Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/159



for every letter lodged at any post-office, not to be carried by post, but to be delivered at the place where it is so lodged, the postmaster shall receive one cent of the person to whom it shall be delivered.

. And be it further enacted, That all causes of action arising under this act, may be sued, and all offenders against this act, may be prosecuted, before the justices of the peace, magistrates, or other judicial courts of the several states, and of the several territories of the United States, they having competent jurisdiction, by the laws of such states or territories, to the trial of claims and demands of as great value and of the prosecutions, where the punishments are of as great extent; and such justices, magistrates, or judiciary, shall take cognisance thereof, and proceed to judgment and execution, as in other cases.

. And be it further enacted, That, in all suits or causes arising under this act, the court shall proceed to trial, and render judgment the first term after such suit shall be commenced: Provided always, That, whenever service of the process shall not have been made twenty days at least previous to the return day of such term, the defendant shall be entitled to one continuance, if the court on the statement of such defendant shall judge it expedient: Provided, also, That, if the defendant in such suits shall make affidavit that he has a claim against the general post-office, not allowed by the Postmaster General, although submitted to him conformably to the regulations of the post-office, and shall specify such claim in the affidavit, and that he could not be prepared for the trial at such term, for want of evidence, the court, in such case, being satisfied in those respects, may grant a continuance until the next succeeding term; and the Postmaster General shall be authorized to discharge from imprisonment any person confined in jail, on any judgment in a civil case, obtained in behalf of the department: Provided, It be made to appear that the defendant has no property of any description: And provided, That such release shall not bar a subsequent execution against the property of the defendant.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Postmaster General to report, annually, to Congress, every post-road which shall not, after the second year from its establishment, have produced one third of the expense of carrying the mail on the same.

. And be it further enacted, That the adjutant general of the militia of each state and territory shall have right to receive, by mail, free of postage, from any major general or brigadier general thereof, and to transmit to said generals, any letter or packet, relating solely to the militia of such state or territory: Provided always, That every such officer, before he delivers any such letter or package for transmission, shall in his own proper hand-writing, on the outside thereof, endorse the nature of the papers enclosed, and thereto subscribe his name and office, and shall previously furnish the postmaster of the office where he shall deposit the same, with a specimen of his signature. And, if any such officer shall frank any letter or package, in which shall be contained any thing relative to any subject, other than of the militia of such state or territory, every offender shall, on conviction of every such offence, forfeit and pay a fine of fifty dollars.

. And be it further enacted, That whenever the annual emoluments of any postmaster, after deducting therefrom the necessary expenditures incident to his office, shall amount to more than two thousand dollars, the surplus shall be accounted for, and paid to the Postmaster General, and by him to be accounted for in the same manner as other moneys accruing from the post-office establishment.

. And be it further enacted, That no postmaster, assistant postmaster, or clerk employed in any post-office shall be a contractor, or concerned in a contract for carrying the mail: Provided, That this section shall not interfere with contracts heretofore made.