Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1861-03-14

eSvssSI nlIrs.in ehkgss ssd in,
| vsss1e Ne ksai SERVES hav,
30 cut 81 pa hI2Sn act Of he las1
ebpgrsQD. sbli Bisg ssrtais post
routes. The second section Of the oct
empowers the Post Master 0sussal 70
procure and furnish letter sheetA with
postage stamps impressed thereon, com.
bining in one both sheet and au en-
velope. This supplies : desideratum in
certain business and legal proceedings
whore It 10 important to prove the date
Of mailing Of : letter BY the postmazk.
With the common envelope this 10 al
ways difficult, ana frequently impossi-
bic, on account Of tho letter being sep
arate from the cover on which the poet
mark 10 impressed. We can call to mind
case in which tho Inheritance to . large
estate in tho District Of Columbia de-
pended in part upon the date Of let
ter which it was alleged had bean mail
ed in . certain envelope produced in
court. But the attempt to prove this
fact failed, because the letter and envel-
ope were separate.
Another section Of the act requires
that letters which have been advertised
ahall be returned to the Post Office De-
partment, il unclaimed, tvo months sf-
ter the date Of the advertisement e.
cept in cases where letters are directed
to ssaports for persons on board Of des-
ignated vessels expected to arrive and,
also, in csses whore letters are specially
marked to be, retained for : longer
period. This provision shortens the
time during which dead letters are de-
tanned At the Office of delivery about one
month. The unclaimed money obtain
cd from dead letters il to be applied
hereafter to promote the efficiency of
the Dead Letter Office, by providing for
more careful examination aud the re-
turn Of = large number to the writer's.
No branch Of the public service Vas in
more need Of assistance than the Office
to which these moneys are thus sxolu-
sively applied.
We observe, also, : change in the
rates Of postage on what are technically
called ship letters-that 10, letters that
come by occasional packets or vessels,
and not BY the regular mail lines. Here
tofore, through lapse in the Law, the
postage on . single letter Of this kind,
delivered within the port where tho yes
sci arrived, was sac cents, while on Sim
lar letter by the same vessel, to be for
warded thousand Of miles further through
the mails, the postage was but 1ave cents.
The rate is now to be five cents when
delivered At the port Of arrival, and the
ordinary postage, with two cents added,
when the letter is to be forwarded.
There is some approach to equity in this
arrangement.
To newspaper publishers, and their
customers 10 the interior, the most i'm
portant section is that which makes it
'1awfal for persons known as regular
dealers in newspapers and periodicals to
receive by mail such quantities Of either
as they may require, and to pay the
postage thereon as they may be received
at the same rates as regular subscribers
to such publications. This is intended
to give the benefit OF the reduced quar-.
terry rates to newspaper dealers who, on
account Of the irregularity in the mum
Der OF papers and periodicals they order,
find it Impossible to pay postage quar-
terly in advance. 1t is q very liberal
TONER'S. -
Two other sections enlarge the scope
Of mailable matter, to be paid for accord
ing 10 the weight Of the package, by ip-
GLIDING maps, engravings, Autographs,
or photographic prints on rollers or in
paper covers; books, bound or unbound !;
photographic paper and letter en-
velopes; all Of which are to be rated at
ono cent ar ounce for any place within
the United States not over fifteen hun
dred miles, and two cents an ounce for
any distance over fifteen hundred miles,
prepaid by postage stamps. The pack.
ages must not exceed four pounds.
Cards, blank or printed, in packages
weighing at least eight ounces, and
seeds or cuttings, in packages not cx-
ceeding eight ounces, are made mailable
matter at the same rates, prepared in
the same way.
by the fourteenth section of the act
to which we are referring, we notice that
some letters by the overland routes to
the Pacific, which have heretofore been
rated At three cents per half ounce, when
the distance was under three thousand
miles, are now to be rated at ten cents.
The law will hereafter be that the ten
cent rate Of postage is to be prepaid on
all letters conveyed in the mail between
any points in the United States, East Of
the Rocky Mountains, and any State or
Territory on the Pacific. This last pro-
vision is important only to the people Of
the Western States. The others, how
ever, have an interest for all, and they
are in the main very liberal improve
meuts to the SERVICE Philadelphia Ing.
H----- 60 7ite
SOME PosrAGE.-A letter arrived in
St. Joseph, Mo-, by Pony Express, from
San Erancisco tn aomo 0overnmont a.