722. Postmarking stamps not to be used for cancel. 764. Must not impart information to unauthorized

741. Unmailable matter forwarded to Superintend- 782. Probationary appointees to be examined

Sec. 714. Employés to Carry Instructions with Them.-Each employé, when on duty, must have with him either the volume of Postal Laws and Regulations of the latest edition, or so much thereof as relates to the railway mail-service and

registry system of the United States, copies of current “Orders" affecting his line, "Schemes of distribution," latest "Postal Guide," and copy of "Schedule of mailtrains."

Sec. 715. Employés to Report Errors Discovered in the Postal Guide.— Every employé detecting errors in the United States Official Postal Guide must report the same at once to his Division Superintendent, in order that it may be reported to the Department for correction.

Sec. 716. Employés to be Examined in the Postal Laws and Regulations.At each examination of employés they will be required to answer questions touching the postal laws and regulations, and they must be thoroughly instructed on the rates of postage and in the regulations of their own service and of the registry system of the United States. They must also be informed as to the duties of postmasters, so far as those duties affect the railway mail service.

Sec. 717. One Employé to have Charge of Office.-Where there is more than one employé assigned to duty in an Office, one of the number will be designated to take charge of the same.

Sec. 718. Accountability of Employé in Charge of Office.-The one so designated will have charge of and be accountable for all property belonging in or pertaining to the Office, and he will for the time being have full charge of the same. It will be his duty to see that all necessary reports are made, that all distribution in the Office is correct, and that all mails are properly made up and put upon the proper route to their destination.

Sec. 719. Assistants to Obey Employé in Charge.-It will be the duty of his assistants to implicitly obey orders of the employé in charge, and no one on duty will consider his labors ended until the whole mail has been properly distributed, pouched, and transmitted.

Sec. 720. Receiving Mail at Cars; Cancelled Stamps to be Refused.-Letters and other properly-prepaid mail-matter must be received at the Offices, and all employés who are required to open letter-boxes at stations and take mail therefrom must visit the boxes the last moment before leaving; but employés are strictly prohibited from receiving from the public for mailing, matter on which the stamps have been canceled.

Sec. 721. Cancellation of Postage-Stamps.-Postage-stamps affixed to letters, packets, or parcels of any description, and all stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers, and postal cards, must be immediately and effectually canceled in the Office in which they may be deposited for transmission. The cancellation must be effected by the use of black printing-ink wherever that material can be obtained; and where it cannot, the operation should be performed by making several heavy crosses or parallel lines upon each stamp with a pen dipped in good black writing-ink.

Sec. 722. Post-marking Stamps not to be Used for Cancellaton.-The use of the Office rating or postmarking stamp as a canceling instrument is positively prohibited, inasmuch as the postmark when impressed on the postage-stamp is usually indistinct, and the cancellation effected thereby is imperfect. The postage-stamp must, therefore, be effectually canceled with a separate instrument.

Sec. 723. Receiving and Delivering Second-class Mail at Cars.-The Postmaster-General may provide by order the terms upon which route-agents may receive from publishers or any news agents in charge thereof, and deliver the same as directed, if presented and called for at the mail-car or steamer, packages of newspapers and other periodicals not received from or intended for delivery at any post-office. (R. S., § 3889.)

Employés are prohibited from receiving newspapers and periodicals from publishers and news-agents, unless the same are accompanied by a certificate from the postmaster that the postage has been paid.

Sec. 724. Mail to be Made up by States.-All mail for States of which no distribution is made must be made up "by States" and facing-slips used, in accordance with section 728; that is, letter and circular mail for each State must be made up in packages, and newspaper mail in canvas sacks, by itself, and the name of the State marked on the slip covering the package or tag attached to the sack.

Sec. 725. Separate Mail for Delivery and Mail for Distribution.-Mail for delivery and mail for distribution at a post-office must always be made up in separate packages.

Sec. 726. Direct Packages.-Making a direct package is placing all letters for one Office or post-office in a package by themselves, with a plainly-addressed letter for such Office or post-office faced out on each side.

Sec. 227. Letters must not be Placed in Pouch Loose.-Letter and circular mail must always be properly." faced up" and tied in packages, and never placed in the pouch loose.

Sec. 728. Facing-slips to be Used.-Facing-slips must be placed upon all packages of letters and circulars (except those made up direct for delivery, when the slip should be placed inside of each package, and be postmarked and bear the name of the person making the package and the direction moving), and in each canvas sack of newspapers, the same to be securely tied on the package, or if newspapers, placed in the bag, and have on each the address or destination of the package or sack, the postmark, with date, direction moving, and the name of the person making up the same.

Sec. 729. Checking Errors.-All errors found in the distribution of a package of letters or in a sack of newspapers must be noted on the reverse side of the slip-covering or inside of the same, giving the name of the post-office and State, and the county when included in the superscription, adding thereto the name of the person noting the errors, and postmark with date.

Sec. 730. Disposition of Slips Received. All slips received upon packages of letter or circular mail or in sacks of newspaper mail must be preserved and forwarded to the Division Superintendent.

Sec. 731. Distribution of Mails by Schemes.-Employés will carefully distribute and make up mails by the official schemes which may be furnished them, and will conform to any changes that may be made in the same by the Superintendent of the Division, and will make up and exchange only such pouches as may be ordered by him.

Sec. 732. Open and Distribute One Pouch or Sack at a Time.-Employés will complete the distribution of the contents of one pouch or sack before opening another, so that any errors in distribution or missent mail may be correctly noted and reported.

Sec. 733. Absence of Slips on Packages or in Sacks.-If no slips are received on the packages or in sacks, notify Division Superintendents, stating, if possible, the line or post-office from which the mail was received, and if newspaper mail, forward the label received on the sack.

Sec. 734. Sack to be Turned Inside Out.-Whenever a sack of newspaper mail is emptied the sack must be turned inside out, to make sure that no mail is left in it.

Sec. 735. Pouches to be Examined.-In emptying a pouch great care must be taken that no mail is left therein; and to be certain of this, it must be held so that the whole interior can be seen and looked into, in each case, in addition to thoroughly shaking it.

Sec. 736. Printed Labels to be Returned.-Printed wooden labels for sacks of newspaper mail and printed slide-labels for pouches must be taken off when the sacks or pouches are opened, and returned by first mail to the post-office or Office from which

they were received, the wooden labels to be classed with newspaper mail and the slidelabels as letter mail. Under no circumstances are any of such labels to be defaced or destroyed.

Sec. 737. Trip Reports to be Forwarded.-Trip reports, together with all slips received, must be properly filled out and promptly forwarded to the Division Superintendent at end of each trip. Be particular to give all the information called for by the trip report.

Sec. 738. Vigilance Required in Guarding Mails.-All employés are expected to use extraordinary vigilance in guarding the mails under their charge, which must not be left for a moment exposed, day or night, and especially in making transfers where there is considerable portage between trains. Should they become aware that the mails are so exposed at any time or place, they are required to note the same upon their trip-report, for the information of the Division Superintendent. When accompanying the mails on other than regulation wagons, one of the employés should always sit in such position as to be able to instantly detect the loss of a pouch or sack.

Sec. 739. Waste Paper and Twine to be Examined.-Waste paper and twine must be preserved and turned in at terminal post-office, but carefully examined before being sent from the car, and the sack containing the same shall bear the words "Waste paper," and the postmark, with date of time of sending it into the terminal post-office.

Sec. 740. Disposition of Unmailable Matter Found in the Mails.-Any employé in whose Office shall be deposited for mailing domestic letters wholly unpaid, or on which less than one full rate of postage is paid, letters or packages bearing stamps that have been previously used, or stamps cut from stamped envelopes or wrappers, or packages of third or fourth class matter not fully prepaid, shall detain the same and turn them over to his Division Superintendent. It shall also be his duty to intercept and withdraw from the mail all letters or packages of the second, third, or fourth class so incorrectly, illegibly, or insufficiently addressed that they cannot be forwarded to the persons for whom they are intended, or the addresses of which have become detached or erased; all articles found loose in any pouch or sack, and any article which, by the rulings of the Department, has been declared unmailable because of its harmful nature, and forward the same to his Division Superintendent, with a statement giving the date and name of the post-office or other source from which such matter was received. Employés must not change the address upon such matter, and no indorsement upon a letter, or addition thereto in pencil or ink or any other way, will be permitted. Sec. 741. Unmailable Matter Forwarded to Superintendent.-All such matter forwarded to the Division Superintendent must be accompanied by a slip addressed to the Superintendent, and bearing the name of the employé forwarding the same, and the postmark of his Office with date.

Sec. 742. Mailable Matter Turned in as Unmailable to be Checked as Errors. -Auy such mail-matter, the address on which is found in the latest current "Postal Guide," will be noted as errors on the slip accompanying the same and charged against the employé.

Sec. 743. Unmailable Matter to be Postmarked.-Unmailable matter of the first and second class sent to the Division Superintendent must be postmarked on the back.

Sec. 744. Soldiers' and Sailors' Letters.-Soldiers' and sailors' letters, duly certified, should be forwarded the same as prepaid matter.

Sec. 745. Change of Schedules to be Reported.-Employés are directed to notify the Superintendent of the Division of all changes of schedules or running of trains upon their respective routes.

Sec. 746. Letters Outside of Pouches to be Reported.-Employés will report to the Division Superintendent each instance of finding letters under the strap or

attached to the outside of a pouch, giving name of Office or post-office from which received.

Sec. 747. No Employé to be Absent without Leave.-No employé is allowed to absent himself from his line, or to exchange runs with an employé on the same or any other line, without the written permission of the Division or General Superintendent of Railway Mail Service. And any employé to whom a leave of absence is granted will be required to furnish a suitable and competent substitute, at his own expense, unless he can make a satisfactory arrangement with the other employés on his line to perform his duties during his absence; such arrangement to be evidenced by a memorandum, in writing, signed by all the parties concerned, and to be filed with the Division Superintendent. But no employé shall be absent for a period aggregating more than sixty days in any one year (computing from January first) nor more than thirty consecutive days without special authority from the Department. 502, 503, Instructions to Paying Postmasters.

See sections

Sec. 748. In Case of Disability, Employé must Send Certificate.-In case an employé shall be disabled while in the actual discharge of his duties as such by a railroad or other accident, he shall forward to his Division Superintendent a sworn certificate of his attending physician or surgeon, setting forth the nature, extent, and cause of his disability and the probable duration of the same. This certificate should be sworn to before a notary public, justice of the peace, or other officer authorized to administer an oath who uses a seal. On receipt of this certificate, leave of absence, with pay, may be granted to the disabled employé or employés on application to the Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Division of Inspection. But no leave of absence, with pay, granted under such circumstances, shall cover a period exceeding ninety days from the date the disability was received. But if at the expiration of ninety days from said date the employé be unable to resume duty, further leave, without pay, may be granted by the Second Assistant Postmaster-General on recommendation of the General Superintendent of Railway Mail Service.

Sec. 749. Employés' Record of Arrivals and Departures.-A record of arrivals and departures will be kept at each terminal post-office, or at some other place at each terminus of a run, to be designated by the Division Superintendent, in which each employé is required to sign in his own handwriting his name and the day and hour of the schedule arrival and departure of the train, and of his own arrival at and departure from the post-office or other place where the record is kept. Failure to do so will be regarded as a failure to perform service without excuse, and the employé will forfeit one day's pay for each failure to so sign, but such forfeiture shall not exceed one day's pay for any number of failures to sign on any one day. See section 499.

Sec. 750. Posting Record-Book.The person in charge of the record of arrivals and departures must fill up the blank spaces at the head of each page before the page is signed upon.

Sec. 751. Partial Duty to be Noted on Record.-In case an employé does not perform duty over the whole length of the route, the portion over which he performed duty must be noted on the record. In case of a substitute, he will sign, in addition to his own name, that of the employé for whom he is performing service.

Sec. 752. Employés Paid for Daily Service.-The Department pays each employé for daily service whether he is on duty or not, and therefore has a right to demand service of him at any time.

Sec. 753. Address of Employés.-Employés must keep the Division Superintendent advised of their full address.

Sec. 754. Period of Duty.-Employés must remain on duty the whole length of their allotted runs.

Sec. 755. Employés must Accompany Mails to and from Post-Offices.-It is the duty of each employé to accompany the mails to and from the initial and terminal post-offices of their respective runs.