outward voyage; for the third-class ships not to exceed one
dollar a mile, and for the fourth-class ships two-thirds of
one dollar a mile, for the actual number of miles required
by the Post Office Department to be traveled on each out-
ward bound voyage: Provided, That in the case of failure
from any cause to perform the regular voyages stipulated
for in said contracts or any of them, a pro rata deduction
shall be made from the compensation on account of such
omitted voyage or voyages; and that suitable fines and
penalties may be imposed for delays or irregularities in
the due performance of service according to the contract,
to be determined by the Postmaster General: Provided
further, That no steamship so employed and so paid for
carrying the United States mails shall receive any other
bounty or subsidy from the Treasury of the United States.
Upon each of said vessels the United States shall be Sec. 6.
entitled to have transported, free of charge, a mail messen-
ger, whose duty it shall be to receive, sort, take in charge
and deliver the mails to and from the United States, and
who shall be provided with suitable room for the accom-
modation of himself and the mails.

The officers of the United States Navy may volunteer Sec. 7.
for service on said mail vessels, and when accepted by the
contractor or contractors, may be assigned to such duty by
the Secretary of the Navy whenever in his opinion such
assignment can be made without detriment to the service,
and while in said employment they shall receive furlough
pay from the Government, and such other compensation
from the contractor or contractors as may be agreed upon
by the parties: Provided, That they shall only be required to
perform such duties as appertain to the merchant service.

Said vessels shall take, as cadets or apprentices, one American-born boy, under twenty-one years of age for each one thousand tons gross register, and one for each majority fraction thereof, who shall be educated in the duties of seamanship, rank as petty officers, and receive such pay for their services as may be reasonable.

Sec. 8.

Such steamers may be taken and used by the United Sec. 9. States as transports or cruisers, upon payment to the owners of the fair actual value of the same at the time of the taking, and if there shall be a disagreement as to the fair actual value of the same at the time of the taking, and if there shall be a disagreement as to the fair actual value between the United States and the owners, then the same shall be determined by two impartial appraisers, one to be appointed by each of said parties, they at the same time. selecting a third, who shall act in said appraisement in case the two shall fail to agree.

Reserve guns for auxiliary cruisers: Toward the armament of modern guns for auxiliary cruisers mentioned in the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninetyone, and in section four of the act approved May tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That the Secretary of the Navy

Mar. 3, 1899.

Mar. 1, 1899.

R. S., 3969.

R. S., 3970.

R. S., 3977.

R. S., 3978.

R. S., 3987.

may, in his discretion, purchase by contract all or any part
of such guns.

323. General ocean mail service.

For transportation of foreign mails, two million one hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars, including additional compensation to the Oceanic Steamship Company for transporting the mails by its steamers sailing from San Francisco to New Zealand and New South Wales by way of Honolulu, all mails made up in the United States destined for the Hawaiian Islands, the Australian colonies, New Caledonia, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean, eighty thousand dollars: Provided, That the sum paid the said Oceanic Steamship Company shall not exceed two dollars per mile, as authorized by Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one. [Including special contracts.]

The Postmaster-General may cause the mail to be carried in any steamboat or other vessel used as a packet on any of the waters of the United States.

The Postmaster-General may, if he deem it for the public interest, make contracts for any period not exceeding one year, for carrying the mails in steamships between any of the ports of the United States.

The master of any steamboat passing between ports or places in the United States, and arriving at any such port or place where there is a post-office, shall deliver to the postmaster, within three hours after his arrival, if in the day-time, and if at night, within two hours after the next sunrise, all letters and packets brought by him, or within his power or control and not relating to the cargo, addressed to or destined for such port or place, for which he shall receive from the postmaster two cents for each letter or packet so delivered, unless the same is carried under a contract for carrying the mails; and for every failure to so deliver such letters and packets, the master or owner of the steamboat shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred and fifty dollars.

The Postmaster-General may pay, to the master or owner of any vessel not regularly employed in carrying the mail, two cents for each letter carried by such vessel between ports or places in the United States, or from any foreign port to any port in the United States; but all such letters shall be deposited in the post-office at the port of arrival.

No vessel departing from the United States for any foreign port shall receive on board or convey any letter or packet originating in the United States which has not been regularly received from the post-office at the port of depar ture, and which does not relate to the cargo of such vessel, except as provided in section three thousand nine hundred and ninety-three; and every collector, or other officer of the port empowered to grant clearances, shall require from the master of such vessel, as a condition of clearance, an oath

that he has not received on board, has not under his care or control, and will not receive or convey any letter or packet contrary to the provisions of this section.

No vessel arriving within any port or collection-district of R. S., 3988. the United States shall be allowed to make entry or break bulk until all letters on board are delivered at the nearest post-office, and the master thereof has signed and sworn to the following declaration, before the collector or other proper customs officer:

"I, A. B., master of the now lying in the port of

arriving from

and do solemnly swear (or affirm)

that I have, to the best of my knowledge and belief, delivered, at the post-office at -, every letter, and every bag, packet, or parcel of letters, which were on board the said vessel during her last voyage, or which were in my possession or under my power or control."

And any master who shall break bulk before he has delivered such letters shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars, recoverable, one-half to the officer making the seizure, and the other to the use of the United States.

Any special agent of the Post-Office Department, when instructed by the Postmaster General to make examinations and seizures, and the collector or other customs officers of any port, without special instructions, shall carefully search all vessels for letters which may be on board or which have been conveyed contrary to law.

R. S., 3989.

Any special agent of the Post-Office Department, col- R. S., 3990. lector, or other customs officer, or United States marshal or his deputy, may at all times seize all letters and bags, packets or parcels, containing letters which are being carried contrary to law on board any vessel or any post-route, and convey the same to the nearest post-office, or may, by the direction of the Postmaster-General or Secretary of the Treasury, detain them until two months after the final determination of all suits and proceedings which may, at any time within six months after such seizure, be brought against any person for sending or carrying such letters.

Every package or parcel seized by any special agent of R. S., 3991. the Post-Office Department, collector, or other customs officer, or United States marshal or his deputies, in which any letter is unlawfully concealed, shall be forfeited to the United States, and the same proceedings may be had to enforce the forfeiture as are authorized in respect to goods, wares, and merchandise forfeited for violation of the revenue laws; and all laws for the benefit and protection of customs officers making seizures for violating the revenue laws shall apply to officers making seizures for violating the postal laws.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit R. S., 3992. the conveyance or transmission of letters or packets by private hands without compensation, or by special messenger employed for the particular occasion only.

R. S., 4006.

R. S., 4007.

R. S., 4008.

R. S., 4009.

R. S., 4010.

R. S., 4011.

R. S., 4012.

The Postmaster-General, after advertising for proposals, may enter into contracts or make suitable arrangements for transporting the mail through any foreign country, between any two points in the United States, and such transportation shall be by the speediest, safest, and most economical route; and all contracts therefor may be revoked whenever any new road or canal shall be opened affording a speedier, more economical, and equally safe transportation between the same points; but in case of the revocation of any such contract, a fair indemnity shall be awarded to the contractor.

The Postmaster-General may, after advertising for proposals, enter into contracts for the transportation of the mail between the United States and any foreign country whenever the public interests will thereby be promoted.

The mail between the United States and any foreign port, or between ports of the United States touching at a foreign port, shall be transported in steamships; but the Postmaster-General may have such transportation performed by sailing vessels when the service can be facilitated thereby.

For transporting the mail between the United States and any foreign port, or between ports of the United States touching at a foreign port, the Postmaster-General may allow as compensation, if by a United States steamship, any sum not exceeding the sea and United States inland postage; and if by a foreign steamship or by a sailing vessel, any sum not exceeding the sea-postage, on the mail so transported. [Amended by March 3, 1891, above.]

The Postmaster-General may impose fines on contractors for transporting the mail between the United States and any foreign country, for any unreasonable or unnecessary delay in the departure of such mail, or the performance of the trip; but the fine for any one default shall not exceed one-half the contract price for the trip.

Every contract for transporting the mail between the United States and any foreign country shall contain, besides the usual stipulation for the right of the Postmaster-General to discontinue the same, the further stipulation that it may be terminated by Congress.

The Postmaster-General may, by and with the advice and consent of the President, make any arrangements which may be deemed just and expedient for allowing the mails of Canada, or any other country adjoining the United States, to be transported over the territory of the United States from one point in such country to any other point in the same, at the expense of the country to which the mail belongs, upon obtaining a like privilege for the transportation of the United States mail through the country to which the privilege is granted; but such privilege may at any time be annulled by the President or Congress from and after one month succeeding the day on which notice of the act of the President or Congress is given to the chief executive or head of the post-office department of the country whose privilege is to be annulled.

The Postmaster-General, under the direction of the Presi- R. S., 4015 dent of the United States, is hereby authorized and empow ered to charge upon, and collect from, all letters and other mailable matter carried to or from any port of the United States, in any foreign packet-ship or other vessel, the same rate or rates of charge for American postage which the government to which such foreign packet or other vessel belongs imposes upon letters and other mailable matter conveyed to or from such foreign country in American packets or other vessels as the postage of such government, and at any time to revoke the same; and all custom-house officers and other United States agents designated or appointed for that purpose shall enforce or carry into effect the foregoing provision, and aid or assist in the collection of such postage, and to that end it shall be lawful for such officers and agents, on suspicion of fraud, to open and examine, in the presence of two or more respectable persons, being citizens of the United States, any package or packages supposed to contain mailable matter found on board such packets or other vessels or elsewhere, and to prevent, if necessary, such packets or other vessels from entering, breaking bulk, or making clearance until such letters or other mailable matter are duly delivered into the United States post-office.

324. United States mail agencies abroad.

The Postmaster-General may establish resident mail. R. S., 4021. agencies at the ports of Panama and Aspinwall, in New Granada; Havana, in Cuba; at Saint Thomas, and at such other foreign ports at which United States mail-steamers touch to land and receive mails, as may, in his judgment, promote the efficiency of the foreign mail-service; and may pay the agents employed by him at such ports, out of the appropriation for transportation of the mail, a reasonable compensation for their services, and the necessary expenses for office-rent, clerk-hire, office furniture, and other incidentals, to be allowed him at each of such agencies.

The Postmaster-General may appoint an agent in charge R. S., 4022. of the mail on board of each of the mail steamers on the routes between San Francisco, Japan, and China; between San Francisco and Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, and between New York and Rio Janeiro, who shall be allowed, out of the appropriation for transportation of the mail, a salary of two thousand dollars a year each.

The Postmaster-General may establish, in connection R. S., 4023. with the mail-steamship service to Japan and China, a general postal agency at Shanghai, in China, or at Yokohama, in Japan, with such branch agencies at any other ports in China and Japan as he shall deem necessary for the prompt and efficient management of the postal service in those countries; and he may pay the postal agents employed thereat a reasonable compensation for their services, in addition to the necessary expenses for rent, furniture, clerk-hire, and incidental expenses.