Chapter 96. making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and for other purposes
1,589 words·~7 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-21/chapter-96-1462464·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 96.— An Act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and for other purposes.March 1, 1881. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Appropriations for service Post-Office Department. That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post Office Department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, out of any money in the Treasury arising from the revenues 1836, ch. 270, Stat., 5, 81.of said department, in conformity to the act of July second, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, as follows:
Items.Office of the Postmaster-General.—For mail depredations and post-office inspectors, including amounts necessary for fees to United States marshals and attorneys, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. And not exceeding five thousand dollars of this amount may be expended for fees to United States attorneys, marshals, clerks of courts, and counsel necessarily employed by post-office inspectors of the Post- Office Department, subject to approval by the Attorney-General; and hereafter the superintendent of railway mail-service and the chief of post-office inspectors shall be paid their actual expenses while travelling on the business of the department.
Advertisement of mail-lettings.For advertising, thirty-five thousand dollars; and hereafter the Postmaster-General shall cause advertisements of all general mail-lettings of each State and Territory to be conspicuously posted in each post-office in the State and Territory embraced in said advertisements for at least sixty days before the time of such general letting; and no other advertisement of such lettings shall be required; but this provision shall not FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS.
Sess. IIL Ch. 96. 1881. 375 apply to any other than general mail-lettings. And whenever it shallTemporary mail service, how advertised. become necessary to employ temporary service on any mail route, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General to advertise for bids, or proposals, for such service by posting notices in the post offices at the termini of such route and upon a bulletin-board in a public-place in the Post- Office Department building at Washington in the District of Columbia for at least ten days prior to such letting.
For preparation and publication of post-route maps, including revisionPost-route maps. of former editions, and maps, diagrams, and other information fifty- thousand dollars; and the Postmaster-General may authorize the publication and sale of said maps to individuals at the cost thereof, the proceeds of said sales to be applied as a further appropriation for said purpose. For miscellaneous items in the office of the Postmaster-General, twoMiscellaneous items. thousand dollars; and the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to take the necessary steps to rent a suitable building or buildings for theRout of building for money-order office and money- order division of Auditor of the Treasury authorized.*Provisos.* use of the money-order office of the Post-Office Department and of the money-order division of the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department: *Provided,* That the rent of such building or buildings, and the cost of necessary furniture for the same, to be procured under the supervision of the superintendent of the money-order system, shall be paid out of the proceeds of the money-order business: *And provided further,* That the annual rental of such building or buildings shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and the cost of the furniture for the same shall not exceed ten thousand dollars.
Office of the First Assistant Postmaster-General.—ForPostmasters. compensation to postmasters, seven million eight hundred thousand dollars. For compensation to clerks in post-offices, three million eight hundredClerks. and fifty thousand dollars. For payment to letter-carriers, two million six hundred thousandLetter-carriers. dollars. For wrapping-paper, twenty thousand dollars.Wrapping-paper.Twine.Marti ng stamps. Balances, weights, and scales.Rent, light, and fuel. For wrapping-twine, fifty-five thousand dollars.
For marking and rating stamps, fifteen thousand dollars. For letter-balances, test-weights, and scales, ten thousand dollars. For rent, light, and fuel, four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. For office furniture, twenty thousand dollars.Furniture.Stationery.Miscellaneous.Transportation of mails. For stationery, fifty thousand dollars. For miscellaneous and incidental items, ninety thousand dollars. Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General.—For inland mail transportation, namely:
For transportation on railroad routes, nine million four hundred and eighty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-two dollars; and the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized toSpecial mail service. expend not to exceed thirty thousand dollars thereof for special railroad service between the Union Depot in East Saint Louis, Illinois, and the Union Depot in Saint Louis,Missouri; and such sum shall include depot room and transfer service at each terminal. For railway post-office car service, one million four hundred andRailway post-office car service. twenty-six thousand dollars.
And hereafter when any railroad company fail or refuse to provide railway post-office cars when required byPenalty for not providing railway post-office cars. the Post-Office Department, or shall fail or refuse to provide suitable safety-heaters and safety-lamps therefor, with such number of saws and axes to each car for use in case of accident as may be required by the Post-Office Department, said company shall have its pay reduced ten per centum on the rates fixed in section four thousand and two of theR.
S. 4002.1876, ch. 179, Stat., 19, 78. Revised Statutes, as amended by act of July twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, entitled “An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and for other purposes,” and as 376 FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 96. 1881. 1878, ch. 259, Stat., 20, 140.further amended by the act of June seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, entitled “An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and for other purposes.
” Items.For necessary and special facilities on trunk lines, four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. For inland transportation by steamboat routes, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. For inland transportation by star routes, seven million nine hundred thousand dollars. For compensation to railway post-office clerks, one million five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For route-agents, one million two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. For mail-route messengers, two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.
For local agents, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For mail-messengers, seven hundred and seventy-five thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. For mail locks and keys, twenty-five thousand dollars. For mailbags and mailbag catchers, two hundred thousand dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars. Third Assistant P. M. General.Post age-stamps.Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General.—For manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps, of official stamps, and of newspaper and periodical stamps, one hundred and five thousand dollars: *Proviso.**Provided,* That the condition attached to the item of appropriation for the “manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps,” and so forth, in the *1879,* ch. 180, Stat., 20, 357.Items.first section of the “Act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty, and for other purposes,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, which condition is in the following words, namely, “If said stamps can be furnished by the ' BureAn of Engraving and Printing of the Treasury Department at less than the same now cost, the work of printing the same shall be given to said bureAn when not in violation of existing contracts,” be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
For pay of agent and assistants to distribute stamps, and expenses of the agency, eight thousand one hundred dollars. Stamped envelopes.For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper-wrappers, five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers, and expenses of agency, sixteen thousand dollars. Postal cards.For manufacture of postal cards, two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute postal cards, and expenses of agency, seven thousand three hundred dollars.
Envelopes, etc.For registered-package envelopes, locks and seals, and for office envelopes, and for dead-letter envelopes, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Ship letters.For ship, steamboat, and way letters, four thousand five hundred dollars. Drafts and warrants.For engraving, printing, and binding drafts and warrants, one thousand five hundred dollars. Miscellaneous.Transportation of foreign mails.For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars. Office of Superintendent of Foreign Mails.—For transportation of foreign mails, two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars: *Proviso.**Provided,* That the Postmaster-General is authorized to pay to the colonies of New Zealand and New South Wales so much of the cost of the overland transportation of the British closed mails to and from Australia as he may deem just, not to exceed one-half of said cost; and the sum of forty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose. 377 FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Ch. 96, 97, 107. 1881. For balances due foreign countries, forty-five thousand dollars, includingBalances duo foreign countries. the United States’ portion of the expenses of the International BureAn at Berne, Switzerland, under the provisions of the Universal Postal Union Convention, concluded at Paris, France, June first, eighteen1878, Convention,Stat., 20, 734. hundred and seventy-eight. Sec. 2. That if the revenue of the Post-Office Department shall beDeficiency in revenue. insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this act, then the sum of two million one hundred and fifty-two thousand two hundred and fifty-eight 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 eighty-two.
Approved, March 1, 1881.