Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

letters, although it does not contain any security for or assurance relating to money or other thing of value, shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both.

SEC. 3892. Any person who shall take any letter, postal card, or packet, Intercepting or although it does not contain any article of value or evidence thereof, secreting letters; out of a post-office or branch post-office, or from a letter or mail carrier, penalty. or which has been in any post-office or branch post-office or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with a design to obstruct the correspondence, or pry into the business or secrets of another, or shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy the same, shall, for every such offense, be punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment at hard labor for not more than one year, or by both.

and

SEC. 3893. No obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, Obscene books, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article scurrilous or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or pro- disloyal letters, curing of abortion, nor any article or thing intended or adapted for any lars not mailable; and lottery circuindecent or immoral use or nature, nor any written or printed card, penalty. circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, or how, or of whom, or by what means either of the things before mentioned may be obtained or made, nor any letter upon the envelope of which, or postal card upon which indecent or scurrilous epithets may be written or printed, shall be carried in the mail; and any person who shall knowingly deposit, or cause to be deposited, for mailing or delivery, any of the hereinbefore-mentioned articles or things, or any notice or paper containing any advertisement relating to the aforesaid articles or things, and any person who, in pursuance of any plan or scheme for disposing of any of the herein before mentioned articles or things, shall take, or cause to be taken, from the mail any such letter or package, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, for every offense, be fined not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not less than one year nor more than ten years, or both. [See § 1785, IMPORTATIONS.]

SEC. 3896. Postage on all mail-matter must be prepaid by stamps at the time of mailing, unless herein otherwise provided for.

SEC. 3897. All mail-matter of the third class must be prepaid in full in postage stamps at the office of mailing.

[blocks in formation]

matter.

Disposal of

SEC. 3898. All mail-matter deposited for mailing, on which one full rate of postage has been paid as required by law, shall be forwarded to partly paid and its destination, charged with any portion of the proper postage which unpaid letters. may be unpaid, to be collected on delivery. But if any mail-matter, on which by law the postage is required to be prepaid at the mailing-office, shall by inadvertence reach its destination without any prepayment, double the prepaid rates shall be charged and collected on delivery. SEC. 3900. No mail-matter shall be delivered until the postage due thereon has been paid.

Postage to be paid before delivery. Box-rents to be prepaid.

SEC. 3901. No box at any post-office shall be assigned to the use of any person until the rent thereof has been paid for at least one quarter in advance, for which the postmaster shall give a receipt. SEC. 3902. The Postmaster-General may provide by regulation for transmitting unpaid and duly certified letters of soldiers, sailors, and and sailors' letmarines in the service of the United States, to their destination.

Unpaid soldiers'

ters.

matter.

SEC. 3903. On all mail-matter which is wholly or partly in writing, Postage on letexcept book-manuscripts and corrected proofs passing between authors ters and letterand publishers, and local or drop letters; on all printed matter which is so marked as to convey any other or further information than is conveyed by the original print, except the correction of mere typographical errors; on all matter which is sent in violation of law or the regulations of the Department respecting inclosures; on all matter to which no specific rate of postage is assigned, postage shall be charged at the rate of three cents for each half-ounce or fraction thereof.

postage.

SEC. 3904. Letters commonly known as drop or local letters, delivered Drop-letter through the post-office or its carriers, shall be charged with postage at the rate of two cents where the system of free delivery is established, and one cent where such system is not established, for each half-ounce or fraction thereof.

ter.

Postage on reg. SEC. 3965. On newspapers and other periodical publications, not exular printed mat- ceeding four ounces in weight, sent from a known office of publication to regular subscribers, postage shall be charged at the following rates per quarter, namely: On publications issued less frequently than once a week, at the rate of one cent for each issue; issued once a week, five cents; and five cents additional for each issue more frequent than once a week. And an additional rate shall be charged for each additional four ounces or fraction thereof in weight. [See § 5, June 23, 1874, infra.] SEC. 3906. On newspapers and other periodicals sent from a known to be paid quar' office of publication to regular subscribers, the postage shall be paid before delivery, for not less than one quarter, nor more than one year; which payment may be made either at the office of mailing or delivery, commencing at any time; and the postmaster shall account for such postage in the quarter in which it is received.

Certain postage

terly.

matter.

Postage on SEC. 3910. On mailable matter of the third class, except as herein transient, &c., stated, postage shall be charged at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof. Double these rates shall be charged for books, samples of metals, ores, minerals, and merchandise. [See § 8, June 23, 1874, post.]

Clothing to soldiers by mail.

SEC. 3911. Packages of woolen, cotton, or linen clothing, not exceeding two pounds in weight, may be sent through the mail to any noucommissioned officer or private in the Army of the United States, if prepaid, at the rate of one cent for each one ounce or fraction thereof, subject to such regulations as the Postmaster-General may prescribe.

Postage on for- SEC. 3912. The rate of United States postage on mail-matter sent to eign mail-matter. or received from foreign countries with which different rates have not been established by postal convention or other arrangement, when forwarded by vessels regularly employed in transporting the mail, shall be ten cents for each half-ounce or fraction thereof on letters, unless reduced by order of the Postmaster-General; two cents each on newspapers; and not exceeding two cents per each two ounces, or fraction thereof, on pamphlets, periodicals, books, and other printed matter, which postage shall be prepaid on matter sent and collected on matter received; and to avoid loss to the United States in the payment of balances, the Postmaster-General may collect the unpaid postage on letters from foreign countries in coin or its equivalent.

Postage on ir- SEC. 3913. All letters conveyed by vessels not regularly employed in regular sea-let- carrying the mail shall, if for delivery within the United States, be charged with double postage, to cover the fee paid to the vessel.

ters.

Title 46, Chap. 9. SEC. 3976. The master of any vessel of the United States bound from United States any port therein to any foreign port, or from any foreign port to any vessels to carry port of the United States, shall, before clearance, receive on board and mails; oath; securely convey all such mails as the Post-Office Department, or any penalty.

June 23, 1874.

age on newspa

cals.

diplomatic or consular officer of the United States abroad, shall offer; and he shall promptly deliver the same, on arriving at the port of destination, to the proper officer, for which he shall receive two cents for every letter so delivered; and upon the entry of every such vessel returning from any foreign port, the master thereof shall make oath that he has promptly delivered all the mail placed on board said vessel before clearance from the United States; and if he shall fail to make such oath the vessel shall not be entitled to the privileges of a vessel of the United States. [See § 4203, VESSELS-MERCHANT.]

Act making appropriations for the Post-Office Department for the year 1875. Approved June 23, 1874.

Rates of post- That on and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and pers and periodi seventy-five, all newspapers and periodical publications mailed from a known office of publication or news agency, and addressed to regular subscribers or news agents, postage shall be charged at the following When deliver- rates: On newspapers and periodical publications, issued weekly and ed by carrier, &c. more frequently than once a week, two cents for each pound or fraction thereof, and on those issued less frequently than once a week, three cents for each pound or fraction thereof. [Sec. 5.]

Mailable matter

That all mailable matter of the third class, referred to in section one of the third class. hundred and thirty-three [sec. 3878 R. S.] of the act entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the Post-Office Department," approved June eighth, eighteen hundred and seventytwo, may weigh not exceeding four pounds for each package thereof,

and postage shall be charged thereon at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof. [Sec. 8.]

Certification.

That hereafter the postage on public documents mailed by any mem- Postage on pubber of Congress, the President, or head of any Executive Department lic documents. shall be ten cents for each bound volume, and on unbound documents the same rate as that on newspapers mailed from a known office of publication to regular subscribers; and the words "Public Document" written or printed thereon, or on the wrapper thereof, and certified by the signature of any member of Congress, or by that of the President, or head of any Executive Department shall be deemed a sufficient certificate that the same is a public document; and the term "public doc- ment " defined. ument" is hereby defined to be all publications printed by order of Congress, or either House thereof: Provided, That the postage on each Postage on Concopy of the daily Congressional Record mailed from the city of Wash-gressional ington as transient matter shall be one cent. [Sec. 13. See act March 3, 1875.]

Act making appropriations for service of the Post-Office Department for 1976. Ap. proved March 3, 1875.

"Public docu

cord.

Re

That the provisions of section thirteen of the act of June twenty- March 3, 1875. third, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, entitled "An act making Provisions of s. appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fis- 13, act of June 23, cal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and 1874, to apply to for other purposes," shall apply to ex-members of Congress and ex-del- ex-members of egates for the period of nine months after the expiration of their terms Congress. as members and delegates, and postage on public documents mailed by such persons shall be as provided in said section. [Sec. 3.]

That from and after the passage of this act, the Congressional Congressional Record or any part thereof, or speeches or reports therein contained, Record, &c., may shall, under the frank of a member of Congress, or delegate, to be writ- be franked, &c. ten by himself, be carried in the mail free of postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General may prescribe; and that public documents already printed, or ordered to be printed, for the use of either House of Congress may pass free through the mails upon the frank of any member or delegate of the present Congress, written by himself, until the first day of December, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-five. [Sec. 5.]

Seeds and agri

That seeds transmitted by the Commissioner of Agriculture, or by any member of Congress or delegate receiving seeds for distribu- cultural reports tion from said Department, together with agricultural reports emanat- free. ing from that Department, and so transmitted, shall, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General shall prescribe, pass through the mails free of charge. And the provisions of this section shall apply to ex-members of Congress and ex-delegates for the period of nine months ed to ex-mem after the expiration of their terms as members and delegates. [Sec. 7.] bers, &c.

Benefit extend

[blocks in formation]

3925. Same by other persons.

3924. Removal and re-use by employé. SEC. 3924. If any person employed in any department of the Post- Title 46, Chap. 5. Office Establishment of the United States shall willfully and knowingly Removal and use, or cause to be used, in prepayment of postage, any postage-stamp, re-use of old postal card, or stamped envelope issued, or which may hereafter be stamps by emissued, by authority of any act of Congress, or of the Postmaster-Gene- ployé; penalty. ral, which has already been once used for a like purpose, or shall remove, or attempt to remove, the canceling or defacing marks from any such postage-stamp, or stamped envelope, or postal-card, with intent to use or cause the use of the same a second time, or to sell, or offer to sell, the same, or shall remove from letters or other mail matter deposited in or received at a post-office the stamps attached to the same in payment of postage, with intent to use the same a second time for a like purpose, or to sell, or offer to sell, the same, every such offender shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than three years.

SEC. 3925. If any person, although not employed in any department The same by of the Post-Office Establishment, shall commit any of the offenses de- persons not in scribed in the preceding section, every such person shall be deemed post-office employ.

* Made one ounce by act of March 3, 1875.

Sec.

guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punishable by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year, or by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, for each offense, or by both.

3926. System of registration. 3927. Registered matter and fees.

REGISTERED LETTERS.

Sec.

3928. Receipt for delivery of registered matter.

Title 46, Chap. 6. SEC. 3926. For the greater security of valuable mail-matter, the Postmaster-General may establish a uniform system of registration. But System of reg. istration author- the Post Office Department or its revenue shall not be liable for the loss of any mail-matter on account of its having been registered.

ized.

Registered matter and fees.

Receipt for delivery of registered matter.

Sec.

SEC. 3927. Mail-matter shall be registered only on the application of the party posting the same, and the fee therefor shall not exceed twenty cents in addition to the regular postage, to be, in all cases, prepaid; and all such fees shall be accounted for in such manner as the PostmasterGeneral shall direct. But letters upon the official business of the PostOffice Department which require registering shall be registered free of charge, and pass through the mails free of charge.

SEC. 3928. A receipt shall be taken upon the delivery of any registered mail-inatter, showing to whom and when the same was delivered, which shall be returned to the sender, and be received in the courts as prima-facie evidence of such delivery.

DEAD AND RETURNED LETTERS.

3936. Return of undelivered letters. 3937. Unpaid letters to dead-letter office. 3938. Proceeds of valuable dead letters.

Title 46, Chap. 7.

Sec.

3939. Request to be returned.

3940. Forwarding letters to another office.

SEC. 3936. The Postmaster-General may regulate the period during which undelivered letters shall remain in any post-office, and when they Return of un- shall be returned to the dead-letter office; and he may make regulations delivered letters. for their return from the dead-letter office to the writers, when they cannot be delivered to the parties addressed.

Unpaid letters SEC. 3937. All domestic letters deposited in any post-office for mailto dead-lettering, on which the postage is wholly unpaid or paid less than one full office. rate as required by law, except letters lawfully free, and duly certified letters of soldiers, sailors, and marines in the service of the United States, shall be sent by the postmaster to the dead-letter office in Washington. But in large cities and adjacent districts of dense population, having two or more post-offices within a distance of three miles of each other, any letter mailed at one of such offices and addressed to a locality within the delivery of another of such offices, which shall have been inadvertently prepaid at the drop or local letter rate of postage only, may be forwarded to its destination through the proper office, charged with the amount of the deficient postage, to be collected on delivery. SEC. 3938. Dead letters containing valuable inclosures shall be regisuable dead-let- tered in the dead-letter office; and when they cannot be delivered to the party addressed nor to the writer, the contents thereof shall be disposed of, and a careful account shall be kept of the amount realized in each case, which shall be subject to reclamation by either the party addressed or the sender, for four years from the registry thereof; and all other letters of value or of importance to the party addressed or to the writer, and which cannot be returned to either, shall be disposed of as the Postmaster-General may direct.

Proceeds of val

ters.

Request to be returned.

Forwarding letters from one of

fice to another.

SEC. 3939. When the writer of any letter on which the postage is prepaid shall indorse upon the outside thereof his name and address, such letter shall not be advertised, but after remaining uncalled for at the office to which it is directed thirty days, or the time the writer may direct, shall be returned to him without additional charge for postage, and if not then delivered shall be treated as a dead letter.

SEC. 3940. Prepaid letters shall be forwarded from one post-office to another, at the request of the party addressed, without additional charge for postage.

[blocks in formation]

Amount of orders and fees.

SEC. 4032. No money-order shall be issued for more than fifty dollars, and the fees therefor shall be, for orders not exceeding ten dollars, five Title 46, Chap. 13. cents; exceeding ten and not exceeding twenty dollars, ten cents; exceeding twenty and not exceeding thirty dollars, fifteen cents; exceeding thirty and not exceeding forty dollars, twenty cents; exceeding forty dollars, twenty-five cents. [See act of March 3, 1875, infra.] SEC. 4033. The Postmaster-General shall supply money-order offices with blank forms of application for money-orders, which each applicant shall fill up with his name, the name and address of the party to whom the order is to be paid, the amount and the date of the application; and all such applications shall be preserved by the postmaster receiving them for such time as the Postmaster-General may prescribe.

Blank applications for orders.

Orders to be on

SEC. 4034. The Postmaster-General shall furnish money-order offices with printed or engraved forms for money-orders, and no order shall be printed blanks. valid unless it be drawn upon such form.

for one year.

SEC. 4035. The postmaster issuing a money-order shall send a notice Notice of orders thereof by mail, without delay, to the postmaster on whom it is drawn. drawn to be sent. SEC. 4036. No money-order shall be valid and payable unless pre-Order to be good sented to the postmaster on whom it is drawn within one year after its date; but the Postmaster-General, on the application of the remitter or payee of any such order, may cause a new order to be issued in lieu thereof.

Indorsement of

SEC. 4037. The payee of a money-order may, by his written indorsement thereon, direct it to be paid to any other person, and the post- orders. master on whom it is drawn shall pay the same to the person thus designated, provided he shall furnish such proof as the Postmaster-General may prescribe that the indorsement is genuine, and that he is the person empowered to receive payment; but more than one indorsement shall render an order invalid and not payable, and the holder, to obtain payment, must apply in writing to the Postmaster-General for a new order in lieu thereof, returning the original order, and making such proof of the genuineness of the indorsements as the Postmaster-General may require.

SEC. 4038. After a money-order has been issued, if the purchaser de- Changes and sires to have it modified or changed, the postmaster who issued the modification order shall take it back and issue another in lieu of it, for which a new fee shall be exacted.

of

orders.

orders.

orders.

SEC. 4039. The postmaster issuing a money-order shall repay the Repayment of amount of it upon the application of the person who obtained it, and the return of the order; but the fee paid for it shall not be returned. SEC. 4040. Whenever a money-order has been lost, the Postmaster- Replacing lost General, upon the application of the remitter or payee of such order, may cause a duplicate thereof to be issued, without charge, providing the party losing the original shall furnish a certificate from the postmaster by whom it was payable that it has not been, and will not thereafter be, paid; and a similar certificate from the postmaster by whom it was issued that it has not been, and will not thereafter be, repaid.

Legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill for 1876.

Fees on moneyorders.

That on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy- March 3, 1875. five, the fees on money-orders shall be, for orders not exceeding fifteen dollars, ten cents; exceeding fifteen, and not exceeding thirty dollars, fifteen cents; exceeding thirty and not exceeding forty dollars, twenty cents; exceeding forty and not exceeding fifty dollars, twenty-five cents; and no money-order shall be issued for a sum greater than fifty dollars.

Approved March 3, 1875.

« AnteriorContinuar »