lect not more than one quarter's box rent in advance, will, after June 30th, apply to all postmasters at all offices, and no exception thereto will be made.

75. An alien may be appointed postmaster or assistant postmaster, provided he has declared in proper form his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and can take the oath as provided in section 24, page 38, Postal Laws and Regulations, ed. 1879.

76. There is no provision in the United States statutes under which mail carriers are authorized to carry arms for the protection of the mail. They must be governed by the law of the State or Territory in which they perform service.

77. Government stamped envelopes, having one address obliterated, and another substituted, are not unmailable, provided, of course, that the stamp thereon has no appearance of ever having been canceled or the envelope of ever having been sealed and reopened.

78. Postmasters must not include the official "penalty envelopes " in their account of stamps canceled. They are entitled to include official postage stamps, but there is no provision in the law which would permit the count of any matter not having a postage stamp of some denomination affixed thereto, or impressed thereon, so that it may be canceled.

79. The weight of packages to be sent in the mails is as follows: First class, no limit; second class, no limit; third class, four pounds, except in the case of single volumes of books weighing in excess of that amount, and documents, published or circulated by order of Congress, or official matter emanating from any of the Departments, or from the Smithsonian Institution; fourth class, four pounds.

80. There is nothing in the law to prohibit the carrying of second, third, or fourth class matter outside the mails, but if the packages should be put in a post office for delivery, full postage rates must be charged and collected thereon. To carry letters outside of the mails unless they are inclosed in United States stamped envelopes, subjects the offender to a penalty of one hundred dollars.

81. It is not expected that any person accepting the position of postmaster at any office, the revenues of which afford but a small sum as salary, should give up a legitimate business to do so, and there is nothing in the postal laws to prohibit postmasters from advertising their private business in newspapers, etc., or in so doing to use their official title of postmaster, though the Department prefers the omission of this latter feature.

82. Government officials, in their observance of holidays, must be governed by the regulations of the departments with which they are connected. Postmasters would be justified in observing as holidays January 1st, July 4th, December 25th, and such days as the President of the United States may designate as fast and thanksgiving days. Upon other occasions they should write to the Department for permission to close. In observing holidays they should be governed by section 525, L. & R. ed. 1879, relative to Sunday.

83. Postmasters and all others in the service are forbidden to furnish information concerning mail-matter received or delivered, except to the persons to whom it is addressed, or their authorized agents. The messages on postal cards must not be read, except when necessary to facilitate their delivery, or for the purpose of determining if the same are unmailable by reason of the presence of obscene words or pictures thereon, nor made known to others. Postmasters may, when the same can be done without interference with the regular business of the office, furnish to officers of the law, to aid them in discov

ering a fugitive from criminal justice, information concerning post-marks and addresses of letters, but must not delay or refuse their mail to the persons addressed.

84. All letters upon which one full rate of postage has been prepaid shall, and all other fully prepaid matter may, be forwarded, at the request of the party addressed, without additional charge for postage.

85. Under the provisions of section 251, P. L. & R. ed. 1879 (section 29, Act March 3, 1877), the Department holds that communications addressed by an officer of the government to a private individual, when inclosed in the official penalty envelope, provided ́ by section 250, P. L. & R. ed. 1879 (section 6, Act March 3, 1877), may be transmitted in the mails free of postage, when bearing the indorsement required under sections 249 and 251, P. L. & R. ed. 1879 (section 5, Act March 3, 1877). Provided, however, these envelopes bear such distinctive marks as indicate. that they have been furnished by one of the Executive Departments of the United States.

86. Under the statute regulating the unlawful carriage of mail-matter by private expresses, the Post Office Department does not insist upon the right to prohibit the carriage of manuscript intended for publication in any printed form, otherwise than in the mail, when unaccompanied by any matter in the nature of a personal correspondence.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO POSTMASTERS.

The attention of postmasters is called to the following new regulations which will appear in the volume of Laws and Regulations soon to be issued:

A tempo

Sec. 196. ADMISSION OF NEW PUBLICATIONS TO SECOND-CLASS RATES. rary permit, in writing, shall be granted by a postmaster to a publication when the first issue of the same shall be presented, accompanied by an affidavit from the publisher thereof that the publication is published for the purposes named in section 185, unless the postmaster shall be satisfied from internal evidence furnished by the publication itself that it comes within the proviso of that section. When such temporary permit shall be granted, the publication shall be entitled to pass in the mails at the rate of two cents per pound or fraction thereof. Such temporary permit shall be revoked by the postmaster in case the publication shall have so changed its character as to make it no longer within the conditions named in section 185. A duplicate of such temporary permit shall be forwarded to the First Assistant Postmaster General whenever issued. Sec. 199. ENTRY OF SECOND-CLASS PUBLICATIONS.. After a publication has been determined to be of the second class, the publisher thereof may, if he desire, formally enter the same at the post office where mailed, and print upon each copy thereof the words, "Entered at the post office at as second-class matter." Publications so entered, and having printed upon each copy the words of entry, may be exchanged at second-class rates, with other second-class publications, and may beregularly sent at second-class rates, as complimentary, to customers or business agents of the publication, and to other persons solely in the interest of the publication itself or of its publishers or employees as such. The formal entry will consist in a written notification of the publisher's desire to the postmaster, who will forward a copy of such entry to the First Assistant Postmaster General. The unauthorized printing by a publisher of the words of entry herein prescribed, or their equivalent, will render him liable to the penalty prescribed in section 197. Postmasters should take pains to call the attention of publishers to this section, and invite them to enter their publications as herein set forth.

The following forms are prescribed by the Department for Temporary Permits and Formal Entry which may be written or printed, to wit:

Sec. 199. ENTRY OF SECOND-CLASS
PUBLICATIONS. After a publication
has been determined to be of the second
class, the publisher thereof may, if he
desire, formally enter the same at the
post office where mailed, and print
upon each copy thereof the words, "En-
tered at the post office at

as sec

ond-class matter." Publications so entered, and having printed upon each copy the words of entry, may be exchanged at second-class rates, with other second-class publications, and may be regularly sent at second-class rates, as complimentary, to customers or business agents of the publication, and to other persons solely in the interest of the publication itself or of its publishers or employees as such. The formal entry will consist in a written notification of the publisher's desire to the postmaster, who will forward a copy of such entry to the First Assistant Postmaster General. The unauthorized printing by a publisher of the words of entry herein prescribed, or their equivalent, will render him liable to the penalty prescribed in section 197.

as sec

Sec. 199. ENTRY OF SECOND-CLASS PUBLICATIONS. After a publication has been determined to be of the second class, the publisher thereof may, if he desire, formally enter the same at the post office where mailed, and print upon each copy thereof the words, "Entered at the post office at ond-class matter." Publications so entered, and having printed upon each copy the words of entry, may be exchanged at second-class rates, with other second-class publications, and may be regularly sent at second-class rates, as complimentary, to customers or business agents of the publication, and to other persons solely in the interest of the publication itself or of its publishers or employees as such. The formal entry will consist in a written notification of the publisher's desire to the postmaster, who will forward a copy of such entry to the First Assistant Postmaster General. The unauthorized printing by a publisher of the words of entry herein prescribed, or their equivalent, will render him liable to the penalty prescribed in section 197.