Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/773



letters so conveyed, not relating to the cargo, or some part thereof, to the postmaster or other authorized agent of the Post Office Department at the port or place to which said letters may be directed, or intended to be delivered over from said boat; and the postmaster or other agent of the Post Office Department shall charge and collect upon all letters or other mailable matter, so delivered to him, except newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, and periodicals, the same rates of postage as would have been charged upon said letters had they been transmitted by mail from the port or place at which they were placed on board the steamboat from which they were received; but it is hereby expressly provided, that all the pains and penalties provided by this act, for any violation of the provisions of the eleventh section of this act, shall attach in every case to any steamboat, or to the owners and persons having charge thereof, the captain or other person having charge of which shall not, as aforesaid, comply with the requirements of the sixth section of the said law of one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five. And no postmaster shall receive, to be conveyed by the mail, any packet which shall weigh more than three pounds.

. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General shall have power, and he is hereby authorized, to contract with the owners or commanders of any steamboat plying upon the Western or other waters of the United States, for the transportation of the mail for any length of time or number of trips, less than the time for which contracts for transporting the mail of the United States are now usually made under existing laws, and without the previous advertisements now required before entering into such contracts, whenever in his opinion the public interest and convenience will be promoted thereby: Provided, That the price to be paid for such service shall in no case be greater than the average rate paid for such service under the last preceding or then existing regular contract for transporting the mail upon the route he may for a less time contract for the transportation of the mail upon.

. And be it further enacted, That “mailable matter,” and “matter properly transmittable by mail,” shall be deemed and taken to mean, all letters and newspapers, and all magazines and pamphlets periodically published, or which may be published in regular series or in successive numbers, under the same title, though at irregular intervals, and all other written or printed matter whereof each copy or number shall not exceed eight ounces in weight, except bank notes, sent in packages or bundles, without written letters accompanying them; but bound books, of any size, shall not be held to be included within the meaning of these terms. And any packet or packets, of whatever size or weight, being made up of any such mailable matter, shall subject all persons concerned in transporting the same to all the penalties of this law, equally as if it or they were not so made up into a packet or packages. But nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prohibit any person whatever from transporting, or causing to be transported, over any mail route, or any road or way parallel thereto, any books, magazines, or pamphlets, or newspapers, not marked, directed, or intended for immediate distribution to subscribers or others, but intended for sale as merchandise, and transported in the usual mode of transporting merchandise over the particular route used, and sent or consigned to some bona fide dealer or agent for the sale thereof; nor shall any thing herein be construed to interfere with the right of any traveller to have and take with him or her, for his or her own use, any book, pamphlet, magazine or newspaper.

. And be it further enacted, That the term “newspaper” hereinbefore used, shall be, and the same is hereby defined to be, any printed publication, issued in numbers, consisting of not more than two