Chapter XCVI. making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-Office Department during the fiscal Year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight
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Chap. XCVI.— An Act making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-Office Department during the fiscal Year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. March 3, 1857. *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 Post-Office Department for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, 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, eighteen hundred and thirty-six:
Inland transportation.For transportation of the mails, (inland,) seven million six hundred and twenty-two thousand two hundred and forty-seven dollars. Postmasters.For compensation of postmasters, two million one hundred and forty thousand dollars. Ship and way letters.For ship, steamboat, and way letters, twenty thousand dollars. Wrapping paper.For wrapping paper, forty-five thousand dollars. Furniture.For office furniture in the post-offices, six thousand dollars. Advertising.For advertizing, eighty thousand dollars.
Mail bags.For mail-bags, fifty-five thousand dollars. Blanks, &c.For blanks, and paper for the same, ninety-five thousand dollars. Mail-locks, &c.For mail-locks, keys, and stamps, fifteen thousand dollars. Special agents.For mail depredations and special agents, sixty-five thousand dollars. Clerks.For clerks in the offices of postmasters, seven hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars. THIRTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 96. 1857. 189 For postage stamps and stamped envelopes, ninety-five thousand dollars.Stamps and Envelopes.
For miscellaneous items, one hundred and seventy thousand dollars.Miscellaneous. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted*, That the sum of six hundred and sixty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply deficiencies in the revenue of theDeficiencies for year ending June 30, 1857. Post-Office Department for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted*, That if the revenues of the Post-Office Department shall be insufficient to meet tile appropriations of this act, the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supplyDeficiencies for year ending June 30, 1858. deficiencies in the revenue of the Post-Office Department for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General be and he is hereby authorized to establish and put in operation a semi-monthlyMails authorized between Oregon and Washington territories and California. 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, Fort Townsend, in the Territory of Washington; and at 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 the1 lowest bidder: *And provided further*, That the whole cost of said service shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, which sum is hereby appropriated for that purpose, to lie paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: *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. 5. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General beMail service between Charleston, Key West, and Havana. authorized and directed to continue the mail service between Charleston, Key West, and Havana, during the months of August and September in each year for the residue of the present contract term of the southern section by a competent steamer as it. is now being performed during ten months of the year; and that to enable him to do so, a sum not exceedingAnnual appropriation. ten thousand dollars per annum is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted*, That the fourth section of the actPay of Postmaster and his employees at Washington, 1854, ch. 270, § 4.Vol. x. p. 588. of Congress, approved fifth of 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-seven.
Sec. 7. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General beAdjustment of fines for mail service on the Mississippi. and he is hereby authorized to reexamine and adjust all questions arising out of fines imposed upon the contractors for carrying the mails upon the Mississippi River. Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General beApplication of Vassal D. Pinkham and Lewis W. Ludlow may be examined and allowed. and is hereby authorized and directed to examine tike applications of Vassal D.
Pinkham, contractor for carrying the United States mail on route sixty-seven, between Bangor and Calais, in the State of Maine, and of Lewis W. Ludlow, contractor for carrying the United States mails on route one thousand two hundred and forty-two, from Auburn to South Lansing, in the State of New York, to be released from their respective contracts, and in his discretion to release either or both of them therefrom. 190 Sec. 9. Act of 1866, ch. 130, § 8, respecting George H. Giddings declared mandatory Payment to him.*And be it further enacted*, That the eighth section of the act of the eighteenth of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, entitled “An act making appropriations tor the service of the Post-Office Department,” &c., be construed as Mandatory; and that the Postmaster-General be and he hereby is required to pay to the said Giddings the sum of thirty-three *Ante*, p. 95.thousand and five hundred dollars per annum in lieu of the contract pay, on mail route number twelve thousand nine hundred, as directed by said section, deducting payments heretofore made.
Sec. 10. Contract authorized for carrying the mail from the Mississippi to San Francisco by land.*And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby, authorized to contract for the conveyance of the entire letter mail from such point on the Mississippi River, as the contractors may select, in San Francisco, in the State of California, for six years, at a cost not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars per annum for semimonthly, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for weekly, or six hundred thousand dollars for semi-weekly service; to be performed semimonthly, weekly, or semi-weekly, at the option of the Postmaster-General.
Sec. 11. Same subject.*And be it further enacted*, That the contract shall require the service to be performed with good four-horse coaches, or spring wagons, suitable for the conveyance of passengers, as well as the safety and security of the mails. Sec. 12. Preëmption right of such contractors.*And be it further enacted*, That the contractors shall have the right of preëmption to three hundred and twenty acres of any land not then disposed of or reserved, at each point necessary for a station, not to be nearer than ten miles from each other; and provided, that no mineral hind shall be thus preëmpted.
Sec. 13. Trip to he performed within 25 days, and security to be given.*And be it further enacted*, That the said service shall be performed within twenty-five days for each trip; and that before entering into such contract, the Postmaster-General shall be satisfied of the ability and disposition of the parties *bona fide* and in good faith to perform the said contract, and shall require good and sufficient security for the performance of the same; the service to commence within twelve months after the signing of the contract.
Sec. 14. Mail service on Puget’s Sound. Lowest bid on record to be accepted.*And be it further enacted*, That the Postmaster-General of the United States be and he hereby is authorized and directed to accept the lowest bid offered and now on record, (provided the same shall not exceed twenty-three thousand dollars a year, for weekly services,) to convey the United States mails in good and sufficient steamer or steamers under the advertisement of the Postmaster-General of January nineteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, for “proposals for conveying the United States mails on Puget’s Sound, Washington Territory,” and to contract with the bidders thereof to put into immediate operation the said service on Puget’s Sound, Washington Territory, commencing at Olympia, and supplying Steilacoom, Seattle, Port Madison, Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, Port Townsend, Penn’s Cove, Bellingham Bay, (Whatcorn,) New Dungeness, and such other places on said route as the Postmaster-General 1845, ch. 69, § 8.may direct; said service to be paid for out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: *Provided*, That the said service shall be performed Vol. v. p. 750.in first class steamboats, under the eighth section of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and forty-five.
Sec. 15. Payment to George Whitman*And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed lo pay to George Whitman the sum of ten thousand one hundred dollars, being the amount of a draft issued in his favor by the Postmaster-General on the eleventh of August, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight upon the postmaster at New Orleans in payment of services rendered by said Whitman as mail contractor, less two thousand dollars paid thereon, which draft was not satisfied by the drawer.
Approved, March 3, 1857.