General may, in his discretion, allow quarterly, from the date aforesaid, out of the postages collected at any such office, an amount sufficient to supply such deficiency: *Provided,Further proviso. further*, That to any postmaster of a separating office whose commissions, allowances and emoluments may be found insufficient to provide the extra labor necessary to a prompt and efficient performance of the duties of separating and despatching the mails passing through his office, the Postmaster-General may make such quarterly allowance, out of the postages collected at such office, as he may deem sufficient to compensate such extra labor: *Provided further*, That the commissions and allowancesProvided further. authorized by this act shall be subject to the provisions of the forty-first section of the act entitled “An act to reduce into one the1825, ch. 64. several acts establishing and regulating the Post-Office Department;” *And provided further*, That the Postmaster-General may, in his discretion,Provided further. dispose of any quarterly returns of mails sent or received, which were made up previous to the first day of July, eighteen hundred and fifty, preserving the accounts current, and all vouchers accompanying such accounts, and use such portion of the proceeds thereof as may be necessary to defray the cost of separating and disposing of the same.
This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the commencement of the next fiscal quarter after its passage. Approved, June 22, 1854.