United States mail

“ Claimant's representative had notified the express company's agent of the purpose to send certain of the papers by express, and pursuant to that notice, until about October, 1908, a porter from the express agent's office went to the platform, took the bundles of newspapers labeled as mentioned, and caused them to be transported by express. During the same period the United States mail transfer clerk took the sacks of papers, ascertained the net weight, and caused them to be transported as second-class mail matter upon the same train. ”

“ It has long been held that first-class mail such as letters and sealed packages subject to letter postage-as distinguished from newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and other printed matter-is free from inspection by postal authorities, except in the manner provided by the Fourth Amendment. ”

“ The growing importance of the foreign service also merits attention. The post-office department of Great Britain and our own have agreed upon a preliminary basis for a new postal convention, which it is believed will prove eminently beneficial to the commercial interests of the United States, inasmuch as it contemplates a reduction of the international letter postage to one-half the existing rates: a reduction of postage with all other countries to and from which correspondence is transmitted in the British mail, or in closed mails through the United Kingdom ”

“ There are in the United States several exchange offices besides New York, but, with the exception of New Orleans and San Francisco, the mails they make up consist only of matter originating at each of these offices. Mail for some of the Central American republics is sent to New Orleans, and mail for transpacific countries goes mostly to San Francisco. All other mail, no matter where dropped in the letter-box, comes to the New York office through the instrumentality of the Railway Mail Service. ”

“ Today’s merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. ”

“ Most of the foreign correspondence of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana were carried by the Canadian route, while, during the winter months, half the mail from New England and a large volume from New York were despatched by this line. By the arrangements with the post offices of France, Belgium and Prussia, a considerable quantity of mails were exchanged by this line between the United States and nearly every country in Europe. ”

“ Mail is forwarded to the Foreign Station from all parts of the United States, and is here distributed for the various foreign countries and cities for which it is intended. In this distribution expert knowledge of foreign geography and political divisions is required, for a large percentage of the mail received is indefinitely directed, and only an expert could determine for what points much of it is intended. The shifting map of Europe has added greatly to the difficulties, for many correspondents in this country are still ignorant of the new boundaries. ”

“ In the early days of the parcel-post it was used chiefly by the person who had friends or relatives in Europe and wished to send a present to them, but it is now being used very extensively in commercial transactions. By this means goods ordered from abroad are forwarded by the great mail-order houses, and the total volume of this business is large.
Much difficulty is experienced in inducing senders of mail matter to wrap it securely. ”

“ It ain’t no joke to interfere with the United States mail and them thet’s carryin’ it. The padlock on that mailbag was all bent and bunged up when the stage smashed up against that tree. Course, I ain’t sayin’ what may come of it, but them gover’ment folks is mighty tetchy on them p’ints. They’ve got a big prison at Leavenworth and another at Atlanta where they puts fellers that interferes with the mails in any way, shape or manner. ”

“ In nearly every city, private companies undertook to distribute mail matter at less than the government rates. Some even carried letters from city to city. In Congress, members related the expedients resorted to for sending letters at a reduced rate. In New York, a certain A. M. Greig had established a local delivery and employed an adhesive stamp, charging but two cents when the government exacted three. Such competition greatly harassed the department. The act of 1836 had authorized the Postmaster General to establish a carrier system in such cities as he might think advisable. ”

“ The Postal Service shall maintain one or more classes of mail for the transmission of letters sealed against inspection. The rate for each such class shall be uniform throughout the United States, its territories, and possessions. One such class shall provide for the most expeditious handling and transportation afforded mail matter by the Postal Service. ”

“ And for every letter or packet so received, there shall be paid at the time of its reception, a postage of one cent, which shall be for the use of the postmasters, respectively receiving the same. And the Postmaster-General may make arrangements with the postmasters in any foreign country, for the reciprocal receipt and delivery of letters and packets through the post-offices.
Sec. 33. And be it further enacted, That the postmasters and the persons employed in the transportation of the mail shall be exempt from militia duties, and serving on juries, or any fine or penalty for neglect thereof. ”

“ Under the power to establish post offices and post roads it has made a Government monopoly of the entire postal service, established a money-order system, and provided for free delivery of mail in all cities and in many rural communities. ”

“ This is about double the present rate of pamphlet postage in the United States. The delivery of parcels by stage-coaches, railroads, and common carriers, is much more thoroughly systematized in that old country, with its dense population and limited extent, than it can be with us, on our vast territory, so new and so unfinished. Consequently, there is less necessity there for sending pamphlets by mail, and the thing is rarely done except in the case of small pamphlets, of an ounce or two weight, or in cases where despatch in transmission is important. ”

“ Postmaster General authorized to contract for carrying the mail in coaches from Petersburg to Louisville in Georgia, for a time limited.
Additional expense not to exceed a certain amount.
He may have the mail from Suffield in Connecticut by Windsor, in Vermont, to Dartmouth College, carried in the same way.
Under a limitation of expense.
Free white persons to be only employed in carrying the mail. ”

“ Section 3891 is as follow: 'Any person employed in any department of the postal service who shall unlawfully detain, delay, or open any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters intrusted to him, or which has come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any mail carrier, mail messenger, route agent, letter carrier, or other person employed in any department of the postal service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post-office or branch post-office established by authority of the postmaster general ”

“ To insure these to all the people of the States, the Constitution has wisely placed these powers in 'THE CONGRESS' of the Union, of the 'NATION.' In accordance with the powers thus vested in Congress, our present postal or mail service has been created. No State has a right to set up its own mail or postal system. No State has a right to interfere with the transportation of the national mails. ”

“ No dignity is perfect which does not at some point ally itself with the mysterious. The connexion of the mail with the state and the executive government—a connexion obvious, but yet not strictly defined—gave to the whole mail establishment an official grandeur which did us service on the roads, and invested us with seasonable terrors. ”

“ One copy of the way-bill is returned to New York with a receipt from the official at the port of destination, and the responsibility of this office for the mails ceases. Their further transportation will be the business of the administration which has received them.
The Parcels Post system is also taken care of by the clerks of the foreign department, but as it is a system based on special conventions or agreements between any two countries, it is not within the sphere of an article relating to the international mail service as regulated by the Postal Union Conventions. ”

“ When there are good grounds for believing that letters are opened and read from motives of curiosity, complaint should be made in writing to the Chief Clerk of the Post-Office Department, Washington. A secret plan for the certain detection of prying delinquents has recently been devised.
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Two or more letters directed to different persons, cannot be sent by mail in one envelope or packet, without subjecting the sender to a fine of ten dollars. This does not apply to any letter or packet directed to a foreign country. ”

“ The Post Office Department should be granted power to make liberal long-term contracts for carrying our mail, and authority should be given to the Army and the Navy to detail aviators and planes to cooperate with private enterprise in establishing such mail service with the consent of the countries concerned. ”

“ It has moved forward on American lines, with free delivery, money order, and registry systems, and has given the people mail facilities far greater and more reliable than any they have ever before enjoyed. ”

“ The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. ”

“ To implement the statute the Post Office maintains 10 or 11 screening points through which is routed all unsealed mail from the designated foreign countries. At these points the nonexempt mail is examined by Customs authorities. When it is determined that a piece of mail is 'communist political propaganda,' the addressee is mailed a notice identifying the mail being detained and advising that it will be destroyed unless the addressee requests delivery by returning an attached reply card within 20 days. ”

“ Nothing seems to have resulted from his recommendations, however. The inconveniences of the system led to calling the attention of Congress to the matter again in the Report of the Postmaster General, in 1873. He says:
"In my report for 1869, I had the honor to suggest a plan for the prepayment of postage on newspapers and other matter of the second class by weight of packages rather than by the present system, which requires the manipulation of each particular paper, and allows the payment of postage at either the mailing office, or the office of delivery. ”