Chapter CCLVI. making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-office Department for the Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three
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CHAP. CCLVI.— An Act making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-office Department for the Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.June 1, 1872. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the following sums be, andAppropriation for post-office department. the same are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post-office Department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, out of any moneys in the treasury arising from the revenues of said Department, in conformity to the act of July second, eighteen hundred1836, ch. 270.Vol. v. p. 80. and thirty-six, as follows:
For inland mail transportation, thirteen million twenty-four thousandInland mails. seven hundred and sixty-three dollars. For pay of mail-messengers, six hundred and three thousand six hundredMessengers. and seventy-four dollars. For pay of route-agents, nine hundred and thirty-eight thousand andRoute agents. five dollars. For pay of mail-route messengers, seventy thousand eight hundred andMail-route messengers. forty-one dollars. For pay of local agents, fifty-eight thousand four hundred and eighty-sixLocal agents. dollars.
For pay of railway post-office clerks, nine hundred and fifty thousandClerks. dollars. For pay of baggage-masters in charge of through-mails, six thousandBaggage-masters. two hundred dollars. For foreign mail transportation, three hundred thousand dollars.Foreign mails. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, ten thousand seven hundred andShip, &c., letters. fifty dollars. For compensation to postmasters, five million five hundred and twenty-fivePostmasters, clerks, and letter carriers. thousand dollars.
For pay of clerks for post-offices, two million eight hundred thousand dollars. For pay of letter-carriers, one million four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. 200 FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 256. 1872. For wrapping-paper, thirty thousand dollars.Paper and twine. For twine, thirty-eight thousand dollars. For letter-balances, three thousand five hundred dollars.Letter-balances. For compensation to blank-agents and assistants, ten thousand dollars.Blank-agents. For office furniture, three thousand five hundred dollars.Office furniture, &c.
For construction of coal-vaults, six thousand four hundred and twenty-two dollars and thirty-five cents. For altering windows to doors in court-yard, eight hundred and fifty dollars. For altering sky-lights and ventilation, one thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars. For doors on book-cases, and other repairs thereon, in library and dead-letter office, three thousand one hundred and eighty-seven dollars and eighty cents. For advertising, seventy thousand dollars: *Provided,* That no part ofAdvertising;no part, &c. this sum shall be paid to any newspaper published in the District of Columbia for advertising any other mail-routes than those in Virginia and Maryland.
For manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps, one hundred and sixtyPostage-stamps and stamped envelopes. thousand dollars. For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper-wrappers, four hundred and fifty-three thousand dollars: *Provided,* That no envelope,Envelopes not to contain, &c. as furnished by the government, shall contain any lithographing or engraving, and no printing except a printed request to return the letter to the writer. For pay of distributing agent and assistants, and incidental expenses ofDistributing agents. agency, seven thousand dollars.
For mail depredations and special agents, one hundred and thirtyMail depredations and special agents. thousand dollars. For ten additional special agents, at rates of compensation now provided by law, twenty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars. For chief of division for the office of mail depredations, two thousand five hundred dollars. For mail-bags and mail-bag catchers, one hundred and eighty thousandMail bags, &c.; dollars. For mail-locks and keys, forty thousand dollars.locks and keys.
For post-marking and cancelling stamps for offices, twelve thousandStamps for post-marking and cancelling. dollars. For preparing and publishing post-route maps, twenty-two thousandPost-route maps. dollars. For balances due foreign countries, two hundred and fifty thousandForeign balances. dollars. For rent of post-offices, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.Rent, fuel, and lights. For fuel for post-offices, one hundred and ten thousand dollars. For lights for post-offices, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
For stationery and miscellaneous items for post-offices, forty thousandStationery. dollars. For registered package-envelopes, forty-two thousand dollars. For official envelopes for the use of postmasters, forty-nine thousandEnvelopes. dollars. For envelopes for return of dead-letters to the writers, five thousand five hundred dollars. For fees to United States attorneys, marshals, clerks of courts, andFees to United States attorneys, marshals, and clerks. counsel necessarily employed by special agents of the Post-office Department, subject to the approval of the Attorney-General, ten thousand dollars.
For engraving, printing, and binding drafts and warrants, three thousandEngraving, &c. dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand five hundred dollars.Miscellaneous. 201 To pay Augustine Bacon, of Georgia, for services as post-route agent,Augustine Bacon. four hundred and thirty-seven dollars and sixty-nine cents. The bond of any married woman who may be appointed postmasterMarried women, their liability and official bonds. shall be binding upon her and her sureties, and she shall be liable for misconduct in office as if she were sole.
Sec. 2. That the postmaster of every city where branch post-offices orPostal money-orders may be issued by certain clerks in charge of branch post-offices, &c. stations are established and in operation, subject to his supervision, is hereby authorized, under the direction of the Postmaster-General, to issue, or to cause to be issued, by any of his assistants or clerks in charge of branch post-offices or stations, postal money-orders payable at any other money-order office, as the remitters thereof may direct; and that the postmaster, and his sureties, shall in every case be held accountable upon his official bond for all moneys received by him or his designated assistants or clerks in charge of stations from the issue of money-orders under the provisions of this act, and for all moneys which may come into his or their hands, or be placed in his or their custody by reason of the transaction by them of money-order business.
And all the provisions of law now inExisting laws made applicable. force respecting the issue and the payment of money-orders, and the disposal of money-order funds, in the custody of postmasters, shall apply to all money-orders issued under the authority given by this act, and to all moneys received from the issue thereof. Sec. 3. That the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary,Appropriation for steamship service between San Francisco, Japan, and China. be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, namely:
For steamship service between San Francisco, Japan, and China, five hundred thousand dollars. And the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to contract with the lowest bidder, within three months after the passage of this act, after sixty-days’ public notice, for a term of ten years from and after the first day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, for the conveyance of an additional monthly mail on the said route,Additional monthly mail to be contracted for.Pay. at a compensation not to exceed the rate per voyage now paid under the existing contracts, and upon the same conditions and limitations as prescribed by existing acts of Congress in reference thereto, and the respective contracts made in pursuance thereof; and the contractors under the provisions of this section shall be required to carry the United StatesUnited States mails to be carried without additional charge.What steamships to be accepted for such service; mails during the existence of their contracts, without additional charge, on all the steamers they may run upon said line, or any part of it, or any branch or extension thereof: *Provided,* That all steamships hereafter accepted for said service shall be of not less than four thousand tons register each, and shall be built of iron, and with their engines and machinery shall be wholly of American construction, and shall be so constructed as to be readily adapted to the armed naval service of the United States into be fitted for the naval service; case of war, and before acceptance the officers by whom they are inspected shall report to the Secretary of the Navy and the Postmaster-General whether this condition has been complied with: *Provided,* That in allofficers thereof to be citizens, &c. cases the officers of the ships employed in the service herein provided for shall be citizens of the United States, and that persons of foreign birth, who have according to law declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, may be employed as though they were citizens within1864, ch. 170.Vol. viii. p. 201. the meaning of this section, or of any act or acts specified in the act of June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four.
And the government of the United States shall have the right in case of war to take forSteamers may be taken by the United States in case of war.Pay. the use of the United States any of the steamers of said line, and in such case pay a reasonable compensation therefor: *Provided,* The price paid shall in no case exceed the original cost of the vessel so taken, and this provision shall extend to and be applicable to the steamers of the Brazilian line hereinafter provided for. [The provision referred to for “steamers of the Brazilian line” was stricken from the bill, [H.
R. 1070](/us/bill/42/hr/1070),] 202 FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 256–258. 1872. For steamship service between the United States and Brazil, one hundredSteamship service between the United States and Brazil; and fifty thousand dollars. For steamship service between San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands,San Francisco and Sandwich Islands. seventy-five thousand dollars. Sec. 4. That if the revenues of the post-office department shall be insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this act, then the sum of fiveConditional further appropriation for year ending June 30, 1873. million seven hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy 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 supply deficiencies in the revenue of the post-office department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.
And section twelve of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred andPartial repeal of acts1847, ch. 63, § 12.Vol. ix. p. 201. forty-seven, entitled “An act to establish certain post-routes, and for other purposes” and section eight of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, entitled “An act to reduce and modify the rates of1851, ch. 20, § 8.Vol. ix. p. 591. postage in the United States, and for other purposes,” so far as said sections provide for specific permanent appropriations for carrying free matter in the mails for the several departments and for members of Congress, be,Carrying of free matter, how to be paid for. and the same are hereby, repealed.
And hereafter payment for carrying such free matter shall be made out of the annual appropriations. Sec. 5. That it shall not be lawful for any person who shall hereafterPersons hereafter appointed officers, &c., in any executive department not to act as counsel in certain cases within, &c. be appointed an officer, clerk, or employee in any of the executive departments to act as counsel, attorney, or agent for prosecuting any claim against the United States which was pending in said departments while he was said officer, clerk, or employee, nor in any manner, nor by any means, to aid in the prosecution of any such claim, within two years next after he shall have ceased to be such officer, clerk, or employee.
Sec. 6. That if the contract for the increase of the mail service betweenIf contract for semi-monthly service between San Francisco and China, &c., is made with Pacific Mail Steamship Co., the money payable under it to be paid only while, &c.Proviso. San Francisco and China and Japan to a semi-monthly service shall be made with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, or shall be performed in the said company’s ships, or the ships of its successors in interest, the moneys payable under such contract shall be paid while the said company or its successors in interest shall maintain and run the line of steamships for the transportation of freight and passengers at present run between New York and San Francisco, via the Isthmus of Panama, by the said Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and no longer; *Provided,* That said requirement shall in all respects apply to any party contracting for the mail service between San Francisco and China and Japan, as well as to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
Approved, June 1, 1872.