The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-20
rHE POSTAL RRYEgUEs
~ a. Eiaor. Of a. Union

Your correspondent NJ. z. aud l agree that, no money
can be drawn from the treasury without appropriation by
law, and / agree that If the statutes, when all taken to
gether, peremptorily require the hostages 20 be paid into
the treasury before being applied 10 meet the expenses OF
the service, that they must go there undiminished for
any cause whatever. contend that when all the laws
are construed together they do not require the actual
payment Of the postage receipts into the treasury. Mr..
/, does not deny my assumption that the act Of 1926 is
In full force, and that IL provides "He [the Postmaster
General shall pay all expenses which shall arise in con
Quoting the Post Office, and in the conveyance of the
mail, and all other necessary expenses arising on oollec-
ton of the revenue and management of the General Post
Office. 0 o Q He shall once in three months render
TO the Secretary of the Treasury a quarterly account of
the receipts and expenditures OF said department" If
in force, the Postmaster General can now act under this
provision.
1t is not questioned that under this act the balances in
the hands of postmasters were drawn through drafts,
mostly IN favor of mail contractors nor is il denied that
the business, except at a limited number of offices, is
now actually transacted in the same manner,
IL is not eontroverted that, under this system, there
were quarterly accountings at the treasury, though it
was merely formal, and that not a dollar of postage
money ever went into or was drawn from the Treasury
Department TO pay for mail service.
1t is not pretended that there is any law expressly
prohibiting the use of postage receipts to discharge the
expenses of the mail service.
But il. is claimed that under these words, found in the
first section of the act of 1886, shat the revenues arts
ing in the Post Office Department, and all debts due to
the same, shall, when collected, be paid, under the di-
rection of the Postmaster General, into the treasury of
the United States, . requires all the Post Office revenues to
be paid into the treasury. If this provision stood alone,
and there had been no practical construction under it, the
argument would be plausible, though not conclusive.
But there are several other provisions of law, and twenty
two years of practical construction to be considered with
it. The following clause, found in the fourth section,
shows that it was contemplated that postage money
would be used without going into the treasury and be-
ing drawn out by appropriation "That all charges
against the department by postmasters, on account of
such expenses, compensation of postmasteis, the ex-
penses of their Offices, &c, shall be submitted for exam
nation and settlement to the Auditor herein provided
for and no such deductions shall be valid unless the
expenditure so deducted be found to be made in confor-
nifty to law" Under the theory contended for, the
postmasters could neither be allowed their commissions
nor their expenses unless there was an appropriation for
their payment, because appropriations are required for
the compensation Of postmasters, and for their Office cx-
penses, just as emphatically as for mail transportation.
Ii all the revenues must go into the treasury, and must
remain there until appropriated, then po4tmasters' COM
missions (Which constitute a portion of this aID must go
there also.
The 9th section provides for the appointment of an
Auditor, whose duty it is to audit and settle all accounts
arising in the department. The following provision
shows how the Treasury Department is informed of the
receipts and expenditures of the Post Office Establish
ment, without the money ever actually, or fairly, con-
structively going into the treasury che shall close the
accounts of the department quarterly, and transmit 10 he
Secraayy Of The Treasury quarterly Statements Of its receipts and
expenditures"
These % quarterly statements lay the foundation for
Towering warrants which constitute the only paying
into and drawing out of the treasury. The 9th section
directs, among other things, the Postmaster General " to
saperintend Tie disposition Of The proceeds Of post offices and other
moneys Of M department 10 prescribe The Hnr IN anhieh
poanaaers shall pay opsr their balances, to grant warrants
for money to be paid into the treasury and out of the
same in pursuance Of appropriations by law to persons
to whom the same shall be certified to be due by the
auditor, Under this authority, the Postmaster Gen
ernl, long since, made the following regulations, which
have the force and effect of law, and are found in
the Post Office Regulations:
"sEc 1856. No moneys are to be paid directly into the
department., neither are any to be paid out directly by it.
The proceeds of postage, or moneys received for postage
stamps, or stamped envelopes sold, will, therefore, never
be RENTED by postmasters to the department., nor be
paid to any Of its officers or agents without due authority
from the Postmaster General.
"SEc. 237. For the purpose Of paying over the funds
of the department, all the post offices, except special of
fees, are classed either as deposie offices, draft offices, or
collection offices. Offices are transferred, from time to time,
| from one to another of these classes, to suit the conve-
nience of the service, and when such changes are neces.
sary, they are notified to the postmasters, respectively, by
o circular letter.
"SEc. 238. Opposite Offices are such as arc ordered to
place, quarterly or oftener, their funds in deposit in some
depository.
SEC. 239. Draft offices are such as are ordered to re-
tain their funds in hand to meet drafts drawn by the
Postmaster General and countersigned by the Auditor of
the Post Office Department.
stSEc. $40. Collection offices are such as are required
to pay over their net proceeds quarterly to the mail con-
tractor named in their special instructions upon the pro-
duction by him, from time to time, of the proper orders
and receipts sent to him by the department, In these
quarterly payments must be included all moneys received
for postage stamps and stamped envelopes sold"
Under these regulations, which make no reference to
paying into the treasury, the revenues from hostages are
collected and expended in ~defraying the expenses Of the
service. Except at the six places designated by the sub
treasury law, it is not probable that one out of the over
81, 900 postmasters ever paid a dollar into the treasury.
Nor has the Postmaster General, or any one else, done it
for them. Mr.. P. does not alege that any money has
ever actually been paid into the treasury. The mere
constructive payment is shown to be limited to the rem
dition of quarterly statements, a thing that was done, in
effect, if not in form, under the act of 1925.
If the opposite theory is correct, then the Post Office
Department has been substantially violating the law of
1886 for more than twenty-five years, because it has not
in substance, nor really in form, complied with the first
section of that act. 1t has, in fact, conformed to the
law Of 1925, and the subsequent and controlling pro-
visions of the act of 1886, which modify and fix the
practical meaning Of the first section. If the first section
Ia 10 nreyaiI over tine subseauent provisions now o,loted.