foreign mail from incoming steamships in New York Bay to the steamship and railway piers, for transferring the foreign mail from incoming steamships in San Francisco Bay to the piers and for transferring the foreign mail from incoming steamships at Honolulu from quarantine to the piers; also for transferring the mail from steamships performing service under contract for transporting United States mail: Provided, That hereafter acting clerks may be employed in place of clerks or substitutes injured while on duty who shall be granted leave of absence with full pay during the period of disability, but not exceeding one year, then at the rate of fifty per centum of the clerk's annual salary for the period of disability exceeding one year but not exceeding twelve months additional, and that the Postmaster General may pay the sum of $2,000, which shall be exempt from payment of debts of the deceased, to the legal representative of any sea-post clerk or substitute sea-post clerk who shall be killed while on duty, or who, being injured while on duty, shall die within one year thereafter as the result of such injury. (37 Stat. 799.) These were provisions of the postal service appropriation act for the fiscal year 1914, cited above. § 7541. (R. S. § 4012.) Transportation of Canadian, etc., mail through the United States. The Postmaster-General may, by and with the advice and consent of the President, make any arrangements which may be deemed just and expedient for allowing the mails of Canada, or any other country adjoining the United States, to be transported over the territory of the United States from one point in such country to any other point in the same, at the expense of the country to which the mail belongs, upon obtaining a like privilege for the transportation of the United States mail through the country to which the privilege is granted; but such privilege may at any time be annulled by the President or Congress from and after one month succeeding the day on which notice of the act of the President or Congress is given. to the chief executive or head of the post-office department of the country whose privilege is to be annulled. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 273, 17 Stat. 316. The Postmaster-General was authorized to make postal arrangements with foreign countries by R. S. § 398, ante, § 587. (R. S. § 4013. Repealed.) This section provided that foreign mail being transported across the United States should be deemed United States mail so far as the prosecution and punishment for offenses against the mail were concerned. It was incorporated into the Criminal Code in section 229 thereof, post, § 10399, and was repealed by section 341 thereof, post, § 10515. § 7542. (R. S. § 4014.) Payment of postage by consuls. The Postmaster-General or the Secretary of State is hereby authorized to empower the consuls of the United States to pay the foreign postage on such letters destined for the United States as may be detained at the ports of foreign countries for the non-payment of postage, which postage shall be by the consul marked as paid by him, and the amount thereof shall be collected in the United States as other postage, on the delivery of the letters, and repaid to said consul, or credited on his account at the State Department. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 275, 17 Stat. 317. § 7543. (R. S. § 4015.) Rates of postage on letters carried in any foreign vessel. The Postmaster-General, under the direction of the President of the United States, is hereby authorized and empowered to charge upon, and collect from, all letters and other mailable matter carried to or from any port of the United States, in any foreign packetship or other vessel, the same rate or rates of charge for American postage which the government to which such foreign packet or other vessel belongs imposes upon letters and other mailable matter conveyed to or from such foreign country in American packets or other vessels as the postage of such government, and at any time to revoke the same; and all custom-house officers and other United States agents designated or appointed for that purpose shall enforce or carry into effect the foregoing provision, and aid or assist in the collection of such postage, and to that end it shall be lawful for such officers and agents, on suspicion of fraud, to open and examine, in the presence of two or more respectable persons, being citizens of the United States, any package or packages supposed to contain mailable matter found on board such packets or other vessels or elsewhere, and to prevent, if necessary, such packets or other vessels from entering, breaking bulk, or making clearance until such letters or other mailable matter are duly delivered into the United States post-office. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 276, 17 Stat. 317. Provisions prohibiting the clearance of United States vessels until they have received aboard all mail offered by the Post-Office Department, contained in R. S. §§ 3976, 4203, were repealed by Act June 26, 1884, c. 121, § 23, ante, § 7469, which also repealed all other laws that oblige United States vessels to carry the mails to and from the United States arbitrarily, or that prevented the clearance of vessels until they had taken on board mail matter. A provision requiring masters of United States vessels upon the entry from a foreign port to make oath that the mails were promptly delivered at the foreign port made by R. S. § 4212, was superseded by the repeal, as stated above of R. S. § 3976, which contained a similar provision. (R. S. § 4016. Repealed.) This section provided that letters and other mailable matter carried on foreign vessels to or from any part of the United States, except letters relating to the vessel or cargo, should be subject to postage-charge, required such matter to be delivered to or taken from the United States post-office, and made violations of its provisions punishable. It was incorporated into the Criminal Code in section 203 thereof, post, § 10373, and was repealed by section 341 thereof, post, § 10515. (R. S. §§ 4017-4020. Transferred.) R. S. §§ 4017-4019, relating to post-office inspectors, are set forth post, §§ 7547, 7550, 7551. R. S. § 4020, relating to agents to superintend the railway postal service, is set forth ante, § 574. § 7544. (R. S. § 4021.) Resident agents on Isthmus of Panama, etc. The Postmaster-General may establish resident mail-agencies at the ports of Panama and Aspinwall, in New Granada; Havana, in Cuba; at Saint Thomas, and at such other foreign ports at which United States mail-steamers touch to land and receive mails, as may, in his judgment, promote the efficiency of the foreign mail-service; and may pay the agents employed by him at such ports, out of the appropriation for transportation of the mail, a reasonable compensation for their services, and the necessary expenses for office-rent, clerk-hire, office-furniture, and other incidentals, to be allowed him at each of such agencies. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 36, 17 Stat. 289. § 7545. (R. S. § 4022.) Agents on mail-steamers to foreign ports. The Postmaster-General may appoint an agent in charge of the mail on board of each of the mail-steamers on the routes between San Francisco, Japan, and China; between San Francisco and Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, and between New York and Rio Janeiro, who shall be allowed, out of the appropriation for transportation of the mail, a salary of two thousand dollars a year. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 37, 17 Stat. 289. § 7546. (R. S. § 4023.) Postal agencies in China and Japan. The Postmaster-General may establish, in connection with the mailsteamship service to Japan and China, a general postal agency at Shanghai, in China, or at Yokohama, in Japan, with such branch. agencies at any other ports in China and Japan as he shall deem necessary for the prompt and efficient management of the postal service in those countries; and he may pay the postal agents employed thereat a reasonable compensation for their services, in addition to the necessary expenses for rent, furniture, clerk-hire, and incidental expenses. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 38, 17 Stat. 290. CHAPTER TWELVE Post-Office Inspectors Chapter 12 of this Title of the Revised Statutes was entitled "Special, Local, and Route Agents," and included R. S. §§ 4017-4026. Of these sections, R. S. § 4020, relating to superintendents of the railway postal service, is transferred to Title IX, "The Post-Office Department"; R. S. §§ 4021– 4023, relating to postal agents in certain foreign ports and on mail steamers, are transferred to chapter 11 of this Title, "Foreign Mail Service"; and R. S. §§ 4024, 4025, relating to route agents and clerks in the railway postal service, were superseded by Act Aug. 24, 1912, c. 389, § 7, placed under chapter 10 of this Title, "Railway Service." The remaining sections of the chapter, R. S. §§ 4017-4019, 4026, related to special agents, who were designated post-office inspectors by amendment of R. S. § 4017, by Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1, post, § 7547. The title of this chapter, therefore, is changed to "Post-Office Inspectors," to conform to said change of designation of the officers to whom its contents relate, and it includes, besides said last-mentioned sections of the Revised Statutes, subsequent provisions applicable to such officers. Sec. Sec. 7547. Post-office inspectors; their salary and allowances. 7548. Post-office inspectors; per diem allowance; assistant superintendents of railway mail service; compensation. 7549. Per diem to be allowed to officers and employés of Department only when actually traveling; 7550. When inspectors to give bond. § 7547. (R. S. § 4017, as amended, Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1.) Post-office inspectors; their salary and allowances. The Postmaster-General may employ two post-office inspectors for the Pacific coast, and such number of other post-office inspectors as the good of the service and the safety of the mail may require. Such post-office inspectors shall be entitled to a salary at the rate of not more than one thousand six hundred dollars a year each, and shall each be allowed for traveling and incidental expenses, while actually employed in the service, a sum not exceeding five dollars a day. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, §§ 31, 32, 17 Stat. 289. Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1, 21 Stat. 177. This section was amended by Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1, cited above, by inserting in lieu of the words "special agents" and the word "agents," where they occurred in this section, the words "post-office inspectors," as set forth here. The per diem of special agents, appointed under this section as originally enacted, and designated as post-office inspectors by Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1, as stated above, was limited by Act June 17, 1878, c. 259, § 1, post, § 7548, which was modified by provisions in subsequent appropriation acts which fixed different limits for the per diem. The provision for the fiscal year 1914, limiting the per diem so as not to exceed $3, was by Act March 4, 1913, c. 143, 37 Stat. 791. The chief of post-office inspectors is allowed traveling expenses by Act March 1, 1881, c. 96, § 1, ante, § 576. The compensation and number of post-office inspectors have been increased from time to time in the annual postal service appropriation acts, especially in the act for the fiscal year 1906, Act March 3, 1905, c. 1480, § 1, 33 Stat. 1082, and Act June 26, 1906, c. 3546, 34 Stat. 467. Provisions of the latter act for the appointment as post-office inspectors of superintendents of division, rural delivery, and rural agents employed as such on June 30, 1906, are set forth ante, § 7297. Appropriations were made by the postal service appropriation act for the fiscal year 1914, Act March 4, 1913, c. 143, 37 Stat. 791, for salaries of fifteen inspectors in charge of divisions, at $3,000 each; ten inspectors, at $2,400 each; fifteen inspectors, at $2,250 each; twenty-six inspectors, at $2,100 each; fifteen inspectors, at $2,000 each; twenty-nine inspectors, at $1,900 each; sixty-five inspectors, at $1,800 each; seventy-five inspectors, at $1,700 each; seventy-five inspectors, at $1,600 each; and sixty-five inspectors, at $1,500 each. Those acts have also contained appropriations for a per diem allowance of inspectors in the field to be fixed by the Postmaster-General not to exceed $3 per day, and provided that the Postmaster-General might allow inspectors per diem while temporarily located on business away from their homes not exceeding 20 consecutive days, with a proviso that no per diem should be paid to inspectors receiving $2,000 or more, except the 26 receiving $2,100 each. These provisions for the fiscal year 1914 were by Act March 4, 1913, c. 143, 37 Stat. 791. And further appropriations are made for traveling expenses of inspectors without per diem allowance, COMP.ST.'13-211 (3361) inspectors in charge, and the chief post-office inspector, and for expenses incurred by inspectors not covered by per diem allowance. Restrictions on per diem allowances, applicable to all officers and employés of the Post-Office Department, with an exception in favor of post-office inspectors were made by Act April 28, 1904, c. 1759, § 4, post, § 7549. § 7548. (Act June 17, 1878, c. 259, § 1.) Post-office inspectors; per diem allowance; assistant superintendents of railway mail service; compensation. Hereafter the per diem pay of all [special agents] appointed under section forty hundred and seventeen, Revised Statutes, shall only be allowed for their actual and necessary expenses not exceeding five dollars per diem when they are actually engaged in traveling on the business of the department except such, not exceeding ten in number, as are appointed by the Postmaster-General to do duty at such important points as he may designate, and nine assistant superintendents of railway mail service, who may be detailed to act as superintendents of division of railway mail service, who shall each receive a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, per annum and no more. (20 Stat. 140.) This was a provision following an appropriation for mail depredations and special agents in the postal service appropriation act for the fiscal year 1879, cited above. The words "special agents," inclosed in brackets in this section, were superseded by the change of the designation of those officers from "special agents" to "post-office inspectors" by Act June 11, 1880, c. 206, § 1, amending R. S. § 4017, and incorporated in that section as set forth, ante, § 7547. Subsequent postal service appropriation acts have changed the limit of the per diem allowance fixed by this section. The provision for the fiscal year 1914, limiting such allowance to not exceeding $3, was by Act March 4, 1913, c. 143, 37 Stat. 791. § 7549. (Act April 28, 1904, c. 1759, § 4.) Per diem to be allowed to officers and employés of Department only when actually traveling; exception of post-office inspectors. On and after July first, nineteen hundred and four, all officers and employees of the Post-Office Department who are entitled to a per diem allowance when traveling, in lieu of actual expenses, shall only be allowed such per diem when actually engaged in traveling on official business away from their home, their official domicile, and their headquarters, except in cases of post-office inspectors while temporarily located at any place on business away from home, or their designated domicile, for a period not exceeding twenty consecutive. days at any one place; and the Postmaster-General shall designate an official domicile and headquarters within the division or territory to which such officer or employee is assigned. (33 Stat. 440.) This section was part of the postal service appropriation act for the fiscal year 1905, cited above. The exception in this section of post-office inspectors temporarily located away from home or their designated domicile corresponded to and made permanent the provision for per diem allowance to them contained in previous annual postal service appropriation acts. The provision for the fiscal year 1914, was by Act March 4, 1913, c. 143, 37 Stat. 791. |