Chapter 79. Making appropriations for the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 79.— An Act Making appropriations for the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924, and for other purposes. February 14, 1923.[[H.R. 13593](/us/bill/67/hr/13593).][[Public, No. 415](/us/67/pl/415).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Post Office Department appropriations.Vol. 5, p. 81. That the following sums are appropriated in conformity with the Act of July 2, 1836, for the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924, namely:
Department.POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLOMBIA. Salaries.salaries. Office of Postmaster General.Postmaster General, chief clerks, etc.Office, Postmaster General: Postmaster General, $12,000; chief clerk, including $500 as superintendent of buildings, $4,000; private secretary, $2,500; personnel officer or appointment clerk, $2,000; assistant to chief clerk, $2,000; confidential clerk to Postmaster General, Chief inspector, purchasing agent, etc.$2,000; chairman, board of inspection, $2,000; chief inspector, Solicitor, etc.$4,000; chief clerk to chief inspector, $2,000; purchasing agent, $4,000; chief clerk to purchasing agent, $2,000; solicitor, $5,000; assistant attorneys—one $4,500, one $3,500, two at $2,750 each, one Clerks, etc.$2,500, one $2,000; bond examiner, $2,500; law clerk, $1,800; clerks— one hundred and fourteen at $1,800 each, one hundred and seventy at $1,600 each, two hundred and seventy-seven at $1,400 each, three hundred and fifty-four at $1,200 each, one hundred and one at $1,000 each, ten at $900 each; skilled draftsmen—three at $1,800 each, eight at $1,600 each, three at $1,400 each, two at $1,200 each; map mounter, $1,200; assistant map mounter, $1,000; blue printer, $900; assistant blue printer, $840; telegrapher, $1,400; typewriter repairer, $1,200; three telephone switchboard operators, at $720 each; six Messengers, watchmen, etc.messengers in charge of mails, at $900 each; thirty messengers, at $840 each; fifteen assistant messengers, at $720 each; captain of the watch, $1,200; additional to three watchmen acting as lieutenants of watchmen, at $120 each; thirty-four watchmen, at $720 each; two engineers, at $1,200 each; nine assistant engineers, at $1,000 each: two blacksmiths or steam fitters, at $1,000 each; three oilers, at $840 each; sixteen firemen, at $720 each; eighteen elevator conductors, at $720 each; chief engineer, $1,600; assistant electricians—two at $1,200 each, three at $1,000 each; two dynamo tenders, at $900 each;
Carpenters, laborers, etc.carpenters—one $1,600, one $1,200, two at $1,000 each; plasterer and mason, $1,200; awning maker, $1,000; painters—one $1,200, one $1,000; plumbers—one $1,200, one $1,000; laborers—foreman $900, assistant foreman $840, two at $840 each, seventy-eight at $720 each, four at $660 each; female laborers—one $540,'three at $500 each, seven at $480 each; seventy-seven charwomen, at $240 each; actual and necessary expenses of the purchasing agent while traveling on business of the department, $500; in all. $1,713,740. 1249 In making readjustments under the foregoing paragraph, theReadjustment of salaries. salary of any clerk in any class may be fixed by the Postmaster General at $100 below the salary fixed by law for such class and the unused portion of such salary shall be used to increase the salary of any clerk in any class entitled thereto by not more than $100 above the salary fixed by law for such class.
The PostmasterAssignments to bureaus, etc. General shall assign to the several bureaus, offices, and divisions of the Post Office Department in the District of Columbia such number of the employees authorized in the foregoing paragraph as may be necessary to perform the work required therein; and he shall submit a statement showing such assignments and the number employed at the various salaries in the Budget following the estimates for salaries in the Post Office Department.
Office, First AssistantFirst Assistant Postmaster General, superintendents of divisions, etc. Postmaster General: First Assistant Post- master General, $5,000; chief clerk, $2,500; division of post office service—superintendent, $4,000, assistant superintendent $3,000. assistant superintendent $2,750; division of postmasters’ appointments—superintendent $3,000, two assistant superintendents at $2,000 each; superintendent, division of dead letters, $2,500; chief, division of correspondence, $2,000; in all, $28,750.
Office, Second AssistantSecond Assistant Postmaster General, superintendents of divisions, etc. Postmaster General: Second Assistant Postmaster General. $5,000; chief clerk, $2,500; division of railway adjustments—superintendent $3,000, assistant superintendent $2,250, assistant superintendent $2,000; division of foreign mails—superintendent $3,000, assistant superintendent $2,000; division of railway mail service—general superintendent $4,000, assistant general superintendent $3,500, chief clerk $2,000; in all, $29,250.
Office, Third AssistantThird Assistant Postmaster General, director of postal savings, superintendents, etc. Postmaster General: Third Assistant Post- master General, $5,000; chief clerk, $2,500; division of postal savings—director $4,800, assistant director $3,000, chief clerk $2,500, clerk in charge of administrative section $2,000, clerk in charge of audit section $2,000; superintendents of divisions—stamps $2,750, finance (who shall give bond in such amount as the Postmaster General may determine for the faithful discharge of his duties) $2,250, disbursing clerk $2,250, classification $2,750, registered mails $2,500, money orders $2,750; chief clerk division of money orders $2,250; in all, $39,300.
Office, Fourth AssistantFourth Assistant Postmaster General, superintendents of divisions, etc. Postmaster General: Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, $5,000; chief clerk, $2,500; division of rural mails—superintendent, $3,000, assistant superintendent, $2,000, chief clerk, $2,000; division of equipment and supplies—superintendent, $3,000. chief clerk, $2,000; topographer, $2,400; skilled draftsman, $2,000; in all, $23,900. Total, salaries, $1,834,940. Contingent expenses, Post Office Department.Contingent expenses, Department.
For stationery and blank books, index and guide cards, folders,Stationery, etc. and binding devices, including purchase of free penalty envelopes, $30,000. For fuel and repairs to heating, lighting, ice, and power plant,Heating, lighting, etc. including repairs to elevators, purchase and exchange of tools, and electrical supplies, and removal of ashes. $60,000. For telegraphing, $6,500.Telegraphing. For miscellaneous items, including purchase, exchange, Miscellaneous.maintenance, and repair of typewriters, adding machines, and other labor-saving devices; not to exceed $3,000 for purchase, exchange, hire,Vehicles. and maintenance of motor trucks and motor-driven passenger-carrying vehicles; street car fares not exceeding $540; plumbing; floor coverings; postage stamps for correspondence addressed abroad1250which is not exempt under article 11 of the Rome convention of the Universal Postal Union, $55,000, of which sum not exceeding $14,500 may be expended for telephone service, and not exceeding $1,800 may be expended for purchase and exchange of law books, books of reference, railway guides, city directories, books necessary to conduct the business of the department, and repairs to department buildings.
Furniture.For furniture and filing cabinets, $8,500. Printing and binding.For printing and binding for the Post Office Department, including all of its bureaus, offices, institutions, and services located in Washington, District of Columbia, and elsewhere, $1,050,000. Reimbursement for heating, etc., city post office, D. C.For reimbursement of the Government Printing Office or Capitol Power Plant for the cost of furnishing steam for heating and electric current for lighting and power to the Post Office Department Building at Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street, District of Columbia, $57,000. bureau of accounts.
Office of the Comptroller of the Post Office Department: Comptroller, assistant, etc.Salaries—Comptroller, $5,000; assistant and chief clerk, $3,000; expert accountant, $3,000; chief of division, $2,250; assistant chief of division, $2,000; principal bookkeeper, $2,000; skilled laborer, $840; messenger boy, $540; in all, $18,630. Employees auditing accounts.’For compensation to be fixed by the Postmaster General of such number of employees as may be necessary to make the administrative examination of the accounts and vouchers of the Postal Service, $27,460.
Field service not to be used for the Department.Appropriations hereinafter made for the field service of the Post Office Department, except as otherwise provided, shall not be expended for any of the purposes hereinbefore provided for on account of the Post Office Department in the District of Columbia. Field service.FIELD SERVICE, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. Postmaster General.office of postmaster general. Equipment shops.For gas, electric power and light, and the repair of machinery, United States Post Office Department equipment shops building, $8,500.
Cash rewards to employees for inventions for improving service, etc.The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to pay a cash reward for any invention, suggestion, or series of suggestions for an improvement or economy in device, design, or process applicable to the Postal Service submitted by one or more employees of the Post Office Department or the Postal Service which shall be adopted for use and will clearly effect a material economy or increase efficiency, and for that purpose the sum of $5,000 is hereby appropriated: *Provided*, *Provisos*.In addition to regular Pay.That the sums so paid to employees in accordance with this Act shall be in addition to their usual compensation: *Provided further*, Amount limited.That the total amount paid under the provisions of this Act shall not exceed $1,000 in any month or for any one invention Agreement for Government as required.or suggestion: *Provided further*, That no employee shall be paid a reward under this Act until he has properly executed an agreement to the effect that the use by the United States of the invention, suggestion, or series of suggestions made by him shall not form the basis of a further claim of any nature upon the United States by Restriction.him, his heirs, or assigns: *Provided further*, That this appropriation shall be available for no other purpose.
Special assistant to Attorney General in postal cases.For compensation of a special assistant to the Attorney General to 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. 1251 For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service,Travel, etc. office of the Postmaster General, $1,000. To enable the Postmaster General to pay claims for damages toDamage claims.*Ante*, p. 63. persons or property in accordance with the provisions of the Deficiency Appropriation Act approved June 16, 1921, $35,000.
Office of chief inspector For salaries of fifteen inspectors inInspectors. charge of divisions, at $4,200 each; and five hundred and twenty inspectors, $1,651,200; in all, $1,714,200: *Provided*, That the*Proviso*.Civil service eligibles. appointment of additional inspectors shall be made upon certification of the Civil Service Commission, as heretofore practiced. For compensation of one hundred and fifteen clerks at divisionClerks at division headquarters. headquarters, $248,750.
For traveling expenses of inspectors, inspectors in charge, andTraveling expenses, etc. the chief post-office inspector, and for the traveling expenses of four clerks performing stenographic and clerical assistance to post-office inspectors in the investigation of important fraud cases, $468,300. For necessary miscellaneous expenses at division headquarters,Miscellaneous. $14,000. For payment of rewards for the detection, arrest, and convictionRewards, etc. of post-office burglars, robbers, and highway mail robbers: *Provided*,*Provisos*.Death of offender.
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: *Provided further*, That no part of this sum shall be used to pay any rewardsLimitation. at rates in excess of those specified in Post Office Department Order 7708, dated July 1, 1922: *Provided further*, That of the amountSecuring information. herein appropriated not to exceed $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. office of the first assistant postmaster general.First Assistant Postmaster General.
For compensation to postmasters, $46,695,000.Postmasters. For compensation to assistant postmasters at first and secondAssistant Postmasters. class post offices, $6,000,000. For compensation to clerks and employees at first and secondClerks and employees, first and second class offices. class post offices, including substitutes for clerks and employees absent without pay, $107,452,600. For compensation to printers, mechanics, and skilled laborers,Printers, mechanics, etc. five at $1,400 each, five at $1,500 each, five at $1,600 each, seven at $1,700 each, thirty-five at $1,800 each; in all, $97,400.
For compensation to watchmen, messengers, and laborers, at Watchmen, messengers, etc.$1,350 each, and at $1,450 each; in all, $4,865,000. For compensation to clerks in charge of contract stations,Contract station clerks. $1,500,000. For temporary and auxiliary clerk hire and for substitute clerkTemporary, auxiliary, and substitute clerk hire. hire for clerks and employees absent with pay at first and second class post offices and temporary and auxiliary clerk hire at summer and winter resort post offices, $9,000,000: *Provided*, That $500,000*Proviso*.Determining cost of handling mail. of this sum may be used for the purpose of completing the work of determining the cost to the department of handling the different classes of mail matter.
For separating mails at third and fourth class post offices, $790,000.Separating mails. For unusual conditions at post offices, $100,000.Unusual conditions. For allowances to third-class post offices to cover the cost ofClerks, third-class offices. clerical services, $4,250,000. For rent, light, and fuel for first, second, and third class postRent, light, and fuel. offices. $13,276,000. 1252 Miscellaneous, first and second class offices.For miscellaneous items necessary and incidental to post offices of the first and second classes, $800,000.
City delivery.Carriers.For pay of letter carriers at offices already established, including substitutes for letter carriers absent without pay, City Delivery Service, $72,200,000. Substitute carriers.For pay of substitutes for letter carriers absent with pay, and of auxiliary and temporary letter carriers at offices where city delivery is already established, $8,400,000. Carriers at new offices.For pay of letter carriers, substitute and auxiliary letter carriers at offices where City Delivery Service is established during the year, $100,000.
Village delivery.For village delivery service in towns and villages having post offices of the second or third class, and in communities adjacent to cities having city delivery, $1,500,000. Car tare, etc.For car fare and bicycle allowance, $950,000. Street car collections.For street car collection service, $1,700. Detroit River.For Detroit River postal service, $14,400. Special delivery.Car fare.For car fare for special-delivery messengers in emergency cases, $17,000. Fees.For fees to special-delivery messengers, $6,100,000.
Travel, etc.For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office of the First Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. Second Assistant Postmaster General.office of the second assistant postmaster general. Star routes, Alaska.For inland transportation by star routes in Alaska, $185,000: *Provided*, *Proviso*.Emergency service.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.
Steam or power boat service.For inland transportation by steamboat or other power-boat routes, $1,500,000. Messenger service.For mail-messenger service, $7,000,000. Railroad routes.*Provisos*.Freight train conveyance.For inland transportation by railroad routes, $94,300,000: *Provided*, That not to exceed $1,500,000 of this appropriation may be expended for pay of freight and incidental charges for the transportation of mails conveyed under special arrangement in freight Messenger service in lieu of railroad terminal, etc., service.trains or otherwise: *Provided further*, That not exceeding $1,500,000 of this appropriation may be expended for mail-messenger service in lieu of payments to railroad companies for side and terminal service.
Airplane service, New York and San Francisco.For the operation and maintenance of the airplane mail service between New York, New York, and San Francisco, California, via Chicago, Illinois, and Omaha, Nebraska, including necessary incidental expenses and employment of necessary personnel, $1,500,000. Railway Mail Service.Division superintendents, etc.Railway Mail Service: For fifteen division superintendents, fifteen assistant division superintendents, two assistant superintendents, one assistant superintendent in charge of car construction, one hundred and twenty-one chief clerics, one hundred and twenty- one assistant chief clerks, clerks in charge of sections in the offices of division superintendents, railway postal clerks, substitute railway postal clerks, joint employees, and laborers in the Railway Mail Service, $45,801,000.
Travel allowance to clerks.For travel allowance to railway postal clerks and substitute rail-way postal clerks, $2,750,000. Traveling expenses, etc,, away from headquarters.For actual and necessary expenses, general superintendent and assistant general superintendent, division superintendents, assistant division superintendents, assistant superintendents, and chief clerks,1253Railway Mail Service, and railway postal clerks, while actually traveling on business of the Post Office Department and away from their several designated headquarters, $58,000.
For rent, light, heat, fuel, telegraph, miscellaneous and officeMiscellaneous. expenses, telephone service, and badges for railway postal clerks, and rental of space for terminal railway post offices for theRent for terminal offices. 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 or equipment and miscellaneous items necessary to terminal railway post offices, $930,000.
For electric and cable car service, $650,000.Electric and cable cars.Foreign mails. For transportation of foreign mails by steamship, aircraft, or otherwise, $7,000,000: *Provided*, That not to exceed $150,000 of this *Provisos*.Aircraft allowance.sum may be expended for carrying foreign mail by aircraft: *Provided further*, That the Postmaster General shall be authorized toSea post service. expend such sums as may be necessary, not to exceed $150,000, to cover the cost to the United States for maintaining sea post service on ocean steamships conveying the mails to and from the United States.
For balances due foreign countries, $500,000.Balances to foreign countries.Assistant superintendent, New York. For Assistant Superintendent, Division of Foreign Mails, with headquarters at New York, New York, $2,500. 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 Post-master General. For manufacture of adhesive postage stamps, special-deliveryStamps. stamps, books of stamps, and for coiling of stamps, $1,500,000.
For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers,Stamped envelopes and wrappers. $5,300,000. For pay of agent and assistants to examine and distribute stampedDistribution. envelopes and newspaper wrappers, and expenses of agency. $21,500. For manufacture of postal cards, $815,000.Postal cards. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, $150.Ship, etc., letters. For payment of limited indemnity for the injury or loss of piecesIndemnity, lost registered, etc., mall. Domestic. of domestic registered matter, insured, and collect-on-delivery mail, $5,000,000.
For payment of limited indemnity for the injury or loss ofInternational. international mail in accordance with convention, treaty, or agreement stipuliations, $75,000. For pay of freight or expressage on postal cards, stamped Freight on postal cards, etc.envelopes, newspaper wrappers, and empty mail bags, $120,000. 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 PostalDirector, Postal Savings.
Savings System, office of the director, $500. office of the fourth assistant postmaster general.Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. For stationery for the Postal Service, including the money-orderStationery, etc. and registry systems; and also for the purchase of supplies forPostal Savings supplies. the Postal Savings System, including rubber stamps, canceling devices, certificates, envelopes and stamps for use in evidencing deposits, and free penalty envelopes; and for the reimbursement of the Secretary of the Treasury for expenses incident to theBond expenses.Vol. 36, p. 817. preparation, issue, and registration of the bonds authorized by the Act of June 25, 1910, $811,000.
For miscellaneous equipment and supplies, including the purchaseMiscellaneous equipment and supplies. and repair of furniture, package boxes, posts, trucks, baskets, satchels,1254straps, letter-box paint, baling machines, perforating machines, duplicating machines, printing presses, directories, cleaning supplies, Letter boxes, etc.and the manufacture, repair, and exchange of equipment, the erection and painting of letter-box equipment, and for the purchase and repair of presses and dies for use in the manufacture of letter boxes;
Postmarking, etc., stamps.for postmarking, rating, money-order stamps, and electrotype plates and repairs to same; metal, rubber, and combination type, dates and figures, type holders, ink pads for canceling and stamping purposes, and for the purchase, exchange, and repair of typewriting machines, envelope-opening machines, and computing machines, copying presses, numbering machines, time recorders, letter balances, scales, test weights, and miscellaneous articles purchased and furnished Post route, etc., maps.directly to the Postal Service; for miscellaneous expenses in the preparation and publication of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints, including tracing for photolithographic reproduction; for other expenditures necessary and incidental to post offices of the first, second, and third classes, and offices of the fourth class having or to have rural-delivery service, and for letter boxes, Sale, etc., of maps.$1,222,000; and the Postmaster General may authorize the sale to the public of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints at the cost or printing and 10 per centum thereof added; of this amount $1,500 may be expended in the purchase of atlases and *Proviso*.Amount for equipment and furniture.geographical and technical works: *Provided*, That $200,000 of this appropriation may be used for the purchase of equipment and furniture Twine, etc.for post-office quarters and for no other purposes.
Shipping supplies.For wrapping twine and tying devices, $490,000. For defraying expenses incident to the shipment of supplies, including hardware, boxing, packing, cartage, freight, and the pay of employees in connection therewith at the following annual rates: Storekeeper, $2,650; freight clerk, $2,000; foreman, $1,800; ten requisition fillers, at $1,600 each; two requisition fillers, at $1,200 each; ten packers, at $1,600 each; two packers, at $1,200 each; and two chauffeurs, at $1,400 each; in all, $512,050.
Canceling and labor-saving machines, etc.For rental, purchase, exchange, and repair of canceling machines and motors, mechanical mail-handling apparatus and other labor-saving devices, including cost of power in rented buildings and miscellaneous expenses of installation and operation of same, including Traveling mechanicians.salaries of five traveling mechanicians and for per diem allowance of traveling mechanicians while actually traveling on official business away from their homes and their official domiciles, at a rate to be fixed by the Postmaster General, not to exceed $4 per day, $353,500.
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 expenses pertaining thereto; also material, machinery, and tools necessary for Equipment shops, material, etc.the manufacture and repair in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, of such other equipment for the Postal Service Labor.as may be deemed expedient; for compensation to labor employed in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, *Proviso*.Distinctive equipment for departments, Alaska, and insular possessions.$1,925,000: *Provided*, That out of this appropriation the Postmaster General is authorized to use as much of the sum, not exceeding $15,000, 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.
Star route transportation.For inland transportation by star routes (excepting sendee in Alaska), including temporary service to newly established offices, $12,850,000. 1255 For pay of rural carriers, substitutes for rural carriers on annualRural Delivery. and sick leave, clerks in charge of rural stations, and tolls and ferriage, Rural Delivery Service, and for the incidental expenses thereof, $86,900,000. For vehicle allowance, the hiring of drivers, the rental of vehicles,Vehicle allowance, city delivery and collection service. 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 service, $14,500,000: *Provided*, That the Postmaster General may, in his disbursement ofProviso.Leasing of garages. this appropriation, apply a part thereof to the leasing of quarters for the housing of Government-owned automobiles at a reasonable annual rental for a term not exceeding ten years.
For the transmission of mail by pneumatic tubes or other similarPneumatic tubes, New York and Brooklyn. devices in the city of New York, including the Borough of Brooklyn of the city of New York, including power, labor, and all other operating expenses, $513,911.50. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, officeTravel, etc. of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. Sec. 2. If the revenues of the Post Office Department shall beAppropriation from Treasury to supply deficiency In postal revenues. insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this Act, a sum equal to such deficiency in the revenues of such department is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply such deficiency in the revenues of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924.
And the sum needed may be advanced to the Post Office Department upon requisition of the Postmaster General. Approved, February 14, 1923.