Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/770



deposited in the post office or post offices for transportation, is or may become so great as to threaten materially to retard the progress or endanger the security of the letter mail, or to cause any considerable augmentation of the cost of transporting the whole mail at the present rate of speed, to provide for the separate and more secure conveyance of the letter mail, at a speed at least equal to that at which the mail is now transported over such route, taking care to allow in no case of any greater delay, in the transportation of other matters and things to be transported in the mail on any such route, than may appear to be absolutely necessary, regard being had to the cost of expediting its transportation, and the means at his disposal or under his control for effecting the same.

. And be it further enacted, That the twenty-seventh section of the act of Congress entitled “,” approved and signed the third day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and all other acts, and parts of acts granting and conferring upon any person whatsoever the right or privilege to receive and transmit through the mail, free of postage, letters, packets, newspapers, periodicals, or other matters, be, and the same are hereby, utterly abrogated, and repealed.

. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, all officers of the Government of the United States, heretofore having the franking privilege, shall be authorized and required to keep an account of all postage charged to and payable by them, respectively, upon letters, packages, or other matters received through the mail, touching the duties or business of their respective offices; and said accounts for postage, upon being duly verified by said officers, respectively, shall be allowed and paid quarter yearly, out of the contingent fund of the bureau or department to which the officers aforesaid may respectively belong or be attached. And the three Assistant Postmasters General shall be entitled to have remitted by the postmaster in Washington all postage charged upon letters, packages, or other matter received by them, respectively, through the mail, touching the business of the Post Office Department, or the particular branch of that business committed to them, respectively; and each of the said Assistant Postmasters General shall be, and hereby is, authorized to transmit through the mail, free of postage, any letters, packages, or other matters relating exclusively to his official duties, or to business of the Post Office Department; but he shall, in every such case, endorse on the back of the letter or package so to be sent free of postage, over his own signature, the words “official business.” And for any such endorsement falsely made, the person so offending shall forfeit and pay three hundred dollars. And the several deputy postmasters throughout the United States shall be authorized to charge, and have allowed to them in the settlement of their accounts with the Post Office Department all postage which they may have paid or had charged to them, respectively, for letters, packages, or other matters, received by them on the business of their respective offices or of the Post Office Department, upon a verification on oath of their accounts for the same, and the transmission of the charged letters as vouchers; and the said several deputy postmasters shall be, and hereby are, authorized to send through the mail, free of postage, all letters, and packages, which it may be their duty, or they may have occasion, to transmit to any person or place, and which shall relate exclusively to the business of their respective offices, or to the business of the Post Office Department; but in every such case, the deputy postmaster sending any such letter or package shall endorse thereon, over his own signature, the words “Post Office business.” And for any and every such endorsement falsely made, the person