CHAPTER XI.

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, AND POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

1. THE Post Office Department, is one of the most important in the Government; and one with which the people have more intercourse, and with which they are better acquainted than any other. A Post-office establishment is an institution by which the Government undertakes to transmit letters and other mailable matter, to the places where directed, for the people; instead of leaving them to do this business for themselves, in the best way they can. It is by no means peculiar to our Government, but is found in every civilized country, and dates from ancient times.

2. To find the basis of our own establishment, we have to look at the Constitution. There, in Art. 1, Sec. 8, we shall find the words, "Congress shall have the power to establish post-offices, and post roads." These few words are the foundation of all our laws relating to post offices, post masters, post roads, transportation of the mail, and everything else appertaining to the subject.

3. Post-offices existed in this country before our Government did; for while we were in a colonial state under the English Government, it had established them at all important points, and also a tolerable mail system for that day and age. These were continued during the revolution, which resulted in the separation of

this country from England. After our present Government became established, it enacted laws and made provisions for a Post Office department; and this, with such alterations and amendments as experience and the growth of the country required, has remained and is in operation at the present day.

4. By law, a Postmaster-General is placed at the head of this department, who is appointed for four years by the President and Senate; his office is in the General Post Office at Washington; his salary is $8,000 a year, he is a member of the Cabinet, and ranks as one of the high officers of State. He has three assistants, who are appointed in the same manner as himself. He has a seal of his office, an impression from which must be affixed to the commission of every postmaster in the United States; and also to all transcripts of papers and documents which may be wanted from his office. The seal establishes their authenticity, and makes them proof of the same degree as the original papers. He must give bonds for the faithful per formance of his duties, and take the usual official oath before he can enter upon those duties.

HIS DUTIES.

5. The laws of the department make it his duty to appoint all other postmasters (who are styled in law, Deputy Postmasters, but in common language, simply Postmasters), whose compensation is less than $1,000 per annum. All others are appointed by the President and Senate, or, as he is, himself. It is also his duty to establish post-offices wherever he may deem it necessary; to provide for the transportation of the mail on all the post-roads in the United States; and to foreign countries by sea. He must

give all deputies their instructions respecting their duties and receive from them their accounts of the receipts and expenditures of their respective offices; pay all expenses for the transmission of the mails, and all others which relate to the management of his department; and once in three months render a quarterly account of all receipts and expenditures of the post office department; and finally must superintend, control, and direct all deputy postmasters, agents, mail contractors, and employees in the mail service.

THE MINOR POST OFFICES.

6. The centre of this great machine is at Washington, the capital of the nation; but its branches extend like the veins and nerves of the human body, in every direction and to every part. Post offices, for the accommodation of the people, are found in every city, village, town and neighborhood, throughout the length and breadth of the

land.

During the late civil war, a great many of them were discontinued in the Southern States; some of which have been re-established since the close of the war. For this reason we are not able to state the exact number of post offices in the United States, at the present time; but from the number known before the war, we judge there are not far from thirty thousand. Each has its postmaster, and when necessary, its assistants and clerks. This affords some idea of the vastness of this great Government institution for the diffusion of intelligence among the people. It not only reaches out its arms to the remotest boundaries of our own country, but by the agency of ships, they

stretch over the seas, and extend to every part of the habitable earth.

POST ROADS.

7. It is the business of Congress to say what roads shall be post roads, and post routes, and whether the mails shall be carried by land or by water. In the exercise of this power it has declared that all railroads shall be post roads. Post routes, are also established between this country and foreign countries, by ships. The Postmaster General is empowered to contract with the owners of ships going to foreign countries, to carry the mails to and from the places of their departure and destination. Thus the ocean is made into numerous mail routes.

RATES OF POSTAGE.

8. Cheap postage is of recent date. England first tried the experiment, by making one penny the uniform rate of postage on single letters, to all parts of that kingdom. This was very acceptable to the people, and worked so well, that the United States followed her example. Here it has proved equally satisfactory to the people, and a per. fect success.

In establishing the present rates of postage, two objects were aimed at; first, to diminish the cost of sending letters, and second, to make the rates uniform to all parts of the country irrespective of distance. Formerly the rates were much higher, and were made to depend on two cir cumstances, first, the distance over which the letter was to be sent, and this varied from six to twenty-five cents:

second, the number of pieces on which the letter was written, counting every piece of paper as a letter.

But by recent laws, this has all been changed; any distance within the United States, makes no difference in the rate or charge for carrying; and instead of counting the pieces of paper used, weight is made the basis of charge. Half an ounce is reckoned a single letter, and every half ounce more, or a fraction of it, is counted as another Three cents is the rate of a single letter, and an addition of three cents more for every additional half ounce or fraction of it. The uniformity consists in disregarding distance in the computation of the rate charged for transpor. tation. The charges for carrying newspapers, and other printed matter, were also greatly reduced from former rates. Formerly, under the old system, postage might be prepaid, or paid upon delivery of the letter, and the Government lost the postage on all letters never called for. But under the present system, all mailable matter, except newspapers and regular periodical publications sent to subscribers, must be prepaid by postage stamps.

FRANKING PRIVILEGE.

9. This means the right to send letters, documents, &c., through the post office, free, or without paying postage therefor. This privilege was so abused that the law was changed, and restricted to a certain class of officers of the Government, when sending or receiving official communications, those which related to the business of their respective offices, and to the President, Vice-President, members of Congress, and chiefs of the several executive departments. Petitions to Congress may also be franked.