Statute Ⅰ.
Chap. CCLXX.—An Act to change the organization of the Post Office Department, and to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts thereof.[1]
Act of March 3, 1845, ch. 43.
Revenues to be paid into the Treasury.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the revenues arising in the Post Office Department, and all debts due to the same, shall, when collected, be paid, under the direction of the Postmaster General, into the Treasury of the United States.
Postmaster General to submit estimates, &c.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Postmaster General shall submit to Congress at the next, and each succeeding annual session, specific estimates of the sums of money expected to be required for the service of the Department in the subsequent year, commencing on the first day of July, under the following heads, viz: “Compensation of postmasters,” “Transportation of the mails,” “Ship, steam-boat, and way letters,” “Wrapping paper,” “Office furniture,” “Advertising,” “Mail bags,” “Blanks,” “Mail locks, keys, and stamps,” “Mail depredations, and special agents,” “Clerks, for offices,” and “Miescallaneous.” And the Postmaster General shall render an account to Congress, at each succeeding annual session, of the amount actually expended for each of the purposes above specified.
Appropriation made from revenues of the Post Office Department.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the aggregate sum required “for the service of the Post Office Department,” in each year, shall be appropriated by law out of the revenue of the Department, and that all payments of the receipts of the Post Office Department into the Treasury, shall be to the credit of the said appropriation.
To be paid by the Treasurer.
Proviso.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the sums appropriated for the service aforesaid shall be paid by the Treasurer in the manner herein directed: Provided, That the compensation of postmasters, the expenses of post offices, and such other expenses of the Department for which appropriations have been made, as may be incurred by postmasters, may be deducted out of the proceeds of their offices, under the direction of the Postmaster General:Proviso. And provided, also, That all charges against the Department by postmasters, on account of such expenses, shall be submitted for examination and settlement, to the auditor herein provided for; and that no such deduction shall be valid, unless the expenditure so deducted, be found to have been made in conformity to law:Proviso. And provided, also, That the Postmaster General shall have power to transfer debts due on account of the Department, by postmasters and others, in satisfaction of the legal demands for which appropriations have been made, of such contractors who may be creditors of the Department, as shall have given bonds, with security, to refund any moneys that may come into their hands over and above the amount which may be found due to them on the settlement of their accounts.
Treasurer to give receipts.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Treasurer of the United States shall give receipts for all moneys received by him to the credit of the appropriation for the service of the Post Office Department; which receipts shall be endorsed upon warrants drawn by the Postmaster General, and without such warrant, no acknowledgment for money received as aforesaid shall be valid.
Payments to be made on warrants.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department shall be disbursed by the Treasurer out of the moneys into the Treasury for the service of the Post Office Department, upon the warrants of the Postmaster General, registered and countersigned as herein provided, and expressing on their faces the appropriation to which they should be charged.
- ↑ For notes of the decisions of the courts of the United States on the duties and obligations of the Postmaster General, “Postmasters,” and “Post Office,” see vol. 1, 363.
