The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-11
THE POSTAL B~EyENuEs-AHE THEY ArrROPR

ATED UNDER EXISTING LAWS
The following communication is from the pen Of
an able constitutional lawyer who has been long
practically connected with the federal government,
and is intimately acquainted with the practical con
s%truetion and operation of the federal laws;
TO ae Editors Of The Union
Can ae raaaues Of he Posi- Oge establishment, dvireI from
poaaga and miscellaneous sources, Be applied after June Hezt to
PayJor transporting he mail and other expenses Of The department,
notwithstanding he failure Of The Post 0Ges appropriation biz
They can be clearly SO applied, as an examination OF
all the laws bearing upon the question will show.
The first Congress in 1889 temporarily adopted the
postal system established by the Congress of the Confed-
Grafton. Numerous laws were enacted for the regulation
Of the department which were brought together in one
act in 1910, but were more thoroughly revised in the
great organic act of 1925, adopted under the auspices Of
Judge Mclean, who was then at the head of that depart
ment, ard who may be considered the father of our post
age system. That act, with limited exceptions, remains
in full force, and regulates and controls the operations of
the Post Office establishment 1t contains the following
provisions, prescribing the duties of the Postmaster Gen
eral
"He shall establish post offices and appoint postmas-
ters at such places as shall appear to him ~expedient on
the post roads that are, or may be, established by law.
He shall give his assistants, the postmasters, and all
other persons whom he shall employ, or who may be em-
plOyeu, In any OF M departments OF IN cue lOSt
Office, instructions relative to their duty. He shall pro-
vide for the carriage of the mail on all post roads that
are, or may be, established by law, and as often as he,
having regard to the productiyeness thereof, and other
circumstances, shall think proper. Hemay direct the route
or road, where there are more than one, between places
designated by law for u post road, which route shall be
considered the post road. He shall obtain from the
postmasters their accounts and vouchers for their receipts
and expenditures, once in three months or oftener, with
the balances thereon arising in favor of the General Post
Office. lie shall pay all expenses Vhch shall arise ia con-
ductiRg He Post 0Bce, and an tho conveyance Of he mail. and
all oihr necessary expenses arising on Me collection of Hc reUelue
and management Of he General Post Office. He shall prose-
cute offences against the Post Office establishment. He
shall once IN three months render 10 the Secretary of tie Treasury
a quarterly account Of all The receipts and expenditures an The said
dpartmeai, D6e adjusted and saHedd as other public accounts. lie
shall also apaiatsnd the business Of the department in all The
duties that are or may be assigned to IT,"
Although the act of 1886 limits the power to appoint
postmasters to those receiving a compensation ola thou
sand dollars or less, still in all other respects these pro-
visions are in force, and are so quoted in every published
edition of the laws Of the United States, as well as in all
the volumes published by the department, or under its
patronage, for the guidance of postmasters and all 9TH
ers connected with the service. 1t is true that Con-
gress has regulated the manner of exercising some of
these powers, but they have not been taken away. The
duties thus assigned to the Postmaster General have
been performed substantially in the same way from 1925
to tho present time. Under this act the department
could and did use its revenues without any appropriation
other than the above general provision. It drew for
balances in the hands of postmasters in favor of con-
tractors, who collected and were charged with the drafts.
And to this day the duty of making such collections is
provided for in the ordinary mail contracts. The finance
officer of the department, at the present time, before the
quarter ends, estimates the probable balance which will
be due from such postmastcrs as are not directed to pay
into a sub treasury, and draws for it generally in favor
of the mail carrier, payable at the end of the quarter,
4 -I. ,t.n M va ,,,, ptnptfv yubila fha aynpt hal
ance is drawn when the quarterly account is finally set
tied. In this manner the receipts from hostages are
promptly and directly applied to defray the expense of
TRANSPORTING the mail. Miscellaneous expenses are paid
in the same way.
The act of 1886 was prepared by Mr.. Kendell, who
well knew the restraints and regulations which We're
needed for the proper execution of the act of 1925, and it
contains numerous important provisions but that act
neither changed the law nor the p~gacticc in respect to the
collection and application of the Post ONCE revenues. Its
great object was to regulate and limit the power of the
department so as to prevent the confusion and abuses
which had then recantly rendered it insolvent. But it
made provision for a systematic aud pseful mode ofkeep-
ing accounts in the department, whereby its transactions
are tho more readily and clearly understood. 1t also reg
ulated many things before left open to discretion. This
act declares that all the moneys reqpired for the service
of the department 'shall be appropriated out of the rev.
enues Of the department and it makes provision for
Keeping accounts with the various heads of a~ppropria-
ton. But postmasters render their accounts, anu pay
over only balances due from them. The payment OF
other expenses is thus provided for
HvTat the Postmaster General shall have power to
transfer debts due on account of the department by the
postmasteus and others in satisfaction of the legal de-
mands for which oRpqp1qfoas have been made of such
contractors who may DO creditors OF the department as
may have given bonds, sc. IL will be observed that al
these provisions relate to appropriated money, still
the mode of transferring credits and paying debts is sub
stantiaiiy that provided in the act of 1925. The first
section of the act provides " that the revenues arising in
the Post Office Department, and all aebte due the same,
shall, when collected, be paid, under tho direction OF the
Postmaster General, into the treasury oftbe United States. y
This is directory merely, and is, in fact, substantially the
same as the p4oyision of the act of 1925, and the practice
under il has been the sa49e. IL does not prohibit the
payment of the expenses of the department before pay
ing into the treasury. If there should be q surplus of
revenue, this provision you'd require it to be paid into
the treasury. But updeF th4s provision no money has
been actually paid into il. The FeguleA9pe Of the de-
partment provide
"No moneys are to be paid directly into the depart,
ment, neither are any paid out directly by IL. The pro-
7 ceeds of postage, or moneys received for postage stamps or
stamped envelopes sold, will, therefore, never be RENTED
by psstmasters 10 The department, nor paid to any of its
officers or agents without due authority from the Post.
master General.
The post offices are then classified
"Deposit Offices are such as are ordered to place quar-.
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