Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/149



expenditures in the said department, to be adjusted and settled as other public accounts. He shall also, superintend the business of the department, in all the duties that are, or may be, assigned to it: Provided, That, in case of the death, resignation, or removal from office, of the Postmaster General, all his duties shall be performed by his senior assistant, until a successor shall be appointed, and arrive at the general post-office, to perform the business.

. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General, and all other persons employed in the general post-office, or in the care, custody, or conveyance of the mail, shall, previous to entering upon the duties assigned to them, or [in] the execution of their trusts, and before they shall be entitled to receive any emolument therefor, respectively take and subscribe the following oath, or affirmation, before some magistrate, and cause a certificate thereof to be filed in the general post-office: “I, A. B. do swear or affirm, (as the case may be,) that I will faithfully perform all the duties required of me, and abstain from every thing forbidden by the laws in relation to the establishment of the post-office and post-roads within the United States.” Every person, who shall be, in any manner, employed in the care, custody, conveyance, or management of the mail, shall be subject to all pains, penalties, and forfeitures, for violating the injunctions, or neglecting the duties, required of him by the laws relating to the establishment of the post-office and post-roads, whether such person shall have taken the oath or affirmation, above prescribed, or not.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General, upon the appointment of any postmaster, to require, and take, of such postmaster, bond, with good and approved security, in such penalty as he may judge sufficient, conditioned for the faithful discharge of all the duties of such postmaster, required by law, or which may be required by any instruction, or general rule, for the government of the department: Provided, however, That, if default shall be made by the postmaster aforesaid, at any time, and the Postmaster General shall fail to institute suit against such postmaster, and said sureties, for two years from and after such default shall be made, then, and in that case, the sureties shall not be held liable to the United States, nor shall suit be instituted against them.

. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General shall cause a mail to be carried from the nearest post-office, on any established post-road, to the courthouse of any county which is now, or may hereafter be established, in any of the states or territories of the United States, and which is without a mail; and the road, on which such mail shall be transported, shall become a post-road, and so continue, until the transportation thereon shall cease. It shall also be lawful for the Postmaster General to enter into contracts, for a term not exceeding four years, for extending the line of posts, and to authorize the persons, so contracting, as a compensation for their expenses, to receive, during the continuance of such contracts, at rates not exceeding those for like distances, established by this act, all the postage which shall arise on letters, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and packets, conveyed by any such posts; and the roads designated in such contracts, shall, during the continuance thereof, be deemed and considered as post-roads, within the provision of this act: and a duplicate of every such contract shall, within sixty days after the execution thereof, be lodged in the office of the comptroller of the treasury of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General be authorized to have the mail carried into any steamboat, or other vessel, which shall be used as a packet, in any of the waters of the United States, on such terms and conditions as shall be considered expedient: Provided, That he does not pay more than three cents for each