Provisos. deadheading. Appointments, etc., restricted. three hundred and fifty-three clerks, grade one, at not exceeding $900 each; in all, including increases hereinafter provided, $37,109,275: Full time credit when Provided, That hereafter railway postal clerks and substitute railway postal clerks, shall be credited with full time when deadheading under orders of the department, and the appointment and assignment of clerks hereunder shall be so made during the fiscal year as not to involve a greater aggregate expenditure than this sum; and to enable the Postmaster General to reclassify the salaries of railway postal clerks and make necessary appointments and promotions, he may exceed the number of clerks in such of the grades as may be necessary: Provided further, That the number of regular clerks in the aggregate as herein authorized be not exceeded. Aggregate limited. Travel allowances. penses. For travel allowances to railway postal clerks and substitute railway postal clerks, $2,689,931. Traveling, etc., ex- For actual and necessary expenses, general superintendent and assistant general superintendent, division superintendents, assistant division superintendents, and chief clerks, Railway Mail Service, and railway postal clerks, while actually traveling on business of the Post Office Department and away from their several designated headquarters, $55,297. Miscellaneous. minal offices. For rent, light, heat, fuel, telegraph, miscellaneous and office expenses, schedules of mail trains, telephone service, and badges for railway postal clerks, including rental of offices for division headquarters, and chief clerk, Railway Mail Service, in Washington, Rent, etc., for ter- District of Columbia, and rental of space for terminal railway post offices for the distribution of mails when the furnishing of space for such distribution can not under the Postal Laws and Regulations properly be required of railroad companies without additional compensation, and for equipment and miscellaneous items necessary and Leases for 20 years incidental to terminal railway post offices, $1,032,156: Provided, That hereafter the Postmaster General may, in the disbursement of the appropriation for such purposes, apply a part thereof to the purpose of leasing premises for the use of terminal railway post offices at a reasonable annual rental, to be paid quarterly, for a term not exceeding twenty years. Proviso. allowed. Per diem, etc., two assistant superintend ents. Electric and cable cars. Provisos. For per diem allowance of two assistant superintendents while actually traveling on official business away from their home, their official domicile, and their headquarters, at a rate to be fixed by the Postmaster General, not to exceed $4 per day, and for their necessary official expenses not covered by their per diem allowance, not exceeding $700; in all, $3,244. For inland transportation of mail by electric and cable cars, $545,000: Provided, That the rate of compensation to be paid per mile shall not exceed the rate now paid to companies performing such service, except that the Postmaster General, in cases where the quantity of mail is large and the number of exchange points numerous, may, in his discretion, authorize payment for closedpouch service at a rate per mile not to exceed one-third above the rate per mile now paid for closed-pouch service; and for mail cars and apartments carrying the mails, not to exceed the rate of 1 cent per linear foot per car-mile of travel: Provided further, That the rates for electric car service on routes over twenty miles in length outside of cities shall not exceed the rates paid for service on steam Unusual conditions. railroads: Provided further, That not to exceed $25,000 of the sum hereby appropriated may be expended, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, where unusual conditions exist or where such service will be more expeditious and efficient and at no greater cost than otherwise. Outside of cities. For transportation of foreign mails by steamship, aircraft or otherwise, including increases hereinafter provided, $4,700,000: Provided, That not to exceed $100,000 of this sum shall be expended for carrying foreign mail by aircraft. Foreign mails. Proviso. Balances to foreign countries. For balances due foreign countries, $681,700. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office Travel, etc. of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. OFFICE OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL. Third Assistant Postmaster General. Stamps. For manufacture of adhesive postage stamps, special-delivery stamps, books of stamps, and for coiling of stamps, $1,470,000. For manufacture of stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers, and wrappers. $2,940,000. Stamped envelopes Distribution. Postal cards. Ship, etc., letters. For pay of agent and assistants to examine and distribute stamped envelopes and newspaper wrappers, and expenses of agency, including increases hereinafter provided, $19,875. For manufacture of postal cards, $765,000. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, $150. For payment of limited indemnity for the injury or loss of pieces of istered, etc., mail. domestic registered matter, insured, and collect-on-delivery mail, $3,000,000: Provided, That hereafter the Postmaster General may, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, authorize masters. postmasters to pay limited indemnity claims on insured and collecton-delivery mail. For payment of limited indemnity for the loss of registered articles in the international mails, in accordance with convention stipulations, $10,000. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. Proviso. International mail. Travel, etc. Postal Savings Sys For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the service of the Postal tem. Savings System, office of the director, $500. OFFICE OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL. Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. Stationery, etc. Postal Savings sup For stationery for the Postal Service, including blanks, books, printed and engraved matter, binding and carbon paper, and other miscellaneous items for the money-order and registry systems; the preparation, publication, and free distribution by postmasters to the public of pamphlet containing general postal information; the pay of one assistant envelope inspector at $900 per annum; and also for the purchase of supplies for the Postal Savings System, including plies. blank books, forms, pamphlets, rubber stamps, canceling devices, certificates, envelopes and stamps for use in evidencing deposits, and free penalty envelopes; and for the reimbursement of the Secretary of the Treasury for expenses incident to the preparation, issue, and Vol. 36, p. 817. registration of the bonds authorized by the Act of June 25, 1910, $1,020,000. Bond expenses. Miscellaneous equip For miscellaneous equipment and supplies, including the purchase ment and supplies. and repair of furniture, package boxes, posts, trucks, baskets, satchels, straps, letter-box paint, baling machines, perforating machines, duplicating machines, printing presses, directories, cleaning supplies, and the manufacture, repair, and exchange of equipment, the erection, manufacture, repair, and painting of letter-box equipment, and for the purchase and repair of presses and dies for use in the manufacture of letter boxes; for postmarking, rating, money-order stamps, stamps. and electrotype plates and repairs to same, metal, rubber, and combination type, dates and figures, typeholders, ink pads for canceling and stamping purposes, and for the purchase, exchange, and repair of typewriting machines, envelope-opening machines, and computing machines, copying presses, numbering machines, time recorders, Postmarking, etc., Post maps. Proviso. letter balances, scales, test weights, and miscellaneous articles puroute, etc., chased and furnished directly to the Postal Service; for miscellaneous expenses in the preparation and publication of post-route maps and rural-delivery maps or blue prints, including tracing for photolithographic reproduction; for other expenditures necessary and incidental to post offices of the first, second, and third classes, and offices of the fourth class having or to have rural delivery serSale, etc., of maps. Vice, and for letter boxes, $837,000: Provided, That the Postmaster General may authorize the sale to the public of post-route maps and rural delivery maps or blue prints at the cost of printing and 10 per centum thereof added, the proceeds of such sale to be used as a further appropriation for the preparation and publication of post-route maps and rural delivery maps or blue prints; of this amount $1,500 may be expended in the purchase of atlases and geographical and technical works. Twine, etc. Shipping supplies. Canceling machines, labor-saving devices, etc. Traveling mechanicians. Mail bags, locks, etc. Equipment shops. Material, etc. Labor. For wrapping twine and tying devices, $598,000. For defraying expenses incident to the shipment of supplies, including hardware, boxing, packing, cartage, freight, and the pay of one foreman at $1,400 per annum, ten requisition fillers, at $1,000 each per annum, and nine packers, at $1,000 each per annum, for assignment in connection therewith, including increases hereinafter provided, $270,000. For rental, purchase, exchange, and repair of canceling machines and motors, mechanical mail-handling apparatus, and other laborsaving devices, including cost of power in rented buildings, and miscellaneous expenses of installation and operation of same, including salaries of five traveling mechanicians and for per diem allowance of traveling mechanicians while actually traveling on official business away from their homes and their official domiciles at a rate to be fixed by the Postmaster General, not to exceed $4 per day, $392,115. For the purchase, manufacture, and repair of mail bags and other mail containers and attachments, mail locks, keys, chains, tools, machinery, and material necessary for same, and for incidental expenses pertaining thereto; also material, machinery, and tools necessary for the manufacture and repair in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, of such other equipment for the Postal Service as may be deemed expedient; for compensation to labor employed in the equipment shops at Washington, District of Columbia, including increases hereinafter provided, $2,090,000, of which $500,000 Distinctive equip shall be available immediately: Provided, That out of this appropartments, Alaska, priation the Postmaster General is authorized to use as much of the sum, not exceeding $5,000, as may be deemed necessary for the purchase of material and the manufacture in the equipment shops of such small quantities of distinctive equipments as may be required by other executive departments; and for service in Alaska, Porto Star route transpor- Rico, Philippine Islands, Hawaii, or other island possessions. Proviso. ments for executive de and insular service. tation. Rural delivery. Proviso. Determination route lengths. Village delivery. For inland transportation by star routes (excepting service in Alaska), including temporary service to newly established offices, $11,000,000. For pay of rural carriers, substitutes for rural carriers on annual leave, clerks in charge of rural stations, and tolls and ferriage, Rural Delivery Service, and for the incidental expenses thereof, including of increases hereinafter provided, $78,000,000: Provided, That hereafter the pay of rural carriers and substitute rural carriers, which depends upon the length of the route, shall be determined in accordance with the records of the Post Office Department, which records shall be promptly corrected whenever the Postmaster General determines that such records are not correct. For village delivery service in towns and villages having post offices of the second or third class, and in communities adjacent to cities having city delivery, including increases hereinafter provided, $1,300,000. For travel and miscellaneous expenses in the Postal Service, office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, $1,000. SEC. 2. That the increased compensation for positions in the Postal Service of all classes and grades made and provided for in the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920," approved February 28, 1919, and House joint resolution of November 8, 1919, entitled "Joint resolution to provide for additional compensation for employees of the Postal Service and making appropriations therefor," and the provisions of such Act and resolution relating to promotions, classification, and grades specified in said Act and resolution shall continue in force during the fiscal year 1921, unless otherwise provided by law. SEC. 3. That the Secretary of War is authorized hereafter, in his discretion, to deliver and turn over to the Postmaster General, without charge therefor, from time to time, such motor vehicles, aeroplanes, and parts thereof, and machinery and tools to repair and maintain the same, as may be suitable for use in the Postal Service; and the Postmaster General is authorized to use the same in the transportation of the mails and to pay the necessary expenses thereof, including the replacement, maintenance, exchange, and repair of such equipment, out of any appropriation available for the service in which such vehicles or aeroplanes are used. SEC. 4. That section 3936, Revised Statutes of the United States, is hereby amended to read as follows: ered letters. Return of undeliv amended. "SEC. 3936. The Postmaster General may regulate the period during which undelivered letters shall remain in any post office and when they shall be returned to the dead-letter office; and he may make regulations for their return from the dead-letter office to the writers when they can not be delivered to the parties addressed: Provided, That when letters are returned from the dead-letter office to the writers, a fee of 3 cents shall be collected at the time of delivery, writer. under such rules and regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe." Proviso. First class mail. SEC. 5. That the Postmaster General, under such regulations as he Acceptance of premay prescribe for the collection of such postage, is hereby authorized paid matter without to accept for delivery and deliver, without postage stamps affixed stamps. thereto, mail matter of the first class on which the postage has been fully prepaid at the rate provided by law. Postal Commission created. SEC. 6 (a). That a commission is hereby created to be composed of the chairman and four members of the Committee on Post Offices Composition. and Post Roads of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate, the chairman and four members of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House, and a postal expert appointed Advisory council. by the Postmaster General. Such commission shall, by majority vote, appoint seven persons who are experienced in business or commercial transactions, or represent business or commercial organizations which make extensive use of the Postal Service, to act as an advisory council and to aid such commission in its work. Vacancies occurring in the commission or in such advisory council shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments. No member of such advisory council shall receive any compensation for his services. The commission may employ and fix the compensation of such ized. engineers, special experts, clerks, and other employees as it may deem necessary: Provided, That each executive department and independ- Assistance from deent establishment of the Government is hereby directed to furnish partments, etc., dito the commission such engineers, special experts, clerks, and other employees as the commission may require, whenever, in the opinion of the head of such department or independent establishment, the public business thereof will not be materially affected thereby. No pay. Employees author Proviso. Expenses allowed. Accounting. Investigations speci fied. Report of findings and recommendations. Authority to obtain evidence. (b) The expenses of the commission and of the advisory council, including all necessary traveling expenses incurred by a member of the commission, a member of the advisory council, an engineer, special expert, clerk, or employee, under orders of the commission, in making any investigation or upon official business in other places than the place of his residence, shall be allowed and paid upon the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor, approved by the chairman of the commission, which approval shall be conclusive upon the accounting officers of the Treasury Department. (c) The commission shall investigate all present and prospective methods and systems of handling, dispatching, transporting, and delivering the mails and the facilities therefor; and especially all methods and systems which relate to the handling, delivery and dispatching of the mails in the large cities of the United States. On or before March 1, 1921, the commission shall make a report to Congress containing a summary of its findings and such recommendations for legislation as it may believe to be proper. (d) For the purposes of this section, the commission shall have power to summon and compel the attendance of witnesses and the Information to be production of documentary evidence, and to administer oaths. furnished from departments, etc. Appropriation from the Treasury until June 30, 1920. Afterwards postal revenues. Army tractors. (e) The executive departments and independent establishments of the Government, when directed by the President, shall furnish the commission, on its request, all records, papers and information in their possession relating to any subject of investigation by the commission. (f) The sum of $10,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherfrom wise appropriated, to be available immediately and until July 1, 1920; Loan to States for tion, authorized. Ante, p. 530. and the unexpended balance on June 30, 1920, of any appropriation for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, to be available after June 30, 1920, for the purposes of this section. SEC. 7. That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized highways construc- and empowered, at his discretion, and under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to loan to any State of the Union, when so requested by the highway department of the State, such tractors as are retained and not distributed under the act approved March 15, 1920, for use in highway construction by the highway department Expenses to be paid of such State: Provided, That all expenses for repairs and upkeep of tractors so loaned and the expenses of loading and freight shall be paid by the State, both in transfer to the State and the return to the Army. Proviso. by States. Appropriation from the Treasury to meet deficiencies. April 24, 1920. [H. R. 12581.] [Public, No. 188.] Red River of the North. SEC. 8. That if the revenues of the Post Office Department shall be insufficient to meet the appropriations made by this Act, a sum equal to such deficiency of the revenue of said department is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply said deficiencies in the revenues for the Post Office Department for the year ending June 30, 1921, and the sum needed may be advanced to the Post Office Department upon requisition of the Postmaster General. Approved, April 24, 1920. CHAP. 162.-An Act Granting the consent of Congress to the village and township of Shelly, Norman County, Minnesota, and the township of Caledonia, Traill County, North Dakota, and their successors and assigns, to construct a bridge across the Red River of the North on the boundary line between the said States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Shelly, Minn., and States of America in Congress assembled, That the consent of Congress Caledonia, N. Dak.. is hereby granted to the village and township of Shelly, Norman may bridge. |