Chapter 234. making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and for other purposes
1,565 words·~7 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-23/chapter-234-668193·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 234.— An Act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and for other purposes.July 5, 1884. *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. 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-five, out of any money in the Treasury arising from the revenues 5 Stat., 81.of said Department, in conformity to the act of July second, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, as follows:
Mail depredations.Office of the Postmaster-General.—For mail depredations and post-office inspectors, including amounts necessary for fees to United States marshars shall be allowed four dollars per day in lieu of the charges now permitted, for personal expenses; 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.
Advertising.Miscellaneous.For advertising, twenty thousand dollars. 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, eleven million dollars. Clerks.For compensation to clerks in post-offices, four million nine hundred thousand dollars. Letter - carriers; free delivery system; establishment of, etc.For payment to letter-carriers and the incidental expenses of the free delivery-system four million dollars; forty-five thousand dollars of which may be used, in the discretion of the Postmaster-General, for the establishment, under existing law, of the free-delivery system in cities where it is not now established.
Wrapping paper.Twine.Marking, rating, and canceling stamps.Leiter-balances, test-weights, and scales.Rent, fuel, etc.; branch post-office, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., rent of building for, authorized.Safes, office furniture.Stationery.Miscellaneous.Postmasters a t money order post-offices designated as disbursing officers, etc.For wrapping-paper, thirty thousand dollars. For wrapping-twine, seventy thousand dollars. For post marking, canceling, and rating stamps, twenty-five thousand dollars.
For letter-balances, test weights, and scales, twenty-five thousand dollars. For rent, light, and fuel, four hundred and eighty thousand dollars. And the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to rent a suitable building on Capitol Hill for use as a branch of the Washington City post-office, at a rate not exceeding thirty dollars per month. For safes and other office furniture, forty thousand dollars. For stationery, sixty-five thousand dollars. For miscellaneous and incidental expenses of post-offices, including repairs, gas-fixtures, and telegrams, eighty thousand dollars; and the Postmaster-General is authorized to designate postmasters at money-order post-offices as disbursing officers for the payment of the salaries of officers and employees of the postal service, and for such other payments as postmasters are now authorized to make from postal revenues.
Inland mail transportation.Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General.—For inland mail transportation, namely: For transportation on railroad routes, twelve million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and if any railroad company shall be for refuse to transport the mails, when Refusal or failure of railroad company to carry mails on fastest trains; penalty.required by the Post Office Department, upon the fastest train or trains run upon said road, said company shall have its pay reduced fifty per centum of the amount provided by law.
The Postmaster-General is authorized to pay, out of appropriations for transportation on railroad routes, for special railroad service between the union depot in East 157 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 any fiscal year twenty-five thousand dollars, including allowance for depot room and transfer service at each terminal.
For railway post office car service, one million six hundred andRailway post-office ear service. twenty-five thousand dollars. For necessary and special facilities on trunk lines, two hundred andSpecial facilities fifty thousand dollars. For inland transportation by steamboat, routes, six hundred andSteamboat service.Star-route service.Proviso.Postal service in Alaska. twenty-five thousand dollars. For inland transportation by star routes, five million six hundred thousand dollars: *Provided,* That the Postmaster-General may contract, under a miscellaneous advertisement, for the performance of necessary postal service in Alaska for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, without inviting proposals therefor by publication in a newspaper, as required by the act of May seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, no newspaper being published in that Territory.
For railway post-office clerks, four million three hundred thousandRailway post- office clerks.Mai 1 -messengers.Mail locks and keys.Mail bags and mailbag catchers.Miscellaneous.Postage-stamps, etc. dollars. For mail-messengers, nine hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. For mail locks and keys, twenty-five thousand dollars. For mailbags and mailbag catchers, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars. Office of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General.—For manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps and of newspaper and periodical stamps, one hundred and forty-six thousand dollars.
For pay of agent and assistants to distribute stamps, and expenses ofStamp agency.Stamped envelopes, etc. the agency, eight thousand one hundred dollars. For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers and letter-sheets, six hundred and forty-four 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 thirty-two 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,Registered-package envelopes. and for dead-letter envelopes, one hundred and forty thousand dollars. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, one thousand five hundred dollars.Ship letters. For engraving, printing, and binding drafts and warrants, two thousandDrafts and warrants.Miscellaneous items.Transportation of foreign mails.Balances due foreign countries. five hundred dollars.
For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars. Office of Superintendent of Foreign Mails.—For transportation of foreign mails, four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. For balances due foreign countries, seventy-five thousand dollars, including the United States’ portion of the expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union Convent ion. To pay the expenses of delegates to the Universal Postal Union CongressDelegates to Universal Postal Union Congress, Lisbon; pay of expenses of. to be held at Lisbon, Portugal, on the first of October, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, four thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the direction of the Postmaster-General.
Sec. 2. That if the revenues of the Post Office Department shall beDeficiency in revenues. insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this act, a sum equal to 158 FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. CHS. 234,235. 1884. 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-five.
Sec. 3. 20 Stat., 362. That section twenty-nine of the act of March third, eighteen bundled and seventy-nine (United States Statutes at Large, page three hundred and sixty-two), be, and it is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: " 19 Stat., 335.“The provisions of the fifth and sixth section of the act entitled An act establishing post-routes, and for other purposes’approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, for the transmission of Official mail-matter.official mail-matter, be, and they are hereby, extended to all officers of the United States Government, not including members of Congress, the Letters, etc., on official business may be sent free, by : i11 officers of the United States Government; envelopes to bear statement of penalty, etc.Official mail-matter of Smithsonian Institution.*Proviso;* penalty envelopes to be sent to persons from whom is to be received official mail-matter.*Proviso;* certain mail-matter may be registered free.*Proviso.*envelopes of such matter in all eases to bear appropriate indorsements containing the proper designation of the office from which or officer from whom the same is transmitted, with a statement of the penalty for their misuse.
And the provisions of said fifth and sixth sections are hereby likewise extended and made applicable to all official mail-matter of the Smithsonian Institution: *Provided,* That any Department or officer authorized to use the penalty envelopes may in close them with return address to any person or persons from or through whom official information is desired, the same to be used only to cover such official information, and indorsements relating thereto: *Provided further, *That any letter or packet to be registered by either of the Executive Departments, or Bureaus thereof, or by the Agricultural Department, or by the Public Printer, may be registered without the payment of any registry fee; and any part-paid letter or packet addressed to either of said Departments or Bureaus may be delivered free; but where there is good reason to believe the omission to prepay the full postage thereon was intentional, such letter or packet shall be returned to the sender: *Provided further,* That this act shall not extend or apply to pension agents or other officers who receive a fixed allowance as compensation R.
S. 3915,761.for their services, including expenses of postages. And section Repealed.thirty-nine hundred and fifteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States, so far as the same relates to stamps and stamped envelopes for official purposes, is hereby repealed.” " Approved, July 5th, 1884.