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Code · STATUTES-AT-LARGE · Vol. 39 STAT. · July 28, 1916 · Chapter 261

Chapter 261. Making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes

12,141 words·~55 min read·/statutes-at-large/vol-39/chapter-261-1821081·

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CHAP. 261.— An Act Making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes. July 28, 1916[[H. R. 104](/us/bill/64/hr/104)][[Public, No. 169](/us/pl/64/169)] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* Postal service appropriations.Vol. 5, p. 80. That the following sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post Office Department, in conformity with the Act of July second, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, as follows:
Postmaster General.office of the postmaster general. Repair shops and equipment division.Rent.For rent of suitable buildings for the use of the Post Office Department, including the mail-bag-repair shop, lock-repair shop, and the Division of Equipment, $32,000. Building for equipment division.Construction authorized.The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to have prepared the necessary plans and specifications and to enter into a contract or contracts for the construction of a reinforced concrete and all-glass factory-type fireproof building for the use of the Post Office Department equipment shops, such building to contain approximately Site by purchase or condemnation.seventy thousand square feet of floor space; and sufficient land in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, may be acquired, if necessary, by the Postmaster General, by purchase or condemnation, Appropriation.upon which to erect such building; and for the purpose of the purchase of said land and the construction of said building $200,000 is hereby appropriated and made available out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated.
Power, etc.For gas, electric power and light, and the repair of machinery, $4,000. Post office inspectors.For salaries of post-office inspectors: For salaries of fifteen inspectors in charge of divisions, at $3,000 each; thirty inspectors, at $2,400 each; twenty inspectors, at $2,250 each; thirty-two inspectors, at $2,100 each; twenty inspectors, at $2,000 each; thirty inspectors, at $1,900 each; ninety inspectors, at $1,800 each; sixty inspectors, at $1,700 each; sixty inspectors, at $1,600 each; and sixty-five inspectors, at $1,500 each; in all, $783,700.
Per diem.For per diem allowance of inspectors in the field while actually traveling on official business away from their homes, their official domiciles, and their headquarters, at a rate to be fixed by the Postmaster *Provisos*Temporary allowances.General, not to exceed $3 per day: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, allow inspectors per diem while temporarily located at any place on business away from their homes or their designated domiciles for a period not exceeding twenty consecutive days at any one place, and make rules and regulations governing the foregoing provisions relating to per diem: *And provided Limit.further*, That no per diem shall be paid to inspectors receiving annual salaries of $2,000 or more, except the thirty-two inspectors receiving $2,100 each, $262,860.
Clerks at division headquarters.For compensation of clerks at division headquarters: Fifteen, at $1,800 each; fifteen, at $1,600 each; twenty, at $1,400 each; thirty, at $1,200 each; ten, at $1,000 each; and ten, at $900 each; in all, $134,000. Travel, etc., expenses.For traveling expenses of inspectors without per diem allowance, inspectors in charge, and the chief post-office inspector, and expenses incurred by inspectors not covered by per diem allowance, unusual and extraordinary expenses necessarily incurred for maintenance by inspectors over and above per diem allowance while traveling on official business in connection with the postal service of Alaska, and for the traveling expenses of four clerks performing stenographic and clerical assistance to post-office inspectors in the investigation of important fraud cases, $43,850. 413 For livery hire incurred by inspectors not covered by their perLivery hire. diem allowance, including livery hire in connection with the installation and inspection of rural routes, $45,000.
For necessary miscellaneous, expenses at division headquarters,Miscellaneous. $7,500. For payment of rewards for the detection, arrest, and convictionRewards, etc.*Provisos*.Death of offenders. of post-office burglars, robbers, and highway mail robbers: *Provided*, That rewards may be paid, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, when an offender of the class mentioned was killed in the act of committing the crime or in resisting lawful arrest: *And provided further*, That of the amount herein appropriated not to exceedCollecting information, etc. $5,000 may be expended, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, for the purpose of securing information concerning violations of the postal laws and for services and information looking toward the apprehension of criminals, $25,000.
That hereafter the Postmaster General shall have authority toActing employees allowed for those injured. employ acting employees in place of all employees or substitutes hereinafter mentioned who are injured while on duty, who shall be granted leave of absence with full pay during the period of disability,Leaves of absence. but not exceeding one year, then at the rate of fifty per centum of the employee’s salary for the period of disability exceeding one year, but not exceeding twelve months additional, and the Postmaster GeneralPayment in case of death. is authorized to pay the sum of $2,000, which shall be exempt from payment of debts of the deceased, to the legal representatives, for the benefit of wife, children, or dependent relatives, of any railwayEmployees included. postal clerk, substitute railway postal clerk, supervisory official of the Railway Mail Service, post-office inspector, letter carrier in the City Delivery Service, rural letter carrier, post-office clerk, special-delivery messenger, post-office laborer or any classified civil-service employee in post offices of the first and second classes who shall be killed while on duty, or who, being injured while on duty, shall die within one year thereafter as the result of such injury: *Provided*, That*Proviso*.No allowance for negligence. no compensation shall be paid any such employee for any injury occasioned by his own negligence.
To enable the Postmaster General to carry out the provisions of the above, $234,000. That the Postmaster General shall not approve or continue anyDischarge if sick less than one year forbidden. rule or regulation which terminates the employment of any employee by reason of absence on account of illness for a period of less than one year, and that any postal employee who has entered the military service of the United States or who shall hereafter enter it shall, upon being honorably discharged therefrom, be permitted to resume theReinstatement after military service. position in the postal department which he left to enter such military service.
For compensation of a special assistant to the Attorney General toSpecial attorney in postal cases. assist in the defense of cases against the United States arising out of the transportation of the mails, and in other cases and matters affecting the postal revenues, $6,000, and the employment of such officer hereafter is authorized. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, officeTravel, etc. of the Postmaster General, $1,000. office of the first assistant postmaster general.First Assistant Postmaster General.
For compensation to postmasters, $31,000,000: *Provided*, That forPostmasters.*Proviso*.Quarterly grading of salaries from receipts. the fiscal year beginning July first, nineteen hundred and seventeen,Mileage computations.Full and apartment cars. and thereafter the respective compensation of postmasters of the first, second, and third classes shall be annual salaries, graded in even hundreds of dollars, and payable in semimonthly payments, to be ascertained and fixed by the Postmaster General from their respective quarterly returns to the Auditor for the Post Office Department, or 414copies or duplicates thereof to the First Assistant Postmaster General, for the calendar year immediately preceding the adjustment.
Assistant postmasters.For compensation to assistant postmasters at first and second class post offices, five, at not exceeding $4,000 each; forty-two, at not exceeding $3,000 each; ten, at not exceeding $2,500 each; five, at not exceeding $2,000 each; twenty, at not exceeding $1,900 each; fifty, at not exceeding $1,800 each; one hundred, at not exceeding $1,700 each; one hundred and sixty, at not exceeding $1,600 each; one hundred and seventy-five, at not exceeding $1,500 each; one hundred and ninety, at not exceeding $1,400 each; three hundred and fifty, at not exceeding $1,300 each; six hundred and sixty, at not exceeding $1,200 each; five hundred and twenty-five, at not exceeding $1,100 each; three hundred and thirty-eight, at not exceeding $1,000 each; one hundred and thirty, at not exceeding $900 each; one hundred, Appointments restricted.at not exceeding $800 each; in all, $3,500,000.
And the appointment and assignment of assistant postmasters hereunder shall be so made during the fiscal year as not to involve a greater aggregate expenditure than this sum. Employees, first and second class offices.For compensation to clerks and employees at first and second class post offices: At $3,200.Superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, and superintendents of registry, fifteen, at not exceeding $3,200 each; At $3,000.Auditors, and superintendents of mails, ten, at not exceeding $3,000 each;
At $2,700.Assistant superintendents of mails, superintendents of delivery, and superintendents of mails, twenty, at not exceeding $2,700 each; At $2,600.Assistant superintendents of mails, cashiers, superintendents of delivery, and superintendents of mails, thirty, at not exceeding $2,600 each; At $2,500.Assistant superintendents of mails, cashiers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, and superintendents of stations, thirty, at not exceeding $2,500 each; At $2,400.Assistant superintendents of delivery, assistant superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, bookkeepers, cashiers, finance clerks, stenographers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, and superintendents of registry, forty, at not exceeding $2,400 each;
At $2,200.Assistant superintendents of mails, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, finance clerks, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, and superintendents of stations, fifty, at not exceeding $2,200 each; At $2,000.Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistant superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, bookkeepers, cashiers, examiners of stations, finance clerks, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, superintendents of inquiry, and superintendents of stations, one hundred and thirty, at not exceeding $2,000 each;
At $1,800.Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistant superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, one hundred and forty, at not exceeding $1,800 each; 415 Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,700. superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, one hundred and sixty-five, at not exceeding $1,700 each;
Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,600. superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, foremen of crews, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, two hundred and fifty, at not exceeding $1,600 each;
Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,500. superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, foremen of crews, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, nine hundred, at not exceeding $1,500 each;
Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,400. superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, special clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, foremen of crews, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, one thousand five hundred and sixty, at not exceeding $1,400 each;
Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,300. superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, cashiers, chief mailing clerks, chief stamp clerks, examiners of stations, finance clerks, foremen of crews, special clerks, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of delivery, superintendents of mails, superintendents of money order, superintendents of registry, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, two thousand eight hundred, at not exceeding $1,300 each;
Assistant cashiers, assistant superintendents of delivery, assistantAt $1,200. superintendents of mails, assistant superintendents of money order, assistant superintendents of registry, assistant superintendents of stations, bookkeepers, chief stamp clerks, clerks, finance clerks, foremen of crews, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, eighteen thousand six hundred, at not exceeding $1,200 each; Assistant superintendents of stations, clerks, stenographers, superintendentsAt $1,100. of carriers, superintendents of second-class matter, and superintendents of stations, nine thousand, at not exceeding $1,100 each; 416 At $1,000.Assistant superintendents of stations, clerks, clerks in charge of stations, stenographers, superintendents of carriers, and superintendents of second-class matter, four thousand, at not exceeding $1,000 each;
At $900.Clerks, clerks in charge of stations, and stenographers, two thousand two hundred, at not exceeding $900 each; At $800.Clerks and clerks in charge of stations, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven, at not exceeding $800 each; Substitutes.Substitutes for clerks and employees absent without pay; Promotions provided for.First-class offices.“Special clerks” authorized.And to provide for the promotion of seventy-five per centum of the clerks in first-class post offices from the fifth to the sixth grade, and for the promotion of five per centum of the clerks in the sixth grade to the designation of “Special clerk” in the $1,300 grade, and for the promotion of five per centum of the designated “Special clerks” in the $1,300 grade to the designation of “Special clerk” in the $1,400 Second class offices.grade, and to provide for the promotion of seventy-five per centum of the clerks in second-class offices from the fourth to the fifth grade, and for the promotion of five per centum of the clerks in second-class *Provisos*.Foremen and stenographers.offices from the fifth to the sixth grade: *And provided further*, That there may also be employed at first-class post offices foremen and stenographers at a salary of $1,300 or more per annum: *Provided*, Special clerks.Eight-hour workday for.Vol. 37, p. 554, amended.That section five of the Act approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, entitled “An Act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes,” be, and the same is hereby, amended to include employees of first and second class post offices designated as “Special clerks.
” Appointments, etc., restricted.Increase in clerks and carriers.Vol. 34, p. 1206.In all, $47,900,000, and hereafter the appointment and assignment of clerks hereunder shall be so made during each fiscal year as not to involve a greater aggregate expenditure than the sum appropriated; and to enable the Postmaster General to carry out the provisions of the Act of March second, nineteen hundred and seven, classifying clerks and city letter carriers in first and second class post offices, he may hereafter exceed the number of clerks appropriated for for *Proviso*.Aggregate.particular grades: *Provided*, That the number of clerks in the aggregate as herein authorized be not exceeded.
Printers, mechanics, etc.For compensation to printers, mechanics and skilled laborers, twenty-two, at $1,200 each, four at $1,100 each; three at $1,000 each and twenty-eight at $900 each; in all, $59,000. Watchmen, messengers, etc.For compensation to watchmen, messengers, and laborers, one thousand eight hundred, at $840 each; in all, $1,512,000. Contract station clerks.For compensation to clerks in charge of contract stations, $1,160,000. Temporary, auxiliary and substitute clerks.For temporary and auxiliary clerk hire and for substitute clerk hire for clerks and employees absent with pay at first and second class post offices and temporary and auxiliary clerk hire at summer *Provisos*.Compensatory time for working holidays.and winter resort post offices, $2,120,000: *Provided*, That hereafter when the needs of the Postal Service require the employment on holidays of clerks in first and second class post offices and letter carriers in the City Delivery Service, the employees who are required and ordered to perform holiday work shall be allowed compensatory time on one of the thirty days following the holiday on which they Holidays specified.perform such service: *Provided*, That for the purpose of this Act holidays shall be New Year’s Day (January first);
Washington’s Birthday (February twenty-second); Memorial Day (May thirtieth); Independence Day (July fourth); the first Monday in September, known as Labor Day; Christmas (December twenty-fifth); and such other days as the President of the United States may set apart as fast or thanksgiving days. Separating mails.For separating mails at third and fourth class post offices, $710,000. Unusual conditions.For unusual conditions at post offices, $130,000. 417 For allowances to third-class post offices to cover the cost ofThird-class offices.*Provisos*.Allowance for clerks. clerical services, $1,775,000:
Provided, That no allowance in excess of $300 shall be made where the salary of the postmaster is $1,000, $1,100, or $1,200; nor in excess of $400 where the salary of the postmaster is $1,300, $1,400, or $1,500; and that no allowance in excess of $500 shall be made where the salary of the postmaster is $1,600 or $1,700; nor in excess of $800 where the salary of the postmaster is $1,800 or $1,900: And provided further, That the PostmasterAssistant postmasters. General may, in the disbursement of this appropriation, expend not exceeding $400,000 for the employment, at a maximum salary of $600 per annum, of assistant postmasters at post offices of the third class where the salary of the postmaster is $1,800 or $1,900 per annum.
For rent, light, and fuel for first, second, and third class postRent, light, and fuel.*Proviso*.Ten-year leases. offices, $5,500,000: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General may, in the disbursement of the appropriation for such purposes, apply a part thereof to the purpose of leasing premises for the use of post offices of the first, second, and third classes at a reasonable annual rental, to be paid quarterly for a term not exceeding ten years; and that there shall not be allowed for the use of any third-class postLimit, third class offices. office for rent a sum in excess of $500, nor more than $100 for fuel and light, in any one year.
For miscellaneous items necessary and incidental to post offices ofMiscellaneous items. the first and second classes, $350,000. For pay of letter carriers at offices already established, includingCity delivery.Carriers. substitutes for letter carriers absent without pay, and for the promotion of seventy-five per centum of the letter carriers in first-classPromotions. post offices from the fifth to the sixth grade and for the promotion of seventy-five per centum of the letter carriers in second-class offices from the fourth to the fifth grade and for the promotion of five per centum of the letter carriers in second-class offices from the fifth to the sixth grade, City Delivery Service, $39,116,700: *Provided, That**Provisos*.Detroit River service.No pay distinction between collections and deliveries. the marine letter carriers assigned to the Detroit River postal service shall be paid $1,500 per annum: *Provided further*, That hereafter there shall be no distinction in salary made between letter carriers assigned to collection duty and letter carriers assigned to delivery duty: *And provided further*, That letter carriers whose salaries haveReduced salaries restored. been reduced as the result of any order of the Post Office Department, making the maximum salary $1,000 to be paid letter carriers assigned to collection duty, shall be restored to their former grades.
For pay of substitutes for letter carriers absent with pay, and ofSubstitutes. auxiliary and temporary letter carriers at offices where city delivery is already established, $4,100,000. For pay of letter carriers, substitute and auxiliary letter carriersCarriers, new offices. at offices where City Delivery Service is established during the year, $75,000: *Provided*, That hereafter substitute clerks in first and second*Provisos*.Pay of substitutes rated. class post offices, or substitute letter carriers in the City Delivery Service shall be paid at the rate of 35 cents an hour for vacation service, or for auxiliary service or for temporary service, or for temporary regular service, or temporary service of any other designation: *Provided further*, That substitute clerks in first and second classFor employees off duty without pay. post offices or substitute letter carriers in the City Delivery Service when working in places of regular employees who are off duty without pay, shall be paid at the rate of 40 cents an hour.
For vehicle allowance, the hiring of drivers, the rental of vehicles,Vehicle allowance. and the purchase and exchange and maintenance, including stable and garage facilities, of wagons or automobiles for, and the operation of, screen-wagon and city delivery and collection services, $5,565,000: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General may, in his disbursement of*Provisos*.Garage leases. this appropriation, apply a part thereof to the leasing of quarters for the housing of Government-owned automobiles at a reasonable annual 418Mail lettings.Postmaster General substituted for Second Assistant.[R.
S., see. 3944, p. 765, amended](/us/rs/s3944/p765).Vol. 20, p. 61.rental for a term not exceeding ten years: *Provided further*, That section thirty-nine hundred and forty-four, Revised Statutes, is hereby amended by the elimination of the words “or the Second Assistant Postmaster General,” and the Act of May seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby amended by the substitution of the words “Postmaster General” for the words “Second Assistant Postmaster General” wherever they occur.
Messenger service.*Provisos*.Payments by postmasters.For mail-messenger service, $2,193,000: *Provided*, That postmasters may be designated by the Postmaster General as disbursing officers for the payment of mail messengers and others engaged under their supervision in transporting the mails: *Provided further*, That, in Contracts for, by postmasters, etc.the discretion of the Postmaster General, postmasters, assistant postmasters, and clerks at post offices of the third and fourth classes may enter into contracts for the performance of mail messenger services, and allowances may be made therefor from this appropriation:
Allowances restricted.*Provided further*, That the total amount payable under such contract to any postmaster, assistant postmaster, or clerk shall not exceed $300 in any one year. Pneumatic tubes.*Proviso*.Continuance until March 4, 1917.For the transmission of mail by pneumatic tubes or other similar devices, $976,000: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General is hereby authorized and directed to extend existing contracts for pneumatic-tube mail service until March fourth, nineteen hundred and seventeen.
Car fare, etc.For car fare and bicycle allowance, $625,000. Street car collection.For street car collection service, $10,000. Detroit River service.For Detroit River postal service, $7,250. Special delivery.Car fare.For car fare for special-delivery messengers in emergency cases, $13,000. Fees.For fees to special-delivery messengers, $2,000,000. Travel, etc.For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office of the First Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. Fourth-class postmasters.Immediate assignment to higher class.*Ante*, p. 163, amended.*Ante*, p. 162.That section sixteen of the Act entitled “An Act to amend the Act approved June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten, authorizing the Postal Savings System, and for other purposes,” approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, be, and the same is, amended by striking out the words “on and after July first, nineteen hundred and sixteen,” and that section ten of the said Act be amended by inserting after the first word of said section, “That,” the words “section one hundred and ninety-eight of the.
” Dead letters.[R. S., sec. 3938, p. 764, amended](/us/rs/s3938/p764).That section thirty-nine hundred and thirty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to read as follows: Domestic, inclosing valuables, to be held.“All letters of domestic origin which can not be delivered by postmasters shall be sent to the Post Office Department or to a post office designated by the Postmaster General and such as contain inclosures of value, other than correspondence, shall be recorded.
If the sender or addressee can not be identified, such letters shall be held for a period of one year awaiting reclamation. If within one year they have not been claimed, they shall be disposed of as the Postmaster Disposal of others.General may direct. All other undeliverable letters shall be disposed of without record and not held for reclamation.” Second Assistant Postmaster General.office of the second assistant postmaster general. Mail transportation.Star routes, Alaska.*Proviso*.Emergency service.For inland transportation by star routes in Alaska, $306,000: *Provided*, That out of this appropriation the Postmaster General is authorized to provide difficult or emergency mail service in Alaska, including the establishment and equipment of relay stations, in such manner as he may think advisable, without advertising therefor.
Steamboat, etc., routes, or aeroplanes.For inland transportation by steamboat or other power-boat routes or by aeroplanes, $1,060,000. 419 For inland transportation by railroad routes, $59,185,000: *Provided*,Railroad routes.*Provisos*.Free carriage of officials. That hereafter every railroad company carrying the mails shall carry on any train it operates and without extra charge therefor the persons in charge of the mails and when on duty and traveling to and from duty, and all duly accredited agents and officers of. the Post Office Department and the Railway Mail Service and Post Office inspectors while traveling on official business, upon the exhibition of their credentials:
Provided further, That no part of thisMississippi Bridge, Saint Louis, Mo. appropriation shall be paid for carrying the mail over the bridge across the Mississippi River at Saint Louis, Missouri, other than upon a mileage basis: *But provided further*, That the PostmasterTransfers, etc., Saint Louis, Mo. General may in his discretion pay within the present law a fair and reasonable price for the special transfer and terminal service at the Union Station at East Saint Louis, Illinois, and at the Union Station at Saint Louis, Missouri, including the use, lighting, and heating of the mail building, and transfer service at Saint Louis, Missouri, provided the amount so paid shall not exceed $35,000.
For pay of freight or expressage on postal cards, stamped envelopes,Freight on postal cards, etc. newspaper wrappers, and empty mail bags, $645,000. For railway post-office car service, $4,397,000: *Provided*, That noPost office car service.*Proviso*.Sound and sanitary cars.*Post*, p. 427. part of this amount shall be paid for the use of any car which is not sound in material and construction, and which is not equipped with sanitary drinking-water containers and toilet facilities, nor unless such car is regularly and thoroughly cleaned.
Railway Mail Service: For fifteen division superintendents, atRailway Mail Service.Division and assistant superintendents. $3,250 each; two assistant superintendents, at $2,350 each; fifteen assistant division superintendents, at $2,250 each; one hundred and eighteen chief clerks, at not exceeding $2,100 each; four hundred and fifty-nine clerks, grade ten, at not exceeding $1,800 each; one thousandClerks. eight hundred and eighty-six clerks, grade nine, at not exceeding $1,700 each; five hundred and forty-nine clerks, grade eight, at not exceeding $1,600 each; seven thousand eight hundred and seventy-six clerks, grade seven, at not exceeding $1,500 each; one thousand and three clerks, grade six, at not exceeding $1,400 each; one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two clerks, grade five, at not exceeding $1,300 each; four thousand four hundred and ninety-three clerks, grade four, at not exceeding $1,200 each; nine hundred and twenty-six clerks, grade three, at not exceeding $1,100 each; one hundred and ninety-three clerks, grade two, at not exceeding $1,000 each; three thousand four hundred and ninety-six clerks, grade one, at not exceeding $900 each; in all, $28,825,050: *Provided*, That clerks*Provisos*.Clerks in charge of crews. assigned as clerks in charge of crews consisting of more than one clerk shall be clerks of grades five to ten, inclusive, and may be promoted one grade only after three years’ satisfactory and faithful service in such capacity: *Provided further*, That railway postal clerksFull time when deadheading. shall be credited with full time when deadheading under orders of the department.
And the appointment and assignment of clerks hereunder shall be soAppointment, etc., restricted. made during the fiscal year as not to involve a greater aggregate expenditure than this sum; and to enable the Postmaster General to reclassify the salaries of railway postal clerks and make necessary appointments and promotions he may exceed the number of clerks in such of the grades as may be necessary: *Provided*, That the number*Proviso*.Limit. of clerks in the aggregate as herein authorized be not exceeded.
For travel allowances to railway postal clerks, acting railway postalTravel allowances. clerks, and substitute railway postal clerks, including substitute railway postal clerks for railway postal clerks granted leave with pay on account of sickness, $1,488,336. For temporary clerk hire for emergency service, $60,000.Temporary clerks. For substitutes for clerks on vacation, $893,900: *Provided*, That theSubstitutes.*Provisos*. Act of March third, nineteen hundred and one (Thirty-first Statutes, 420Leaves with pay.Vol. 31, p. 1105, amended.Leaves when providing substitutes.Vol. 37, p. 798, amended.page eleven hundred and five), be amended to read as follows:
“The Postmaster General may allow railway postal clerks an annual vacation of fifteen days, with pay”: *And provided further*, That the Act of March fourth, nineteen hundred and thirteen (Thirty-seventh Statutes, page seven hundred and ninety-eight), be amended to read as follows: “That hereafter the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, under such regulations as he may provide, allow any railway postal clerk leave of absence with pay for a period not exceeding thirty days, with the understanding that his duties will be performed without expense to the Government during the period for which leave is granted, he to provide a substitute at his own expense.
” Traveling expenses.For actual and necessary expenses, general superintendent and assistant general superintendent, division superintendents, assistant division superintendents, and chief clerks, Railway Mail Service, and railway postal clerks, while actually traveling on business of the Post Office Department and away from their several designated headquarters, $55,000. Miscellaneous.For rent, light, heat, fuel, telegraph, miscellaneous and office expenses, schedules of mail trains, telephone service, and badges for railway postal clerks, including rental of offices for division headquarters, and chief clerk, Railway Mail Service, in Washington, District Rent for terminal offices.of Columbia, and rental of space for terminal railway post offices for the distribution of mails when the furnishing of space for such distribution can not under the Postal Laws and Regulations properly be required of railroad companies without additional compensation, and for equipment and miscellaneous items necessary and incidental to terminal railway post offices, $606,723.
Per diem, assistant superintendents.For per diem allowance of two assistant superintendents while actually traveling on official business away from their home, their official domicile, and their headquarters, at a rate to be fixed by the Postmaster General, not to exceed $3 per day, and for their necessary official expenses not covered by their per diem allowance, not exceeding $500; in all, $2,660. Electric and cable car service.*Provisos*.Rates of pay.For inland transportation of mail by electric and cable cars, $660,000: *Provided*, That the rate of compensation to be paid per mile shall not exceed the rate now paid to companies performing such service, except that the Postmaster General, in cases where the quantity of mail is large and the number of exchange points numerous, may, in his discretion, authorize payment for closed-pouch service at a rate per mile not to exceed one-third above the rate per mile now paid for closed-pouch service; and for mail cars and apartments carrying the mails, not to exceed the rate of 1 cent per linear foot per car-mile of Outside of cities.travel: *Provided further*, That the rates for electric car service on routes over twenty miles in length outside of cities shall not exceed Unusual conditions.the rates paid for service on steam railroads: *Provided, however*, That not to exceed $15,000 of the sum hereby appropriated may be expended, Substitution of wagon service.in the discretion of the Postmaster General, where unusual conditions exist or where such service will be more expeditious and efficient and at no greater cost than otherwise, and not to exceed $100,000 of this appropriation may be expended for regulation screen or motor screen wagon service which may be authorized in lieu of electric or cable car service.
Foreign mails.*Proviso*.Clerks on steamships.For transportation of foreign mails, $3,800,000: Provided, That the Postmaster General shall be authorized to expend such sums as may be necessary, not exceeding $103,000, to cover the cost to the United States of maintaining sea post service on steamships conveying the Pier transfers.mails, and not exceeding $79,100 for transferring the foreign mail from incoming steamships in New York Bay to the steamship and railway piers, for transferring the foreign mail from incoming steamships in San Francisco Bay to the piers, and for transporting the 421foreign mail from incoming steamships at Honolulu from quarantineContract mail transfers. to the piers; also for transferring the mail from steamships performing service under contract for transporting United States mail.
For assistant superintendent, Division of Foreign Mails, with headquartersAssistant superintendent. in New York, New York, $2,500. For balances due foreign countries, $681,700.Balances due foreign countries. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, officeTravel, etc. of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. office of the third assistant postmaster general.Third Assistant Postmaster General. For manufacture of adhesive postage stamps, special-deliveryStamps. stamps, books of stamps, and for coiling of stamps, $806,000.
For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers,Stamped envelopes and wrappers. $1,516,000. For pay of agent and assistants to examine and distribute stampedDistribution. envelopes and newspaper wrappers, and expenses of agency, $15,500. For manufacture of postal cards, $360,000.Postal cards. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, $150.Ship, etc., letters. For payment of limited indemnity for the injury or loss of piecesIndemnity for lost registered matter, etc. of domestic registered matter, insured, and collect-on-delivery mail, $200,000.
For payment of limited indemnity for the loss of registered articles in the international mails, in accordance with convention stipulations, $10,000. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, officeTravel, etc. of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the service of the PostalPostal Savings System. Savings System, office of the director, $500. Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General: ForFourth Assistant Postmaster General.Stationery, etc. stationery for the Postal Service, including blanks, books, printed and engraved matter, binding and carbon paper, and other miscellaneous items for the money-order and registry systems; also the preparation, publication, and free distribution by postmasters to the public of pamphlet containing general postal information, $260,000.
For official and registry envelopes, including pay of one envelopeOfficial and registry envelopes. inspector at $1,800 per annum, and one assistant at $900 per annum, $72,700. postal savings system. For the purchase of supplies for the Postal Savings System, includingSupplies, Postal Savings System. blank books, forms, pamphlets, rubber stamps, canceling devices, certificates and cards and stamps for use in evidencing deposits, and free penalty envelopes; and for the reimbursement of the SecretaryBond expenses.Vol. 36, p. 817. of the Treasury for expenses incident to the preparation, issue, and registration of the bonds authorized by the Act of June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten, $75,000.
For equipment for City Delivery Service, including letter boxes,City delivery equipment. letter-box fasteners, package boxes, posts, furniture, and the erecting and painting of same, also trucks, baskets, satchels, straps, time cards, and time-card frames, and the repairing of such equipment, $225,000: *Provided*, That not exceeding $6,000 of the amount hereby*Proviso*.Letter box dies. appropriated may be expended for the purchase of dies for letter boxes. For postmarking, rating, money-order stamps, and electrotypePost marking, etc., stamps. plates, and repairs to same, metal, rubber, and combination type, dates and figures, type holders, ink and pads for canceling and stamping purposes, $30,000.
For letter balances, scales, test weights, and repairs to same,Letter balances. $50,000. 422 Wrapping paper.For wrapping paper, $15,000. Twine, etc.For wrapping twine and tying devices, $250,000. Facing slips, etc.For facing slips, plain and printed, card slide labels, intaglio seals, tags, linen labels, blanks, and books of an urgent nature, $120,000. Purchase, exchange, etc., of miscellaneous articles.For the purchase, exchange, and repair of typewriting machines, envelope-opening machines, and computing machines, copying presses, numbering machines, time recorders, and miscellaneous articles purchased and furnished directly to the Postal Service, $135,000.
Rural delivery equipment.For equipment for the Rural Delivery Service, including the purchase and repair of furniture, satchels and straps, and collection boxes and the erection and painting of such boxes, $12,000. Shipping supplies.For defraying expenses incident to the shipment of supplies, including hardware, boxing, packing, cartage, freight, and the pay of one carpenter at $1,200 per annum and nine requisition fillers, at $840 each per annum, for assignment in connection therewith, $125,000.
Post route maps, etc.For miscellaneous expenses in the preparation and publication of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints, including tracing for photolithographic reproduction, $25,000; and the Postmaster Sale, etc.General may authorize the sale to the public of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints at the cost of printing and ten per centum thereof added, the proceeds of such sale to be used as a further appropriation for the preparation and publication of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints; of this amount $500 may be expended in the purchase of atlases and geographical and technical works.
Miscellaneous supplies.For miscellaneous supplies, including directories, maps, cleaning supplies, and ice, necessary and incidental to post offices of the first and second classes (except labor incident to cleaning post offices, telephone rental, water rental, laundering and towel service, drayage, and miscellaneous service items), $70,000. Miscellaneous equipment.For miscellaneous equipment for post offices of the first and second classes, including the expenditure of not exceeding $25,000 for post-office furniture, $40,000.
Canceling machines.For rental and purchase of canceling machines, including cost of power in rented buildings, motors, repairs to motors, and miscellaneous expenses of installation and operation, $300,000. Labor saving devices.For the purchase, rental, repair, exchange, and maintenance of mechanical mail-handling apparatus and other labor-saving devices, $75,000. Mail bags, locks, etc.For the purchase, manufacture, and repair of mail bags and other mail containers, and attachments, mail locks, keys, chains, tools, machinery, and material necessary for same, and for incidental Shop supplies.expenses pertaining thereto; also material, machinery, and tools necessary for the manufacture and repair in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, of such other equipment for *Proviso*.Distinctive equipments for departments, Alaska, etc.the Postal Service as may be deemed expedient, $480,000: *Provided*, That out of this appropriation the Postmaster General is authorized to use as much of the sum, not exceeding $5,000, as may be deemed necessary for the purchase of material and the manufacture in the equipment shops of such small quantities of distinctive equipments as may be required by other executive departments; and for service in Alaska, Porto Rico, Philippine Islands, Hawaii, or other island possessions.
Labor in equipment shops.For compensation to labor employed in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, $155,000. Star route transportation.For inland transportation by star routes (excepting service in Alaska), including temporary service to newly established offices, 423$8,675,000: *Provided*, That no part of this appropriation shall be*Proviso*.Discontinued if served by rural delivery. expended for continuance of any star-route service the patronage of which shall be served entirely by the extension of Rural Delivery Service, nor shall any of said sum be expended for the establishmentNew routes restricted. of new star-route service for a patronage which is already entirely served by Rural Delivery Service.
For pay of rural carriers, substitutes for rural carriers on annualRural delivery.Carriers, etc. leave, clerks in charge of rural stations, and tolls and ferriage, Rural Delivery Service, and for the incidental expenses thereof, $53,000,000. That the maximum yearly salary shall be paid to the rural carrierLake Winnipesaukee.*Provisos*.Station clerks. on Lake Winnipesaukee, who furnishes his own equipment: *Provided*, That not to exceed $20,000 of the amount hereby appropriated may be used for the compensation of clerks in charge of rural stations: *And provided further*, That rural mail delivery shall be extended so asExtension of service. to serve, as nearly as practicable, the entire rural population of the United States.
Hereafter all rural mail delivery routes shall be divided into twoClassification of standard routes. classes to be known as— Standard horse-drawn vehicle routes, which shall be twenty-fourHorse-drawn vehicle. miles in length, and Standard motor-vehicle routes, which shall be fifty miles in length,Motor vehicle.Petition required. and shall only be established hereafter when a majority of the proposed patrons who are heads of families residing upon such proposed routes shall by written petition ask the Post Office Department to establish the same.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit the establishmentLesser horse-drawn routes. of horse-drawn vehicle routes of less length than the standard of twenty-four miles: *Provided*, That if, in the discretion of the*Provisos*.Increased length. Postmaster General, in order to render more complete service, it should be necessary to do so the Postmaster General is hereby authorized to increase the length of routes not to exceed fifty per centum above the standards herein prescribed, and in such cases thePay. compensation of the carrier on such horse-drawn vehicle routes shall be increased above the maximum pay heretofore fixed by law for rural carriers at the rate of $24 per annum for each mile of said routes in excess of thirty miles, and any major fraction of a mile shall be counted as a mile: *Provided further*, That carriers in ruralVehicles, etc., by carriers. mail-delivery service shall furnish and maintain at their own expense all necessary vehicle equipment for prompt handling of the mail: *And provided further*, That nothing herein shall be construed, andUse of motor for horse-drawn. no order shall be issued, to prevent the use of motor vehicles on horse-drawn vehicle routes: *Provided further*, The Postmaster GeneralAdequate equipment. in his discretion may require all carriers to furnish sufficient equipment to properly handle postal business on their routes: *And providedExtra pay for pouch service. further*, That the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, allow and pay additional compensation to rural letter carriers who are required to carry pouch mail to intermediate post offices, or for intersecting loop routes, in all cases where it appears that the carriage of such pouches increases the expense of the equipment required by the carrier or materially increases the amount of labor performed by him, such compensation not to exceed the sum of $12 per annum for each mile such carrier is required to carry such pouch or pouches.
The Postmaster General is hereby authorized and directed toReadjustment of service. reorganize and readjust existing rural mail delivery service where necessary to conform to the standards herein prescribed: *Provided*Provisos*.Preference on new routes to former carriers further*, That in making appointments of rural carriers for service on new routes, which may be created by the reorganization herein ordered, preference shall be given to carriers who were formerly employed in rural-delivery service and who were separated therefrom on or after June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, by reason of any previous reorganization of the service and without charges 424Payment to carriers for service in 1915, under law restoring pay.against them: *And provided further*, That the Postmaster General is authorized and directed to pay, out of the appropriations already made and still available and unexpended for rural free-delivery service for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, to all letter carriers in the Rural Free Delivery Service during the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, their executors or administrators, the difference between what they received for their said services and the amount that would have been paid to them in accordance with the proviso contained in Vol. 38, p. 1227.joint resolution making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and No pay to attorneys, etc.fifteen: *Provided*, That no part of the money paid under this provision shall be paid to any agent or attorney, directly or indirectly, for any alleged services in connection with this appropriation.
Parcel post.Experiments in extending, for farm products.The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to conduct experiments in three or more communities for the purpose of determining the most practical means of extending the operations of the parcel post in the direction of promoting the marketing of farm products and furthering direct transactions between producers and consumers. Effect on rural delivery service.Such investigation will further include the consideration of the effects on the Rural Free Delivery Service such extension of the Parcel Post System will have, and report of conclusions reached shall be made to Congress.
For the purpose of pursuing such experiments and investigations the sum of $10,000 is hereby appropriated, to be paid as other appropriations in this Act. Village delivery.For village-delivery service in towns and villages having post offices of the second or third class, $250,000. Travel, etc.For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. Appropriation from Treasury to meet deficiencies.That if the revenues of the Post Office Department shall be insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this Act, a sum equal to such deficiency of the revenue of said department is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply said deficiencies in the revenues for the Post Office Department for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and the sum needed may be advanced to the Post Office Department upon requisition of the Postmaster General.
Sec. 2. Second class mail.Restriction on sending, as freight, repealed.Vol. 37, p. 547. That so much of section one of the “Act making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes,” approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, which provides that the Post Office Department shall not extend or enlarge its present policy of sending second-class matter Unfair discrimination forbidden.by freight trains, is hereby repealed, but no publication shall be sent by freight if such method of transportation results in unfair discrimination: *Proviso*.Submission of complaints to Department.*Provided*, That whenever the owner of any publication required by an order of the Post Office Department to be transmitted by freight believes that he is unfairly discriminated against, he may apply to the Post Office Department for an opportunity to be heard; that upon such application being duly filed in writing, the owner of Hearings, etc.such publication shall have opportunity for a full and fair hearing before said department, and pending final determination no change shall be made in the method of transportation of such publication as ordered by the department.
The testimony in any such hearing or proceedings shall be reduced to writing and filed in the Post Office Appeal from adverse decision to Court of Appeals, D. C.Department prior to entering an order upon such hearing. That upon such hearing if the Post Office Department decides adversely to the contention of the publisher, such publisher shall have the right, within the period of twenty days after the date of the order of the Post Office Department made upon such hearing, to appeal to the 425United States court of appeals of the District of Columbia, for aProcedure, etc. review of such order by said court of appeals, by filing in the court a written petition praying that the order of the Post Office Department be set aside.
A copy of such petition shall be forthwith served upon the Post Office Department and thereupon the said department forthwith shall certify and file in the court a transcript of the record and testimony. Upon the fifing of such transcript the court shall have jurisdiction to affirm, set aside or modify the order of the department. The jurisdiction of the court of appeals of the District of ColumbiaJurisdiction of court exclusive. to affirm, set aside or modify such orders of the Post Office Department shall be exclusive.
Such proceedings in the court of appeals of the District of ColumbiaPrecedence, etc. shall be given precedence over other cases pending therein and shall be in every way expedited. Sec. 3. That on account of the increased weight of mails resultingRailroad transportation.Allowance for increased weight of parcel post packages. from Postmaster General’s order numbered seventy-seven hundred and twenty, of December eighteenth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, respecting rates upon and limit of weight of parcel-post packages, effective from January first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, the Postmaster General is authorized to add to the compensation paid for transportation on railroad routes on and after January first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, for the remainder of the contract terms, not exceeding one per centum thereof per annum.
Sec. 4. That on account of the increased weight of mails resultingAllowance for increased weight in specified parcel post zones, August 15, 1913. from Postmaster General’s order numbered seventy-three hundred and forty-nine, of July twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, respecting rates upon the limit of weight of parcel-post packages in the local, first, and second zones, and effective from August fifteenth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, the Postmaster General is authorized to add to the compensation paid for transportation on railroad routes on and after August fifteenth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, for the remainder of the contract terms, not exceeding one-half of one per centum thereof per annum.
Sec. 5. That the Postmaster General is authorized and directedReadjustment of pay to railroads.*Post*, p. 431. to readjust the compensation to be paid to railroad companies from and after the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and sixteen, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, for the transportation and handling of the mails and furnishing facilities and services in connection therewith upon the conditions and at the rates hereinafter provided. The Postmaster General may state railroad mail routes andService classified. authorize mail service thereon of the following four classes, namely:
Full railway post-office car service, apartment railway post-office car service, storage-car service, and closed-pouch service. Full railway post-office car mail service shall be service by carsFull car service. forty feet or more in length, constructed, fitted up, and maintained for the distribution of mails on trains. The authorizations of full railway post-office cars shall be for standard-sized cars sixty feet in length, inside measurement, except as hereinafter provided.
Apartment railway post-office car mail service shall be service byApartment car service. apartments less than forty feet in length in cars constructed, fitted up, and maintained’ for the distribution of mails on trains. Two standard sizes of apartment railway post-office cars may be authorized and paid for, namely, apartments fifteen feet and thirty feet in length, inside measurement, except as hereinafter provided. Storage-car mail service shall be service by cars used for theStorage car service. storage and carriage of mails in transit other than by full and apartment railway post-office cars.
The authorizations for storage cars shall be for cars sixty feet in length, inside measurement, except as hereinafter provided: *Provided*, That storage space in units of three*Proviso*.Space units. feet, seven feet, fifteen feet, and thirty feet, both sides of car, may 426be authorized in baggage cars at not exceeding pro rata of the rates hereinafter named for sixty-foot storage cars. Mail, equipment, employees, etc., to be carried.Service by full and apartment railway post-office cars and storage cars shall include the carriage therein of all mail matter, equipment, and supplies for the mail service and the employees of the Postal Service or Post Office Department, as shall be directed by the Postmaster General to be so carried.
Closed pouch service.Closed-pouch mail service shall be the transportation and handling by railroad employees of mails on trains on which full or apartment railway post-office cars are not authorized, except as hereinbefore Space units.provided. The authorizations for closed-pouch service shall be for units of seven feet and three feet in length, both sides of car. Rates, etc.The rates of payment for the services authorized in accordance with this section shall be as follows, namely:
Full car service.For full railway post-office-car mail service at not exceeding 21 cents for each mile of service by a sixty-foot car. In addition thereto he may allow not exceeding $4.25 as a combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a sixty-foot car. Apartment car service.For apartment railway post-office car mail service at not exceeding 11 cents for each mile of service by a thirty-foot apartment car and 6 cents for each mile of service by a fifteen-foot apartment car.
In addition thereto he may allow not exceeding $2.75 as a combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a thirty-foot apartment car and $2 as a combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a fifteen-foot apartment car. Storage car service.For storage-car mail service at not exceeding 21 cents for each mile of service by a sixty-foot car. In addition thereto he may allow not exceeding $4.25 as a combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a sixty-foot car.
Deduction if length below standard.Where authorizations are made for cars of the standard lengths of sixty, thirty, and fifteen feet, as provided by this section, and the railroad company is unable to furnish such cars of the length authorized, but furnishes cars of lesser length than those authorized, but which are determined by the department to be sufficient for the service, the Postmaster General may accept the same and pay only for the actual space furnished and used, the compensation to be not exceeding pro rata of that provided by this section for the standard *Proviso*.No allowance for greater lengths.length so authorized: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General may accept cars and apartments of greater length than those of the standard requested, but no compensation shall be allowed for such excess lengths.
Closed pouch service.For closed-pouch service, at not exceeding 1| cents for each mile of service when a three-foot unit is authorized, and 3 cents for each mile of service when a seven-foot unit is authorized. In addition thereto he may allow not exceeding 25 cents as the combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a three-foot unit of service and 50 cents as a combined initial and terminal rate for each one-way trip of a seven-foot unit of service. Land grant roads.Vol. 19, p. 82;
Vol. 34, p. 1212; Vol. 36, p. 362.Railroad companies whose railroads were constructed in whole or in part by a land grant made by Congress, on the condition that the mails should be transported over their roads at such price as Congress should by law direct, shall receive only eighty per centum of the compensation otherwise authorized by this section. Initial and terminal rates.Expenses included in.The initial and terminal rates provided for herein shall cover expenses of loading and unloading mails, switching, fighting, heating, cleaning mail cars, and all other expenses incidental to station service and required by the Postmaster General in connection with Variations permitted.the mails that are not included in the car-mile rate.
The allowance for full railway post-office cars, apartment railway post-office cars, and storage cars may be varied in accordance with the approximate difference in their respective cost of construction and maintenance. 427 In computing the car miles of the full railway post-office cars andStorage cars. apartment railway post-office cars, the maximum space authorized in either direction of a round-trip car run shall be regarded as the space to be computed in both directions, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon.
In computing the car miles of storage cars, the maximum spaceChanges of service. authorized in either direction of a round-trip car run shall be regarded as the space to be computed in both directions, unless the car be used by the company in the return movement, or otherwise mutually agreed upon. New service and additional service may be authorized at not*Proviso*.Additional pay restricted. exceeding the rates herein provided, and service may be reduced or discontinued with pro rata reductions in pay, as the needs of the Postal Service may require: *Provided*, That no additional pay shallSpecial contracts for higher rates. be allowed for additional service unless specifically authorized by the Postmaster General.
The Postmaster General is authorized to make special contractsReport to Congress. with the railroad companies for the transportation of the mails where in his judgment the conditions warrant the application of higher rates than those herein specified, and make report to CongressPost office cars.Construction and maintenance.Vol. 36, p. 1335. of all cases where such special contracts are made and the terms and reasons therefor. All cars or parts of cars used for the Railway Mail Service shallSound and sanitary cars.Vol. 36, p. 363. be of such construction, style, length, and character, and furnished in such manner as shall be required by the Postmaster General, and shall be constructed, fitted up, maintained, heated, lighted, and cleaned by and at the expense of the railroad companies.
No payRestrictions on wooden cars. shall be allowed for service by any railway post-office car which is not sound in material and construction and which is not equipped with sanitary drinking-water containers and toilet facilities, nor unless such car is regularly and thoroughly cleaned. No pay shall beSteel required after July 1, 1917. allowed for service by any wooden full railway post-office car unless constructed substantially in accordance with the most approved plans and specifications of the Post Office Department for such type of cars, nor for service by any wooden full railway post-office car run in any train between adjoining steel cars, or between the engine and a steel car adjoining.
After the first of July, nineteen hundred and seventeen, the Postmaster General shall not approve or allow to be used, or pay for service by, any full railway postoffice car not constructed of steel or steel underframe or equally indestructible material; and all full railway post-office cars accepted for this service and contracted for by the railroad companies hereafter shall be constructed of steel. Until July first, nineteen hundred and seventeen,Emergency cases, etc. in cases of emergency and in cases where the necessities of the service require it, the Postmaster General may provide for service by full railway post-office cars of other than steel or steel underframe construction, and fix therefor such rate of compensation within the maximum herein provided as shall give consideration to the inferior character of construction, and the railroad companies shall furnish service by such cars at such rates so fixed.
Service over property owned or controlled by another company or aService over other roads. terminal company shall be considered service of the railroad company using such property and not that of the other or terminal company: *Provided*, That service over land-grant road shall be paid for as herein*Proviso*.Land grant roads. provided. Railroad companies carrying the mails shall furnish all necessaryFacilities to be furnished by railroads. facilities for caring for and handling them while in their custody.
They shall furnish all cars or parts of cars used in the transportation and distribution of the mails, except as herein otherwise provided, and place them in stations before the departure of trains at such times and when required to do so. They shall provide station space Station rooms, etc.428and rooms for handling, storing, and transfer of mails in transit, including the separation thereof, by packages for connecting lines, and such distribution of registered mail in transit as may be necessary, and for offices for the employees of the Railway Mail Service engaged in such station work when required by the Postmaster General, in which mail from station boxes may be distributed if it does not require additional space.
Penalty for not providing facilities, etc.If any railroad company carrying the mails shall fail or refuse to provide cars or apartments in cars for distribution purposes when required by the Postmaster General, or shall fail or refuse to construct, fit up, maintain, heat, light, and clean such cars and provide such appliances for use in case of accident as may be required by the Postmaster General, it shall be fined such reasonable sum as may, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, be deemed proper.
General requirements.The Postmaster General shall in all cases decide upon what trains and in what manner the mails shall be conveyed. Every railroad company carrying the mails shall carry on any train it operates, and with due speed, all mailable matter, equipment, and supplies directed Fines for noncompliance.to be carried thereon. If any such railroad company shall fail or refuse to transport the mails, equipment, and supplies when required by the Postmaster General on any train or trains it operates, such company shall be fined such reasonable amount as may, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, be deemed proper.
Deductions for diminished service.The Postmaster General may make deductions from the pay of railroad companies carrying the mails under the provisions of this section for reduction in service or infrequency of service where, in his judgment, the importance of the facilities withdrawn or reduced requires it, and impose fines upon them for delinquencies. He may deduct the price of the value of the service in cases where it is not performed, and not exceeding three times its value if the failure be occasioned by the fault of the railroad company.
Rail and water service included.The provisions of this section shall apply to service operated by railroad companies partly by railroad and partly by steamboats. Rates for mails on freight trains.The provisions of this section respecting the rates of compensation shall not apply to mails conveyed under special arrangement in freight trains, for which rates not exceeding the usual and just freight rates may be paid, in accordance with the classifications and tariffs approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Sworn statements of service required.Railroad companies carrying the mails shall submit, under oath, when and in such form as may be required by the Postmaster General, evidence as to the performance of service. Carriage at express rates of other than first class mail.The Postmaster General shall, from time to time, request information from the Interstate Commerce Commission as to the revenue received by railroad companies from express companies for services rendered in the transportation of express matter, and may, in his discretion, arrange for the transportation of mail matter other than of the first class at rates not exceeding those so ascertained and reported to him, and it shall be the duty of the railroad companies to carry such mail matter at such rates fixed by the Postmaster General.
Fourth class matter and periodicals.Car load, etc., rates for.The Postmaster General is authorized, in his discretion, to petition the Interstate Commerce Commission for the determination of a postal carload or less-than-carload rate for transportation of mail matter of the fourth class and periodicals, and may provide for and authorize such transportation, when practicable, at such rates, and it shall be the duty of the railroad companies to provide and perform such service at such rates and on the conditions prescribed by the Postmaster General.
Dispatch of third and fourth class mail, and periodicals.The Postmaster General may, in his discretion, distinguish between the several classes of mail matter and provide for less frequent dis-429patches of mail matter of the third and fourth classes and periodicals when lower rates for transportation or other economies may be secured thereby without material detriment to the service. The Postmaster General is authorized to return to the mails, whenReturn of postal cards, supplies, etc., in mail cars. practicable for the utilization of car space paid for and not needed for the mails, postal cards, stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers, empty mail bags, furniture, equipment, and other supplies for the Postal Service.
The Postmaster General, in cases of emergency between OctoberEmpty mail bags, etc.Return to the mails of, in emergency cases. first and April first of any year, may hereafter return to the mails empty mail bags and other equipment theretofore withdrawn therefrom as required by law, and, where such return requires additional authorization of car space under the provisions of this section, to pay for the transportation thereof as provided for herein out of the appropriation for inland transportation by railroad routes.
The Postmaster General may have the weights of mail taken onWeighing periods at discretion of Postmaster General. railroad mail routes, and computations of the average loads of the several classes of cars and other computations for statistical and administrative purposes made at such times as he may elect, and pay the expense thereof out of the appropriation for inland transportationExpenses. by railroad routes. Pending the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission, asExisting rates continued until decision of Interstate Commerce Commission.Selection for space system. hereinafter provided for, the existing method and rates of railway mail pay shall remain in effect, except on such routes or systems as the Postmaster General shall select, and to the extent he may find it practicable and necessary to place upon the space system of pay in the manner and at the rates provided in this section, with the consent and approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in order to properly present to the Interstate Commerce Commission the matters hereinafter referred thereto: *Provided*, That if the final decision of the*Proviso*.Readjustment if decision adverse to space rates.
Interstate Commerce Commission shall be adverse to the space system, and if the rates established by it under whatever method or system is adopted shall be greater or less than the rates under this section, the Postmaster General shall readjust the compensation of the carriers on such selected routes and systems in accordance therewith, from the dates on which the rates named in this section became effective. All railway common carriers are hereby required to transport suchRailroads required to transport mail.Fair compensation, etc. mail matter as may be offered for transportation by the United States in the manner, under the conditions, and with the service prescribed by the Postmaster General and shall be entitled to receive fair and reasonable compensation for such transportation and for the service connected therewith.
The Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby empowered andInterstate Commerce Commission.Rates, etc., for mail transportation to be fixed by. directed as soon as practicable to fix and determine from time to time the fair and reasonable rates and compensation for the transportation of such mail matter by railway common carriers and the service connected therewith, prescribing the method or methods by weight, or space, or both, or otherwise, for ascertaining such rate or compensation, and to publish the same, and orders so made and published shall continue in force until changed by the commission after due notice and hearing.
In fixing and determining the fair and reasonable rates for suchBasis for determining. service the commission shall consider the relation existing between the railroads as public service corporations and the Government, and the nature of such service as distinguished, if there be a distinction, from the ordinary transportation business of the railroads. The procedure for the ascertainment of said rates and compensationProcedure. shall be as follows: Within three months from and after the approval of this Act, or asStatement of requirements to be filed by Postmaster General. soon thereafter as may be practicable, the Postmaster General shall 430file with, the commission a statement showing the transportation required of all railway common carriers, including the number, equipment, size, and construction of the cars necessary for the transaction of the business; the character and speed of the trains which are to carry the various kinds of mail; the service, both terminal and en route, which the carriers are to render; and all other information which may be material to the inquiry, but such other information may be filed at any time in the discretion of the commission.
Employees, etc., for preparing.The Postmaster General is authorized to employ such clerical and other assistance as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, and to rent quarters in Washington, District of Columbia, if necessary, for the clerical force engaged thereon, and to pay for the same out of the appropriation for inland transportation by Submission of plan, etc.railroad routes. The Postmaster General shall file with the commission a comprehensive plan for the transportation of the mails on said railways and shall embody therein what he believes to be the reasonable rate or compensation the said railway carriers should receive.
Notice to carriers.Thereupon the commission shall give notice of not less than thirty days to each carrier so required to transport mail and render service, Answer.and upon a day to be fixed by the commission, not later than thirty days after the expiration of the notice herein required, each of said carriers shall make answer and the commission shall proceed with the hearing as now provided by law for other hearings between carriers and shippers or associations. Taking of testimony, etc.All the provisions of the law for taking testimony, securing evidence, penalties, and procedure are hereby made applicable.
Classification of carriers and rates.For the purpose of determining and fixing rates or compensation hereunder the commission is authorized to make such classification of carriers as may be just and reasonable and, where just and equitable, fix general rates applicable to all carriers in the same classification. Additional weighings authorized.Pending such hearings, and the final determination of the question, if the Interstate Commerce Commission shall determine that it is necessary or advisable, in order to carry out the provisions of this section, to have additional and more frequent weighing of the mails for statistical purposes, the Postmaster General, upon request of the commission, shall provide therefor in the manner now prescribed by law, but such weighing need not be for more than thirty days.
Rates established by Commission.At the conclusion of the hearing the commission shall establish by order a fair, reasonable rate or compensation to be received, at such stated times as may be named in the order, for the transportation of Payment.mail matter and the service connected therewith, and during the continuance of the order the Postmaster General shall pay the carrier from the appropriation herein made such rate or compensation. Reexaminations allowed.Either the Postmaster General or any such carrier may at any time after the lapse of six months from the entry of the order assailed apply for a reexamination, and thereupon substantially similar proceedings shall be had with respect to the rate or rates for service covered by said application, provided said carrier or carriers have an interest therein.
Authority vested in Commission.For the purposes of this section the Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby vested with all the powers which it is now authorized by law to exercise in the investigation and ascertainment of the justness and reasonableness of freight, passenger, and express rates to be paid by private shippers. Diminished allowance to land grant roads.The Interstate Commerce Commission shall allow to railroad companies whose railroads were constructed in whole or in part by a land grant made by Congress on condition that the mails should be transported over their roads at such price as Congress should by law direct only eighty per centum of the compensation paid other rail-431roads for transporting the mails and all service by the railroads in connection therewith.
The existing law for the determination of mail pay, except as hereinExisting law continued until action of Commission. modified, shall continue in effect until the Interstate Commerce Commission under the provisions hereof fixes the fair, reasonable rate or compensation for such transportation and service. That the appropriations for inland transportation by railroad routesCurrent appropriations available. and for railway post-office car service for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, are hereby made available for the purposes of this section.
That it shall be unlawful for any railroad company to refuse to performPenalty for refusal to perform service, etc. mail service at the rates or methods of compensation provided by law when required by the Postmaster General so to do, and for such offense shall be fined $1,000. Each day of refusal shall constitute a separate offense. Sec. 6. If the Postmaster General shall find on experience that theParcel post service.Authority to re-form classification, etc.Vol. 37, p. 557. classification of articles mailable, as well as the weight limit, or the rates of postage, zone or zones, and other conditions of mailability, under section eight of the Act approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, or any of them, are such as to prevent the shipment of articles desirable, or to permanently render the cost of the service greater than the receipts of the revenue therefrom, he is hereby authorized to re-form from time to time such classification, weight limit, rates, zone or zones, or conditions, or either, in order to promote the service to the public or to insure the receipt of revenue from such service adequate to pay the cost thereof: *Provided, however*,*Proviso*.Approval by Interstate Commerce Commission necessary.
That before any change is hereafter made in weight limit, rates of postage, or zone or zones, by the Postmaster General, the proposed change shall be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission after thorough and independent consideration by that body in such manner as it may determine. Approved, July 28, 1916.
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