Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/360

 assistant: Provided, That no person shall frank or enclose any letter or packet, other than his own; but any public letter or packet from the department of the Treasury may be franked by the Secretary of the Treasury, or the assistant Secretary, or by the Comptroller, Register, Auditor or Treasurer; and that each person before named shall deliver to the post-office every letter or packet enclosed to him, which may be directed to any other person, noting the place, from whence it came by post, and the usual postage shall be charged thereon.

. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall counterfeit the hand-writing of any other person, in order to evade the payment of postage; such person or persons, so offending, and being thereof duly convicted, shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of one hundred dollars.

. And be it further enacted, That every printer of newspapers may send one paper to each and every other printer of newspapers within the United States, free of postage, under such regulations, as the Postmaster General shall provide.

. And be it further enacted, That all newspapers, conveyed in the mail, shall be under a cover open at one end, carried in separate bags from the letters, and charged with the payment of one cent, for any distance not more than one hundred miles, and one cent and a half for any greater distance: And it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General and his deputy, to keep a separate account for the newspapers, and the deputy postmasters shall receive fifty per cent. on the postage of all newspapers: And if any other matter or thing be enclosed in such papers, the whole packet shall be charged, agreeably to the rates established by this act, for letters or packets. And if any of the persons employed in any department of the post-office, shall unlawfully detain, delay, embezzle or destroy any newspaper, with which he shall be entrusted, such offenders, for every such offence, shall forfeit a sum, not exceeding fifty dollars: Provided, That the Postmaster General, in any contract, he may enter into, for the conveyance of the mail, may authorize the person, with whom such contract is made, to carry newspapers, other than those conveyed in the mail.

. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General be, and he is hereby authorized to allow to the deputy postmasters respectively, such commission on the monies arising from the postage of letters and packets, as he shall think adequate to their respective services: Provided, That the said commission shall not exceed forty per cent. to any deputy, whose compensation thereby shall not exceed fifty dollars, nor thirty per cent. to any deputy, whose compensation thereby shall not exceed one hundred dollars, nor twenty per cent. to any other deputy, except the postmaster at the port, where the European packets do, or shall steadily arrive: to whom such farther allowance, in addition to the emoluments of his office, shall be made, as the Postmaster General shall deem a reasonable compensation for his extra services in the receipt and dispatch of letters, originally received into his office, from on board such packets, and by him forwarded to other offices: And provided also, That the compensations aforesaid shall not exceed eighteen hundred dollars per annum to any one postmaster for all services by him rendered.

. And be it further enacted, That if any deputy postmaster or other person, authorized to receive the postage of letters and packets, shall neglect or refuse to render his accounts, and pay over to the Postmaster General, the balance by him due, at the end of every three months, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General, to cause a suit to be commenced against the person or persons so neglecting or refusing: And if the Postmaster General shall not cause such suit to be commenced within three months, from the end of every such three months,