Chapter 92.
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/statutes-at-large/vol-22/chapter-92-1879589·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 92.— An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, and for other purposes. Mar. 3, 1883. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Appropriations for service of Post-Office Department.[5 Stat., 81](/us/stat/5/81). 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 454 FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 92. 1883. eighty-four, out of any money in the Treasury arising from the revenues 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, two hundred thousand dollars, and of this sum three thousand dollars shall be paid to the chief post-office inspector; 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 tho Post-Office Department, subject to approval by the Attorney-General.
Advertising.For advertising, forty thousand dollars. Miscellaneous.For miscellaneous items in the office of the Postmaster-General, one thousand five hundred dollars. Postmasters.Office of the First assistant Postmaster-General.—For compensation to postmasters, nine million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Clerks.For compensation to clerks in post offices, four million seven hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Letter-carriers.For payment to letter-carriers and the incidental expenses of the free delivery system, three million five hundred thousand dollars, forty-five thousand dollars of which may be used, in the discretion of the Free delivery, etc., authorized.Postmaster-General, for the establishment, under existing law, of the free-delivery system in cities where it is not now established Wrapping paper.For wrapping paper, twenty-five thousand dollars.
Twine.For cotton, jute, and hemp twine, fifty-five thousand dollars. Marking stamps.For marking and rating stamps, twenty thousand dollars. Letter balances, etc.For letter-balances, test-weights, and scales, twenty thousand dollars. Rent, light, fuel.For rent, light, and fuel, four hundred and forty thousand dollars Furniture.For office furniture, twenty-five thousand dollars. Stationery.For stationery, sixty thousand dollars. Miscellaneous.For miscellaneous and incidental items, ninety thousand dollars.
Inland mail transportation.Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General.—For inland-mail transportation, namely: For transportation on railroad routes, eleven million seven hundred thousand dollars; and if any railroad company shall fail or refuse to transport the mails for which this appropriation is made, when required by the Post-Office Department, upon Mail service on fast trains.the fastest train or trains run upon said load, said company shall have its pay reduced fifty per centum of the amount now provided by law; and the Postmaster-General is authorized to pay, out of the appropriation Special railroad service.for transportation on railroad routes, for special railroad service between the union depot in East Saint Louis, Illinois, and the union depot in Saint Louis, Missouri, a sum not exceeding the lowest rate which private individuals, express companies, or others may pay for transportation between said points, but not to exceed for the fiscal year twenty-five thousand dollars, including allowance for depot room and transfer service at each terminal:
Railway post office car service.For railway post-office-car service, one million five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Items.For necessary and special facilities oh trunk lines, one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. For inland transportation by steamboat routes, six hundred thousand dollars. For inland transportation by star routes, five million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For railway post-office clerks, three million nine hundred and seventy-seven thousand one hundred and twenty dollars.
For mail-messengers, eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For mail locks and keys, twenty thousand dollars. For mailbags and mailbag catchers, two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. 455 For the purchase, by special contract, of rawhide packing-trunks for the transportation of registered mail, nine thousand dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars. Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General.—ForPostage-stamps. manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps and of newspaper and periodical stamps, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars; and upon all matter of the first class, as defined by chapter one hundred and eighty of[20 Stat., 357](/us/stat/20/357). the laws of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, entitled an 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, and by that act declared subject to postage at the rate of three cents for each half ounceLetter postage reduced to two cents per half ounce or fraction thereof. or fraction thereof, postage shall be charged, on and after the first day of October A.
D. eighteen hundred and eighty-three at the rate of two cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof; and all acts, so far as they fix a different rate of postage than herein provided upon such first-class matter, are, to that extent, hereby repealed. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute stamps, and expenses ofDistribution of stamps. the agency, eight thousand one hundred dollars For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper-wrappers andStamped envelopes. letter-sheets, six hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars.
For pay of agent and assistants, to distribute stamped envelopes, newspaper-wrappers, and letter-sheets, and expenses of agency, sixteen thousand dollars. For manufacture of postal cards, two hundred and fifty-three thousandPostal cards. dollars. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute postal cards, and expenses of agency, seven thousand three hundred dollars. For registered-package envelopes, locks and seals, and for office envelopes,Envelopes, locks, seals, etc. and for dead-letter envelopes, one hundred and forty thousand dollars.
For ship, steamboat, and way letters, one thousand five hundredShip letters, etc. dollars. For engraving, printing, and binding drafts and warrants, two thousandDrafts and warrants. dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars.Miscellaneous. Office of Superintendent of Foreign Mails.—For transportationTransportation of foreign mails. of foreign mails, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For balances due foreign countries, sixty thousand dollars, includingBalances due foreign countries. the United States’ portion of the expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union Convention.
Sec. 2. That if the revenue of the Post-Office Department shall beDeficiency in revenues. insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this act, a sum equal to such deficiency of the revenues of said department is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply the said deficiencies in the revenue of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four. Sec. 3. That the Postmaster-General is hereby directed to make aInvestigation of railway mail service of U.
S., authorized. thorough investigation into the railway mail service of the United States, and report to Congress, in December next, with the data upon which it is based, a more complete system of gauging the rates of pay for carrying the mails on railroad routes if practicable in order to secure the better protection of the interests of the government, and the adjustment of rates of compensation for the service required; and he is authorized to expend, not to exceed ten thousand dollars, out of the appropriationInvestigation of railway mail service of U.
S., authorized. for the transportation of mails, for actual and necessary expenses involved, including such extra compensation as he may deem just and reasonable to officers of the department for specific services rendered which sum shall be immediately available. Approved, March 3, 1883.