MITIGATION ACTS.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1797.

(U. S. STATUTES AT LARGE, VOL. I, p. 506.)

CHAP. XIII.-An Act to provide for Mitigating or Remitting the Forfeitures, Penalties, and Disabilities, accruing in certain cases therein mentioned.

SECTION 1. Whenever any person or persons who shall have incurred any fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability, or shall have been interested in any vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall have been subject to any seizure, forfeiture, or disability, by force of any present or future law of the United States, for the laying, levying, or collecting any duties or taxes, or by force of any present or future act, concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels, or any act concerning the enrolling and licensing ships or vessels employed in the coasting trade or fisheries, and for regulating the same, shall prefer his petition to the judge of the district, in which such fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability, shall have accrued, truly and particularly setting forth the circumstances of his case, and shall pray that the same may be mitigated or remitted, the said judge shall inquire, in a summary manner, into the circumstances of the case; first causing reasonable notice to be given to the person or persons claiming such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, and to the attorney of the United States for such district, that each may have an opportunity of showing cause against the mitigation or remission thereof; and shall cause the facts, which shall appear upon such inquiry, to be stated and annexed to the petition, and direct their transmission to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, who shall thereupon have power to mitigate or remit such fine, forfeiture, or penalty, or remove such disability, or any part thereof, if, in his opinion, the same shall have been incurred without wilful negligence, or any intention of fraud, in the person or persons incurring the same; and to direct the prosecution, if any shall have been instituted for the recovery thereof, to cease and be discontinued, upon such terms or conditions as he may deem reasonable and just.

SECTION 2. The judicial courts of the several States, to whom by any of the said acts a jurisdiction is given, shall and may exercise all and every power in the cases cognizable before them for the purpose of obtaining a mitigation, or remission, of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, which may be exercised by the judges of the district courts in cases depending before them.

SECTION 3. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the right or claim of any person, to that part of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, incurred by the breach of any of the laws aforesaid, which such person shall or may be entitled to by virtue of the said laws, in cases where a prosecution has been commenced, or information has been given, before the passing of this act, or any other act relative to the mitigation or remission of such fines, penalties, or forfeitures; the amount of which right and claim shall be assessed and valued by the proper judge, or court, in a summary manner.

SECTION 4. [That this act shall continue in force for the term of two years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Congress, and no longer.]

ACT OF FEBRUARY 11, 1800.

(U. S. STATUTES AT LARGE, VOL. II, p. 7.)

CHAP. VI.-An Act to repeal Part of an Act, entitled “An Act to provide for Mitigating or Remitting the Forfeitures, Penalties, and Disabilities, accruing in certain Cases therein mentioned," and to continue in Force the Residue of the Same.

The fourth section of an act entitled "An Act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties, and disabilities, accruing in certain cases therein mentioned," passed on the third day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and the residue of the said act shall be, and the same is hereby, continued in full force, without limitation of time.

ACT OF JULY 14, 1832.

(U. S. STATUTES AT LARGE, VOL. IV, p. 597.)

CHAP. CCXXXIII.—An Act to amend the Act, entitled "An act to provide for Mitigating or Remitting the Forfeitures, Penalties, and Disabilities accruing in certain cases therein mentioned."

In all cases of fine, penalty, or forfeiture, mentioned and embraced in the act entitled "An Act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties, and disabili

ties accruing in certain cases therein mentioned," or in any act in addition to, or amend atory of said act, and not exceeding fifty dollars in amount, or value, the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he hereby is authorized, if in his opinion the said fine, penalty, or for feiture was incurred without wilful negligence or intention of fraud, to prescribe such rules and mode of proceeding, to ascertain the facts, as in his opinion may be convenient and proper, without regard to the provisions of the act above referred to; and upon the said facts, so to be ascertained as aforesaid, the said secretary may exercise all the power conferred upon him in and by said act, as fully as he might have done had said facts been ascertained under and according to the provisions of said act.

ACT OF MARCH 3, 1839.

(U. S. STATUTES AT LARGE, VOL. V, p. 339.)

CHAP. LXXXII.-An Act making Appropriations for the Civil and Diplomatic Expenses of Government for the year eighteen hundred and thirty-nine.

SECTION 2. From and after the passage of this act, all money paid to any collector of the customs, or to any person acting as such, for unascertained duties, or for duties paid under protest against the rate or amount of duties charged, shall be placed to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, kept and disposed of as all other money paid for duties is required by law, or by regulation of the treasury department to be placed to the credit of said treasurer, kept and disposed of; and shall not be held by the said collector, or person acting as such, to await any ascertainment of duties, or the result of any litigation in relation to the rate or amount of duty legally chargeable and collectable in any case where money is so paid; but whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, that in any case of unascertained duties or duties paid under protest, more money Las been paid to the collector or person acting as such than the law requires should have been paid, it shall be his duty to draw his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the person or persons entitled to the over-payment, directing the said treasurer to refund the same out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

EXTRACTS FROM POST-OFFICE ACTS.

(U. S. REVISED STATUTES.)

SEC. 3912. The rate of United States postage on mail-matter sent to or received from foreign countries with which different rates have not been established by postal convention or other arrangement, when forwarded by vessels regularly employed in transporting the mail, shall be ten cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof on letters, unless reduced by order of the Postmaster General; two cents each on newspapers; and not exceeding two cents per each two ounces, or fraction thereof, on pamphlets, periodicals, books, and other printed matter, which postage shall be prepaid on matter sent and collected on matter received; and to avoid loss to the United States in the payment of balances, the Postmaster General may collect the unpaid postage on letters from foreign countries in coin or its equivalent.

SEC. 3913. All letters conveyed by vessels not regularly employed in carrying the mail shall, if for delivery within the United States, be charged with double postage, to cover the fee paid to the vessel.

SEC. 3916. To facilitate letter correspondence, and to provide for the transmission in the mails, at a reduced rate of postage, of messages, orders, notices, and other short communications, either printed or written in pencil or ink, the Postmaster General is authorized and directed to furnish and issue to the public, with postage-stamps impressed upon them, "postal cards," manufactured of good stiff paper, of such quality, form, and size as he shall deem best adapted for general use; which cards shall be used as a means of postal intercourse, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Postmaster General, and when so used shall be transmitted through the mails at a postage charge of one cent each, including the cost of their manufacture. SEC. 5465. Any person who shall forge or counterfeit or knowingly utter or use any forged or counterfeited postage-stamp of any foreign government, shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor of not less than two nor more than ten years.

SEC. 3986. No person shall carry any letter or packet on board any vessel which carries the mail otherwise than in such mail, except as provided in section three thousand nine hundred and ninety-three; and for every such offence the party offending shall be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars.

SEC. 3987. 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 departure, and which does not relate to the cargo of such vessel, except as provided in section three thousand nine hundred and ninetythree; 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 or affirmation 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.

SEC. 3988. No vessel arriving within any port or collection district of 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:

and now lying in the port of

do

"I, A. B., master of the arriving from 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.

SEC. 3989. 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 officer 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.

SEC. 3990. Any special agent of the Post-Office Department, collector, 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 on 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.

SEC. 3991. Every package or parcel seized by any special agent of 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 revenue laws shall apply to officers making seizures for violating the postal laws.

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

SEC. 3993. All letters inclosed in stamped envelopes, if the postage-stamp is of a denomination sufficient to cover the postage that would be chargeable thereon if the same were sent by mail, may be sent, conveyed, and delivered otherwise than by mail, provided such envelope shall be duly directed and properly sealed, so that the letter cannot be taken therefrom without defacing the envelope, and the date of the letter or of the transmission or receipt thereof shall be written or stamped upon the envelope. But the Postmaster General may suspend the operation of this section upon any mail-route where the public interest may require such suspension. SEC. 3995. Any person who shall knowingly and wilfully obstruct or retard the passage of the mail, or any carriage, horse, driver, or carrier carrying the same, shall, for every such offence, be punishable by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

SEC. 3996. Any ferryman who shall delay the passage of the mail by wilful neglect or refusal to transport the same across any ferry shall, for every ten minutes such mail may be so delayed, be liable to a penalty of ten dollars.

"Importations through the Mail.-The Postmaster General complains that registered letters and packages received through the mail from foreign countries are seized and detained by the collector of customs at the port in the United States at which they first arrive. and requests that measures shall be taken to prevent such alleged violation of the postal laws.

"It has been agreed that collectors shall not require postmasters to deliver to them any letter or package addressed to a person residing at another port or place where a customs officer is stationed. A careful inspection, however, should be made by the postmaster, and, if any such letter or package be suspected to contain dutiable articles, the postmaster at the place of destination should be notified, in order that he may inform the proper officer of the customs. Such letters and packages should be opened in the presence of an officer of the customs by the person to whom addressed, and any dutiable article contained therein, not mentioned in a postal convention applicable, should be seized and held to await the decision of this department, upon any application which may be made for a mitigation of the forfeiture incurred."-Treasury Circular, November 26, 1873. Syn. Series No. 1723.)

CHAP.

---An Act making Appropriations for the Service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty, and for other Purposes.

SEC. 7. That mailable matter shall be divided into four classes:

First, written matter;

Second, periodical publications;

Third, miscellaneous printed matter;

Fourth, merchandise.

SEC. 8. Mailable matter of the first class shall embrace letters, postal cards, and all matters wholly or partly in writing, except as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 9. That on mailable matter of the first class, except postal cards and drop letters, postage shall be prepaid at the rate of three cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof; postal cards shall be transmitted through the mails at a postage charge of one cent each, including the cost of manufacture; and drop letters shall be mailed at the rate of two cents per half ounce or fraction thereof, including delivery at letter carrier offices, and one cent for each half ounce or fraction thereof where free delivery by carrier is not established. The Postmaster General may, however, provide, by regulation, for transmitting unpaid and duly certified letters of soldiers, sailors, and marines in the service of the United States to their destination, to be paid on delivery.

SEC. 10. That mailable matter of the second class shall embrace all newspapers and other periodical publications which are issued at stated intervals, and as frequently as four times a year, and are within the conditions named in section twelve and fourteen.

SEC. 11. Publications of the second class, except as provided in section twenty-five, when sent by the publisher thereof, and from the office of publication, including sample copies, or when sent from a news agency to actual subscribers thereto, or to other news agents, shall be entitled to transmission through the mails at two cents a pound or fraction thereof, such postage to be prepaid, as now provided by law.

SEC. 12. That matter of the second class may be examined at the office of mailing, and if found to contain matter which is subject to a higher rate of postage, such matter shall be charged with postage at the rate to which the inclosed matter is subject: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prohibit the insertion in periodicals of advertisements attached permanently to the same.

SEC. 13. That any person who shall submit, or cause to be submitted, for transportation in the mails, any false evidence to the postmaster relative to the character of his publication, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, shall for every such offense be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 14. That the conditions upon which a publication shall be admitted to the second class are as follows:

First. It must regularly be issued at stated intervals, as frequently as four times a year, and bear a date of issue, and be numbered consecutively.

Second. It must be issued from a known office of publication.

Third. It must be formed of printed paper sheets, without board, cloth, leather, or other substantial binding, such as distinguish printed books for preservation from periodical publications.

Fourth. It must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of a public character, or devoted to literature, the sciences, arts, or some special industry, and having a legitimate list of subscribers: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to admit to the second class rate regular publications designed primarily for advertising purposes, or for free circulation, or for circulation at nominal rates.

SEC. 15. That foreign newspapers and other periodicals of the same general character as those admitted to the second class in the United States may, under the direction of the Postmaster General, on application of the publishers thereof or their agents, be transmitted through the mails at the same rates as if published in the United States. Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to allow the transmission through the mails of any publication which violates any copyright granted by the United States.

SEC. 16. That publishers of matter of the second class may, without subjecting it to extra postage, fold within their regular issues a supplement; but in all cases the added matter must be germane to the publication which it supplements, that is to say, matter supplied in order to complete that to which it is added or supplemented, but omitted from the regular issue for want of space, time, or greater convenience, which supplement must in every case be issued with the publication.

SEC. 17. That mail matter of the third class shall embrace books, transient newspapers, and periodicals, circulars, and other matter wholly in print (not included in section twelve), proofsheets, corrected proof-sheets, and manuscript copy accompanying the same, and postage shall

be paid at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fractional part thereof, and shall fully be prepaid by postage stamps affixed to said matter. Printed matter other than books received in the mails from foreign countries under the provisions of postal treaties or conventions shall be free of customs duty; and books which are admitted to the international mails, exchanged under the provisions of the Universal Postal Union Convention, may, when subject to customs duty, be delivered to addresses in the United States under such regulations for the collection of duties as may be agreed upon by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster General. SEC. 18. That the term "circular" is defined to be a printed letter, which, according to internal evidence, is being sent in identical terms to several persons. A circular shall not lose its character as such, when the date and the name of the addressed and of the sender shall be written therein, nor by the correction of mere typographical errors in writing.

SEC. 19. That "printed matter" within the intendment of this act is defined to be the reproduction upon paper, by any process except that of handwriting, of any words, letters, characters, figures, or images, or of any combination thereof, not having the character of an actual and personal correspondence.

SEC. 20. That mailable matter of the fourth class shall embrace all matter not embraced in the first, second, or third class, which is not in its form or nature liable to destroy, deface, or otherwise damage the contents of the mail bag, or harm the person of any one engaged in the postal service, and is not above the weight provided by law, which is hereby declared to be not exceeding four pounds for each package thereof, except in case of single books weighing in excess of that amount, and except for books and documents published or circulated by order of Congress, or official matter emanating from any of the departments of the government, or from the Smithsonian Institution, or which is not declared non-mailable under the provision of section thirty-eight hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of July twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, or matter appertaining to lotteries, gift concerts, or fraudulent schemes or devices.

SEC. 21. That all matter of the fourth class shall be subject to examination and to a postage charge at the rate of one cent an ounce or fraction thereof, to be prepaid by stamps affixed. If any matter excluded from the mails by the preceding section of this act, except that declared non-mailable by section thirty-eight hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes as amended, shall, by inadvertence, reach the office of destination, the same shall be delivered in accordance with its address: Provided, That the party addressed shall furnish the name and address of the sender to the postmaster at the office of delivery, who shall immediately report the facts to the Postmaster General. If the person addressed refuse to give the required information, the postmaster shall hold the package subject to the order of the Postmaster General. All matter declared non-mailable by section thirty-eight hundred and ninety-three of the Revised Statutes as amended, which shall reach the office of delivery, shall be held by the postmaster at the said office subject to the order of the Postmaster General.

SEC. 22. That mailable matter of the second class shall contain no writing, print, mark, or sign thereon or therein in addition to the original print, except as herein provided, to wit, the name and address of the person to whom the matter shall be sent, and index figures of subscription book, either written or printed, the printed title of the publication, the printed name and address of the publisher or sender of the same, and written or printed words or figures, or both, indicating the date on which the subscription to such matter will end. Upon matter of the third class, or upon the wrapper inclosing the same, the sender may write his own name or address thereon, with the word "from" above and preceding the same, and in either case may make simple marks intended to designate a word or passage of the text to which it is desired to call attention. There may be placed upon the cover or blank leaves of any book or of any printed matter of the third class a simple manuscript dedication or inscription that does not partake of the nature of a personal correspondence. Upon any package of matter of the fourth class the sender may write or print his own name and address, preceded by the word from," and there may also be written or printed the number and names of the articles inclosed; and the sender thereof may write or print upon or attach to any such articles, by tag or label, a mark, number, name, or letter, for purpose of identification.

SEC. 23. That matter of the second, third, or fourth class containing any writing or printing other than indicated in the preceding section, or made in the manner other than therein indicated, shall not be delivered except upon the payment of postage for matter of the first class, deducting therefrom any amount which may have been prepaid by stamps affixed to such matter; and any person who shall conceal or inclose any matter of a higher class in that of a lower class, and deposit, or cause the same to be deposited, for conveyance by mail, at a less rate than would be charged for both such higher and lower class matter, shall, for every such offence, be liable to a penalty of ten dollars: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent publishers of the second class and news agents from inclosing, in their publications, bills, receipts, and orders for subscription thereto; but such bills, receipts, and orders shall be in such form as to convey no other information than the name, location, and subscription price of the publication or publications to which they refer.

SEC. 24. That the Postmaster General may prescribe, by regulation, the manner of wrapping and securing for the mails all packages of matter not charged with first class postage. so that the contents of such packages may be easily examined; and no package, the contents of which cannot be easily examined, shall pass in the mails, or be delivered at a less rate than for matter of the first class.