Per half ounce

(cents)

15

United States (mainland) to Canal Zone___

Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands of United States, United States

Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba)—

To Canal Zone_.

To or from Hawaii...

To or from Guam..

To or from Philippine Islands_

Puerto Rico to or from

Virgin Islands of the United States__

United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) 10

15

30

50

Virgin Islands of United States to or from United States
Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) - -

10

The foregoing air-mail rates shall include all transportation by air mail available in the United States, including Hawaii; also in the Philippine Islands. Official matter in penalty or franked envelopes may not be sent free by air mail, but shall be chargeable with postage at the air-mail rates, except in the case of urgent official communications of the Postal Service only, when their prompt dispatch is desirable.

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4. Special air mail stamps should be used for the payment of postage on air mail, but ordinary postage stamps may be used. Air mail stamps may not be used on other than air mail. All mail intended to be carried by airplane should be plainly marked "VIA AIR MAIL" in the space immediately below the stamps and above the address. Envelopes of distinctive design approved by the department for air mail may be used for air mail only.

5. The postage on all air mail should be fully prepaid in order to expedite its handling, and postmasters shall make every effort to have patrons prepay the full amount of such matter. Nevertheless, short-paid mail intended to be carried by airplane shall, if it bears at least one full rate according to destination as shown in paragraph 3, be rated with the deficiency and dispatched as intended by the sender, the amount due to be collected upon delivery of the matter. (See sec. 577 as to limit or weight and size.)

NOTE.-Treat a piece of "forwarded" air mail as air mail, and a piece of air mail "returned to sender" as ordinary first-class mail.

512.

postal cards shall be transmitted through the mails at a postage charge of one cent each, including the cost

2. Private mailing cards (post cards) shall be transmitted by mail at a postage charge of 1 cent each. (See sec. 507.)

513. All mail matter of the first class upon which one full rate of postage has been prepaid shall be forwarded to its destination, charged with the unpaid rate, to be collected on delivery.

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515. 2. Letters sent by soldiers, sailors, and marines in the United States service, located in the United States or any of its possessions or other places where the United States domestic mail service is in operation, addressed to places in the United States or any of its possessions, when indorsed "Soldier's letter," "Sailor's letter," or "Marine's letter," and signed thereunder either with facsimile hand stamp or in writing, with his official designation, by a field or staff officer, post or detachment commander, to whose command the soldier belongs, or by a surgeon or chaplain at a hospital where he may be; and in the Navy and Marine service by any commissioned officer attached to the vessel or officer commanding a hospital or detachment ashore, may be dispatched to destination without prepayment of postage, and only the single rate of postage shall be collected on delivery.

517. Weather Bureau reports shall be treated as letter mail, whether sent by officers of the service under penalty envelops or by private persons and prepaid by stamps.

519. 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.

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561. Mail matter of the third class shall include books, circulars, and other matter wholly in print (except newspapers and other periodicals entered as second-class matter), proof sheets, corrected proof sheets, and manuscript copy accompanying same, merchandise (including farm and factory products), and all other mailable matter not included in the first or second class, or in the fourth class as defined in section 240 of this title, but bills or statement of account produced by any photographic or mechanical process shall not be accepted as mail matter of the third class unless presented in quantities of 20 or more identical copies. When such bills or statements are not identical or are presented in quantities of less than 20 identical copies, they shall be subject to postage at the first-class rate. (Act of February 28, 1925, 39 U. S. C. 235, as amended by the act of April 27, 1937 Public, No. 55, 75th Cong.)

NOTE.-Hotel and steamship keys with tags attached bearing post-office address and instructions for return of key found in the mails without postage shall be forwarded to the return address for rating by the receiving postmaster.

563. 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 addressee and of the sender shall be written therein, nor by the correction of mere typographical errors in writing.

565. Typewriting and carbon and letter-press copies shall be accepted for mailing only as first-class matter. (See sec. 505.) Facsimile copies of handwriting or typewriting, produced by a mechanical process such as the printing press, mimeograph, multigraph, etc., shall be treated as matter of the third or fourth class according to weight, provided they are presented for mailing at the post-office windows, or other depositories designated by postmasters, in a minimum number of 20 identical unsealed copies. If mailed elsewhere, or in less number, payment of the first-class rate of postage shall be required.

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566. All letters written in point print or raised characters, or on sound-reproduction records used by the blind, when unsealed, shall be transmitted through the mails as third-class matter. (Act of May 9 1934, Public, No. 214 73d Cong.) 568. 2. There may be placed on third class mail matter, or on the package, wrapper, or envelope inclosing the same, or on a tag or label attached thereto, either in writing or otherwise the words, "Please do not open until Christmas," or words to that effect.

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4. It shall be permissible to place on third-class matter, or on a card inclosed therewith, a written designation of contents, a serial number, and such simple inscriptions as "Merry Christmas," "Happy New Year," "Dear Sir," "My Dear Friend," "Sincerely yours," "With best wishes."

569. (a) Mail matter of the fourth class shall weigh in excess of 8 ounces, and shall include books, circulars, and other matter wholly in print (except newspapers and other periodicals entered as second-class matter), proof sheets, corrected proof sheets, and manuscript copy accompanying same, merchandise (including farm and factory products), and all other mailable matter not included in the first or second class, or in the third class as defined in section 235 of this title, not exceeding 70 pounds in weight, nor greater in size than 100 inches in length and girth combined, nor in form or kind likely to injure the person of any postal employee or damage the mail equipment or other mail matter and not of a character

perishable within a period reasonably required for transportation and delivery.

NOTE.-See Section 2085, paragraph 2, as to acceptance of fourth-class matter in postal cars or station letter boxes from the public.

571. 5. To procure the most expeditious handling and transportation practicable of mail matter of the fourth class, specialhandling stamps shall be affixed thereto in addition to the regular postage, * * * Provided, That under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe, ordinary postage stamps of equivalent value may be accepted in lieu of the specialhandling stamps herein specified.

(b) Fourth-class mail matter with the required special-handling stamps affixed thereto, other than baby chicks, shall be dispatched and handled in transit in the same manner as specialdelivery mail (see sec. 1081), but the dispatch and handling of baby chicks shall, so far as may be practicable, be confined to the routes (rail, electric, or star) which will involve the least exposure to severe weather conditions in transit and in transfer at connecting points.

NOTE.-Special-handling mail shall be sacked separately from other second-, third-, and fourth-class mails and be given the same dispatch and handling in closed-pouch trains as is accorded pouches of letters, and when dispatched on R. P. O. trains will be handled in postal cars as far as practicable.

574. 2. * * * There may be placed on * * * fourthclass mail matter, or on the package, wrapper, or envelope inclosing the same, or on a tag or label attached thereto, either in writing or otherwise, the words "Please do not open until Christmas," or words to that effect.

5. Inscriptions such as "Merry Christmas," "Happy New Year," "With best wishes," and the like, may be placed on matter of the fourth class or on a card enclosed therewith.

577. The weight (of mail matter) * * * is hereby declared to be not exceeding 4 pounds for each package thereof except in case of single books weighing in excess of that amount (fourth-class mail matter not exceeding 70 pounds in weight, nor greater in size than 100 inches in length and girth combined), and except for books and documents published or circulated by order of Congress, or printed or written official matter emanating from any of the departments of the Government or the Smithsonian Institution.

2. The limit of weight of mail matter of the first class shall be the same as is applicable to mail of the fourth class. sec. 569.)

(See

6. Mail carried by airplane shall not exceed 70 pounds in weight and shall not exceed 100 inches in length and girth combined.

579. (a) The Postmaster General, under such regulations as he may prescribe for the collection of such postage, is hereby authorized to accept for delivery and deliver, without postage stamps affixed thereto, mail matter of the first class on which the postage has been fully prepaid at the rate provided by law: Provided, That such first-class matter on which the postage is paid in connection with a metered device set by the postmaster for a given number of impressions paid for at the time of setting and which automatically locks upon the exhaustion of such impressions may, if through inadvertence it is not fully prepaid but is prepaid at least * * (one full rate), be accorded the same treatment as is provided for such short-paid first-class matter mailed with postage stamps affixed.

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NOTE. A small number of pieces of metered first-class matter may be accepted by railway postal clerks or transfer clerks direct from a permit holder who has been authorized by the local postmaster to mail such matter in R. P. O. trains, but only upon the presentation by the permit holder of a statement on a form provided by him showing his name, meter permit number, that the pieces offered at the train conform to the conditions governing the acceptance of metered mail, and that the number of pieces, or value of the impressions thereon, will be endorsed on the regular statement of mails, Form 3502-A, furnished the postmaster in accordance with the regulations. (C. L., No. 3969, September 8, 1933.)

581. 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 casily examined; and no package the contents of which can not be easily examined shall pass in the mails, or be delivered at a less rate than for matter of the first class.

583. When the sender desires that a parcel of third or fourth class matter on which the postage is fully prepaid at the rate for the respective class, or a package of secondclass matter prepaid at the rates prescribed in paragraph 1, section 545, or at publishers' second-class rates, be accompanied with a communication, or other matter of the first class, which is not a permissible inclosure at the lower rate, the communication may be placed in an envelope, and after the full amount of postage at the first-class rate is affixed to the envelope it may be tied to or otherwise securely attached to the outside of the parcel or package in such manner as to prevent its separation therefrom and not to interfere with the address thereon. The envelope shall be addressed to correspond with the address on the parcel. Combination envelopes or containers having separate portions for a letter and matter of a lower class may be used for mailing together two classes of matter. Parcels or packages with which communications are