letter or packet shall be opened in presence of the postmaster or his clerk.
Pamphlets, magazines, &c.
Memorandums written on newspapers, &c. to be charged letter postage, &c.Every four folio pages, or eight quarto pages, or sixteen octavo pages, of a pamphlet or magazine, shall be considered a sheet, and the surplus pages of any pamphlet or magazine shall also be considered a sheet; and the journals of the legislatures of the several states, not being stitched or bound, shall be liable to the same postage as pamphlets. Any memorandum which shall be written on a newspaper, or other printed paper, and transmitted by mail, shall be charged letter postage; and any person who shall deposit such memorandum in any office for the purpose of defrauding the revenue, shall forfeit, for every such offence, the sum of five dollars.
The Postmaster General to allow commission to postmasters, &c.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General be, and is hereby, authorized to allow to each postmaster such commission on the postages by him collected, as shall be adequate to his services: Provided, That his commission shall not exceed the following several rates on the amount received in one quarter; that is to say:
On a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, thirty per cent.
On any sum over and above the first hundred dollars, and not exceeding four hundred dollars, twenty-five per cent.
On any sum over and above the first four hundred dollars, and not exceeding two thousand four hundred dollars, twenty per cent.
On any sum over and above the first two thousand four hundred dollars, eight per cent.
Except to the postmasters who may be employed in receiving and despatching foreign mails, whose compensation may be augmented not exceeding twenty-five dollars in one quarter; and excepting to the postmasters at offices where the mail is regularly to arrive between the hours of nine o’clock at night and five o’clock in the morning, whose commission, on the first hundred dollars collected in one quarter, may be increased to a sum not exceeding fifty per cent.
The Postmaster General may allow to the postmasters, respectively, a commission of fifty per cent. on the moneys arising from the postage of newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets; and to the postmaster whose compensation shall not exceed five hundred dollars in one quarter, two cents for every free letter delivered out of the office, excepting such as are for the postmaster himself; and each postmaster who shall be required to keep a register of the arrival and departure of the mails, shall be allowed ten cents for each monthly return which he makes thereof to the general post-office.
The Postmaster General may allow to the postmaster at New Orleans, at the rate of eight hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Warrenton, in North Carolina, at the rate of two hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Wheeling, in Virginia, at the rate of two hundred dollars a year, in addition to their ordinary commissions. The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to allow to the postmaster at the city of Washington, in addition to the allowance made by this act for postage collected, and for free letters received by him for delivery, a commission of five per centum on the amount of mails distributed at his office: Provided, nevertheless, That the whole annual emoluments of the said postmaster, including the extra compensation heretofore allowed to him by law,Act of April 30, 1810, ch. 37, sec. 40. shall always be subject to the restriction imposed by the fortieth section of the act of Congress approved the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and ten, to which this act is in addition.
Members of Congress, &c., may frank letters, &c. for thirty days before and after a session, &c.Proviso: as to weight of letters, &c.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That letters and packets to and from any member of the Senate, or member or delegate of the House of Representatives of the United States, the secretary of the Senate, and clerk of the House of Representatives, shall be conveyed free of postage, for thirty days previous to each session of Congress, and for thirty
