628 



POST-OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



postage, nor does it pay postmasters or con- 

 tractors : this is the work of the Treasury. No 

 moneys are to be paid into the department, 

 nor are any to be paid out directly by it. 

 "When postmasters remit the proceeds of post- 

 age to the department without due authority 

 from the Postmaster-General, it is returned at 

 the risk of the person sending it. All the 

 financial operations connected with the mails 

 are transacted by the Treasury Department. 

 For the purpose of paying over the funds due, 

 offices are classed as collection, draft, or de- 

 posit offices. Collection offices, which class 

 includes nearly all the offices of the country, 

 except those that are the termini of routes, 

 pay over the net proceeds of their office quar- 

 terly to the contractor who brings their mail. 

 Draft offices are ordered to retain their funds 

 in hand to meet drafts ; and deposit offices are 

 required to deposit, quarterly or oftener, their 

 funds with some depositary. No allowance is 

 made for deficiency in weight of coin or for 

 counterfeit currency. 



The forging, counterfeiting, or using counter- 

 feit stamps is a felony, subjecting the offender 

 to a penalty of confinement at hard labor for 

 not less than two nor more than ten years. 



Postmasters. Postmasters of offices, where 

 the salaries exceed $1,000, are appointed and 

 removed by the President, by and with the 

 consent of the Senate. The commission, which 

 runs for four years, issues from the State De- 

 partment, and is signed by the President, and 

 countersigned by the Secretary of State ; he is 

 legally known as " Deputy Postmaster." His 

 bond is renewed every four years. At all 

 offices, where the salary does not exceed $1,000, 

 the Postmaster-General has the sole power of 

 appointment and removal. Minors, married 

 women, and all other persons, who cannot 

 legally execute an official bond and take the 

 required oath, are incapable of holding the 

 office of postmaster. No one can be postmas- 

 ter, who does not reside in the city or town 

 wherein the office is situated, or within the 

 delivery of the office ; and all the assistants or 

 clerks must be at least sixteen years old. Nor 

 is a postmaster permitted to transfer the charge 

 of his office, and the performance of its duties, 

 to another. He must permit no person, ex- 

 cept his sworn assistants, clerks, and letter- 

 carriers, to have access to letters, papers, or 

 whatever constitutes a part of the mail, or to 

 the mail locks or keys : nor shonld the mails 

 be opened or made up within the' reach of per- 

 sons not authorized to handle them. In case 

 of death, the responsibilities of the sureties 

 continue till a successor is qualified ; and the 

 sureties can perform the duties of the office 

 till that event. Postmasters, their clerks, 

 postriders, and drivers of mail stages, are ex- 

 empt from militia duties and from serving on 

 juries. 



The salaries of postmasters are fixed once in 

 two years, based on the amount of stamps can- 

 celled in the two previous quarters. They 



are allowed sixty per cent, on the first 

 of letter-postage, fifty per cent, on the next 

 $300, forty per cent, on the next $2,000, and 

 fifteen per cent, on all over $2,000. They are 

 also allowed in the salary all emoluments, such 

 as box-rents, and fifty per cent, on newspa- 

 per-postage ; but the salary can never exceed 

 $4,000. They are allowed no perquisites, the 

 salary equalling the compensation formerly 

 received from commissions and box-rents. 

 The postmaster of New York has a salary of 

 $6,000 : all other offices are divided into five 

 classes. Postmasters of the first class receive 

 from $3,000 to $4,000 annual salary ; postmas- 

 ters of the second class receive from $2,000 to 

 $3,000 ; those of the third class, from $1,000 

 up to $2,000; those of the fourth class, from 

 $100 up to $1,000 ; and those of the fifth class 

 receive less than $100. Postmasters of the 

 first and second class are allowed rent, fuel, 

 light, and clerk hire, if their commissions on 

 cancelled stamps will allow it. In our larger 

 cities Government usually erects an edifice, of 

 which the lower stories are used for post-offices, 

 and the higher for courts or internal revenue 

 offices. 



Franking and Postage. The law requires 

 the prepayment by stamps of postage on all 

 letters, excepting those written to and by the 

 President, Vice-President, Members of Con- 

 gress, or (on official business) to and by the 

 chiefs of the executive departments, the heads 

 of bureaus, and chief clerks, and others invested 

 with the franking privilege. This privilege, 

 formerly belonging to postmasters, has been 

 withdrawn, except on matter sent on official 

 business. The right to send or receive mail 

 matter free is either a personal privilege or 

 a trust for the maintenance of official cor- 

 respondence. The franking privilege cannot 

 be delegated to another, but travels with the 

 person possessing it, and can be exercised in 

 but one place at the same time. Counterfeit- 

 ing a frank subjects the offender to a fine of 

 $500. One-half the penalties, for violation of 

 the franking privilege, goes to- the prosecutor, 

 one-half to the United States. Government 

 makes an annual allowance to the department 

 of $700,000, in consideration of the free mat- 

 ter it carries ; but the actual cost, probably, 

 exceeds $3,000,000. All mailable matter is 

 divided into three classes ; 1, letters, or corre- 

 spondence wholly or partly in writing ; 2, 

 regular or printed matter, issued at stated 

 periods ; 3, miscellaneous matter, such as pam- 

 phlets, books, proof-sheets, and all other mat- 

 ter which is, or hereafter may be, by law de- 

 clared mailable. No packet can be received in 

 the mail weighing over four pounds. Packages 

 containing liquids, poisons, explosive chem- 

 icals, or other matter, calculated to endanger 

 the safety of the mails, must be excluded. No 

 envelope or packet is allowed to contain let- 

 ters addressed to different persons, and such 

 envelope or packet must be sent at once to the 

 dead-letter office. Letters or packages ad- 



