Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/775



reasonable and fair compensation for the service to be performed, it shall be lawful for him to separate the letter mail from the residue of the mail, and to contract, either with or without advertising, for conveying the letter mail over such route, by horse express or otherwise, at the greatest speed that can reasonably be obtained; and also to contract for carrying over such route the residue of the mail, in wagons or otherwise, at a slower rate of speed: Provided, That if one-half of the service, on any railroad, is required to be performed in the night season, it shall be lawful for the Postmaster General to pay twenty-five per cent. in addition to the aforesaid maximum rates of allowance: And provided further, That if it shall be found necessary to convey over any railroad route more than two mails daily, it shall be lawful for the Postmaster General to pay such additional compensation as he may think just and reasonable, having reference to the service performed and the maximum rate of allowance established by this act.

. 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 any circuit or district court of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or of the Territories of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of guarding against the possibility of any embarrassment in the operations of the Post Office Department consequent upon any deficiency of the revenues of said department which may be occasioned by the reduction of the rates of postage by this act made, there be, and hereby is, appropriated the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and to be placed to the credit of the Post Office Department in the Treasury of the United States, to be applied, under the direction of the Postmaster General, to supply any deficiency in the regular revenues from postage, in the same manner as the revenues of said department are now by law applied.

. And be it further enacted, That in case the amount of postages collected from the rates of postage prescribed by this act, with the annual appropriation from the treasury of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars herein granted, shall prove insufficient to defray the expense of the mail service throughout the United States to an extent equal to what is now enjoyed by the public, and also the expense of extending and enlarging the same in due proportion with the increase and expansion of the population, particularly in the new States and Territories, the deficiency that may so arise shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the amount of expenditure for the Post Office Department shall not in the entire aggregate, exclusive of salaries of officers, clerks, and messengers, of the General Post Office, and the contingent fund of the same, exceed the annual amount of four million five hundred thousand dollars.

. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to repeal the laws heretofore enacted, granting the franking privilege to the President of the United States when in office, and to all ex-Presidents, and to the widows of the former Presidents Madison and Harrison.

, March 3, 1845.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums of money be, and the same are hereby appropriated, for the service