Chapter LVI. making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-Office Department, during the fiscal Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-one
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Chap. LVI.— An Act making Appropriations for the Service of the Post-Office Department, during the fiscal Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-one.Sept. 16, 1850. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the following Appropriation. sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
For compensation of three assistant postmasters-general, clerks, Pay of officers, clerks, &c. messengers, assistant messengers, and watchmen of said Department, ninety-six thousand three hundred and sixty-five dollars: *Provided,*Proviso. That this appropriation shall be in lieu of any other appropriation heretofore made for the objects contemplated by this provision. For compensation of the superintendent of the Post-Office building, Superintendent of Post-Office building. two hundred and fifty dollars.
For contingent expenses of said Department, viz.: for blank books, Contingent expenses. binding, stationery, fuel and oil, printing, labor, day watching, and for arrears of contingencies in the fiscal year ending thirtieth June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, nine thousand two hundred and ninety-two dollars. For miscellaneous items, eight hundred dollars.Miscellaneous. For repairs of the General Post-Office building, office furniture, Repairs of Post-Office building. painting, glazing, papering, and brick work, including sums now due for like objects of expenditure, five thousand and eighty-three dollars.
For fitting with three-ply carpets sixty rooms in the General Post-Office Carpeting. building, three thousand five hundred dollars. For painting the interior of the General Post-Office building, including Painting. the passages and stairways, five thousand dollars. For compensation of the auditor of the Post-Office Department, and Auditor, clerks, &c. the clerks, messenger, and assistant messenger in his office, eighty-five thousand eight hundred dollars. For compensation of fifteen additional clerks, four at one thousand Fifteen additional clerks. four hundred dollars each, four at one thousand two hundred dollars each, and seven at one thousand dollars each, per annum, seventeen thousand four hundred dollars.
For contingent expenses of said office, viz: for blank books, binding, Contingent expenses. stationery, labor, printing blanks and circulars, five thousand seven hundred dollars. For miscellaneous items, one thousand dollars: and the Postmaster-General Miscellaneous. is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to dispose of, to the best advantage, any quarterly returns of mails sent or received which were made up previous to eighteen hundred and forty-five, preserving the accounts current, and all vouchers accompanying such accounts, and to use such portion of the proceeds thereof as may be necessary to defray the cost of separating and disposing of the same.
For additional compensation to two night watchmen in the General Additional compensation to two watchmen. Post-Office building from first July, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, to June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, so as to place them on the same footing as the watchmen in the other executive buildings, and to correct an error in the act making appropriations for the civil 461 and diplomatic expenses of government for the year commencing first July, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, whereby one hundred and thirty 1849, ch. 100. dollars was appropriated for the “messenger” instead of the two watchmen in the Post-Office Department, (acts second session, thirtieth Congress, page 62,) two hundred and sixty dollars; and the said clause making an appropriation of additional compensation of one hundred and thirty dollars for messenger of Post-Office Department is hereby repealed.
For transportation of the mails, including the service in California Transportation of mails. and Oregon, two million nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For transportation of the mails in two steamships from New York, by From N. York to Bremen. Southampton, to Bremen, at one hundred thousand dollars for each ship, under the contract with the Ocean Steam Navigation Company of New York; and for transportation by two ships, under the same contract, from New York to Havre, at seventy-five thousand dollars From N.
York to Havre. each, in addition to unexpended balance of former appropriations, sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-seven dollars: *Provided,* That Proviso. the steamships to Havre shall be constructed according to the requirements of the act of third of March, one thousand eight hundred and 1845, ch. 69. forty-five, providing for the transportation of the mail between the United States and foreign countries, and shall perform with the speed required in the contract of second February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven; and that the two steamships to Bremen shall, from and after the first June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, comply, in all respects, with the requirements of said act of one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and shall perform mail service with the speed required by the contract aforesaid.
For transportation of the mails between Charleston and Havana, by From Charleston to Havana. way of Key West, calling at Savannah, under the contract with M. C. Mordecai, fifty thousand dollars. For transportation of the mails across the Isthmus of Panama, thirty-five Across Isthmus of Panama. thousand dollars. For compensation to postmasters, one million four hundred and fifty Compensation to postmasters. thousand dollars. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, forty-five thousand dollars.Ship, steamboat, and way letters.
For wrapping paper, twenty-four thousand dollars.Wrapping paper. For office furniture, (in the post-offices,) eight thousand dollars.Office furniture. For advertising, sixty-five thousand dollars.Advertising. For mail bags, twenty-five thousand dollars.Mail bags. For blanks, twenty-eight thousand dollars.Blanks. For mail locks, keys, and stamps, ten thousand dollars.Locks, keys, and stamps. For mail depredations, and special agents, thirty thousand dollars.Depredations and agents.
For clerks for offices, (in the post-offices,) three hundred and forty Clerks. thousand dollars. For miscellaneous, seventy thousand dollars.Miscellaneous. For publishing new editions of the post-office laws and regulations, Publishing laws. and of the table of post-offices, eight thousand five hundred dollars. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That the Postmaster-General be, Postmaster-General to pay balances due General P. Office of London. and he is hereby, authorized to pay out of any money in the treasury at the credit of the Post-Office Department, all such balances as have, or may hereafter, become due to the General Post-Office of London, upon the adjustment of the quarterly accounts arising out of the Postal Convention, concluded December fifteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Approved, September 16, 1850.