3000. Postage stamps for official use. That the Secretaries, respectively, of the Departments of State, of the Treasury, War, Navy, and of the Interior, and the Attorney-General, are authorized to make requisitions upon the PostmasterGeneral for the necessary amount of official postage-stamps for the use of their departments, not exceeding the amount stated in the estimates submitted to Congress; and upon presentation of proper vouchers therefor at the Treasury, the amount thereof shall be credited to the appropriation for the service of the Post-Office Department for the same fiscal year. Sec. 2, act of Mar. 3, 1883 (22 Stat, 563). For postage stamps for the department and its bureaus, as required under the Postal Union, to prepay postage on matters addressed to Postal Union countries, $500. Act of Mar. 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1280), making appropriations for legislative, executive and judicial expenses: War Department, contingent expenses. 3001. Free transmission of official mail.-That it shall be lawful to transmit through the mail, free of postage, any letters, packages, or other matters relating exclusively to the business of the Government of the United States: Provided, That every such letter or package to entitle it to pass free shall bear over the words "Official business" an endorsement showing also the name of the Department, and, if from a bureau or office, the names of the Department and bureau or office, as the case may be, whence transmitted. Sec. 5, act of Mar. 3, 1877 (19 Stat. 335). Stamps must be used for mail sent to foreign countries. Notes of Decisions. eral. Construction of statute. Official mail the administration of the Postmaster Gencoming from the Philippine Islands through the Postal Service of the United States should comply with the general laws of the United States regulating the mails under (1902) 24 Op. Atty. Gen. 534. Sec. 3010, post, so far as it relates to the indorsement to be placed on the penalty envelope, is a substitute for the corre sponding provision in this section. Such envelope must be indorsed with a proper designation of the office from which the same is transmitted, and a statement of the penalty provided by the fifth section of the latter act. (1884) 17 Op. Atty. Gen. 631. 3002. Report as to cost of mail under frank.-Hereafter the Postmaster Gen eral shall in his annual report submit a detailed statement of the cost to the postal establishment of the matter mailed under frank by each department and independent establishment of the Government and the revenue which would be derived therefrom if carried at the ordinary rates of postage. Act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 1037). * * 3003. Free registration of official mail.-* Provided further, That any letter or packet to be registered by either of the Executive Departments, or Bureaus thereof, or by the Agricultural Department, or by the Public Printer. may be registered without the payment of any registry fee; and any part-paid letter or packet addressed to either of said Departments or Bureaus may be delivered free; but where there is good reason to believe the omission to prepay the full postage thereon was intentional, such letter or packet shall be returned to the sender: Provided further, That this act shall not extend or apply to pension agents or other officers who receive a fixed allowance as compensation for their services, including expenses of postages. And section thirtynine hundred and fifteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States, so far as the same relates to stamps and stamped envelopes for official purposes, is hereby repealed. Sec. 29, act of March 3, 1879 (20 Stat. 362), as amended by sec. 3, act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 158). 3004. Mail matter of the Soldiers' Home.-That the provisions of the fifth and sixth sections of the Act entitled "An Act establishing post-routes, and for other purposes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven," for the transmission of official mail-matter, be, and they are hereby, extended and made applicable to all official mail-matter of the National Home for Dis abled Volunteer Soldiers. Act of Aug. 18, 1894 (28 Stat. 412), making appropriations for sundry civil expenses. For secs. 5, 6, mentioned above, see 3001, ante, and 3008, post. 3005. Soldiers' letters forwarded.-* * * 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. 9, act of Mar. 3, 1879 (20 Stat. 358). 3006. Free transmission of soldiers' letters during the World War.That letters written and mailed by soldiers, sailors, and marines assigned to duty in a foreign country engaged in the present war may be mailed free of postage, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Postmaster General. Sec. 1100, act of Oct. 3, 1917 (40 Stat. 327). * the 3007. Penalty envelopes provided by the Post Office Department.Postmaster-General shall contract, for a period not exceeding four years, for all envelopes, stamped or otherwise, designed for sale to the public, or for use by the Post-Office Department, the postal service, and other Executive Departments, and all Government bureaus and establishments, and the branches of the service coming under their jurisdiction, and may contract for them to be plain or with such printed matter as may be prescribed by the Department making requisition therefor: Provided, That no envelope shall be sold by the Government containing any lithographing or engraving, nor any printing nor advertisement, except a printed request to return the letter to the writer. Act of June 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 476). 3008. Procurement of penalty envelopes by the departments.-That for the purpose of carrying this act into effect, it shall be the duty of each of the Executive Departments of the United States to provide for itself and its subordinate offices the necessary envelopes: and in addition to the indorsement designating the department in which they are to be used, the penalty for the unlawful use of these envelopes shall be stated thereon. Sec. 6, act of Mar. 3, 1877 (19 Stat. 336). 3009. Return penalty envelopes.- * * * Provided, That any Department or officer authorized to use the penalty envelopes may inclose them with return address to any person or persons from or through whom official information is desired, the same to be used only to cover such official information, and indorsements relating thereto : Sec. 29, act of March 3, 1879 (20 Stat. 362), as amended by sec. 3, act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 158). * Notes of Decisions. Construction.-Where a Member of Congress has addressed an inquiry about official business to a department or any bureau thereof, the reply may properly be addressed to the person concerned in a penalty envelope and sent unsealed to the Member (that he may take cognizance of its contents), to be by him forwarded to its destination. But in such case the use of the envelope must be strictly limited to the department or bureau and the applicant. (1880) 16 Op. Atty. Gen. 501. 3010. Use of penalty envelopes by all officers.--The provisions of the fifth and sixth sections of the act entitled "An act establishing post-routes, and for other purposes" approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, for the transmission of official mail-matter, be, and they are hereby, extended to all officers of the United States Government, not including members of Congress, the envelopes of such matter in all cases to bear appropriate indorsements containing the proper designation of the office from which or officer from whom the same is transmitted, with a statement of the penalty for their misuse. 146345°-21—VOL 2 -33 1437 * Sec. 29, act of March 3, 1879 (20 Stat. 362), as amended by sec. 3, act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 158). See also ante, 3001, 3003. Secs. 5 and 6 of the act of Mar. 3, 1887, are set forth in 3001 and 3008, ante. These envelopes are for use in domestic correspondence only, and will not cover the transportation of letters to foreign countries, upon which postage stamps must be used. (See pars. 834-839, Army Regulations, 1913, as to the use of penalty envelopes.) Notes of Decisions. Construction.-Where the envelopes are not This section does not impose on the executive departments at Washington the duty of furnishing such envelopes to the various subordinate officers throughout the United States who are under their supervision, but whose offices are not offices in those de partments, excepting, of course, cases where that duty is required by other statutory pre visions than those above mentioned. Id. It, so far as it relates to the indorsement to be placed on the penalty envelope, is a substitute for the corresponding provision of section 3001, ante. Such envelope must be indorsed with a proper designation of the office from which the same is transmitted, and a statement of the penalty provided by the fifth section of the latter act. (1884) 17 Op. Atty. Gen. 631. 3011. Unlawful use of penalty envelopes and franking privilege.—Whoever shall make use of any official envelope, label, or indorsement authorized by law, to avoid the payment of postage or registry fee on his private letter, packet, package, or other matter in the mail, shall be fined not more than three hundred dollars. Sec. 227, Criminal Code, act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat. 1134). 3012. Nonmailable matter.-Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, pieture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter, or thing, of any kind, in violation of any of the provisions of this Act is hereby declared to be nonmailable matter and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any postoffice or by any letter carrier: * Sec. 1, title XII, act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 230). The above is taken from the "espionage act" of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 217). 3013. Seditious matter, etc., nonmailable.-Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, containing any matter advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States, is hereby declared to be nonmailable. Sec. 2, title XII, act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 230). See notes to 2857, 3012, ante. Notes of Decisions. Writings held nonmailable.-Jeffersonian Publishing Co. v. West (D. C. 1917), 245 Fed. 584; Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (C. C. A. 1917), 246 Fed. 24, reversing (1917), 244 Fed. 535; s. c. (1917), 245 Fed. 102; U. S. ex rel. Milwaukee, etc., Pub. Co. v. Burleson (D. C. App. 1919), 258 Fed. 282 (newspaper denied secondclass mailing privilege for violation of espionage act); affirmed (Sup. Ct. 1921). 65 L. Ed. 390; Shaffer v. U. S. (C. C. A. 1919), 255 Fed, 886. 3014. Penalty for forwarding nonmailable matter.-Whoever shall use or attempt to use the mails or Postal Service of the United States for the transmission of any matter declared by this title to be nonmailable, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Any person violating any provision of this title may be tried and punished either in the district in which the unlawful matter or publication was mailed, or to which it was carried by mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by mail to the person to whom it was addressed. Sec. 3, title XII, act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 230). Notes of Decisions. Evidence. Evidence examined and held sufficient to connect defendants with the mailing of printed circulars in pursuance of a conspiracy to obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service. Schenck v. U. S. (1919), 249 U. S. 47. Likewise evidence to sustain a conviction under this section. Shaffer v. U. S. (C. C. A. 1919), 255 Fed. 886. 3015. Mail addressed to suspected parties not forwarded.-When the United States is at war, the Postmaster General may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or concern is using the mails in violation of any of the provisions of this Act, instruct the postmaster at any post office at which mail is received addressed to such person or concern to return to the postmaster at the office at which they were originally mailed all letters or other matter so addressed, with the words "Mail to this address undeliverable under Espionage Act" plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof, and all such letters or other matter so returned to such postmasters shall be by them returned to the senders thereof under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe. Sec. 4, added to title XII, act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 231), by sec. 2, act of May 16, 1918 (40 Stat. 554). This section is no longer operative, being expressly repealed by joint resolution of Mar. 3, 1921, ante 2857. For other portion of said joint resolution see 2835, ante. Notes of Decisions. Review by courts.-The Postmaster General is required, under this section, to use judgment and discretion in determining whether or not certain matter is mailable, and his decision must be regarded as conclusive by the courts, unless it appears that it is entirely wrong. Masses Pub. Co. v. Patten (C. C. A. 1917), 246 Fed. 24. But it is doubtful if the Postmaster Gen eral can issue a blanket order refusing second-class mailing privileges in the future to a newspaper whose previous publications had been found to violate the espionage act. U. S. ex rel. Milwaukee, etc., Pub. Co. v. Burleson (D. C. App. 1919), 258 Fed. 282; affirmed (Sup. Ct. 1921), 63 L. Ed. 390. 3016. Printed matter in a foreign language nonmailable in time of war. That ten days after the approval of this Act and until the end of the war, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association, to print, publish, or circulate, or cause to be printed, published, or circulated in any foreign language, any news item, editorial or other printed matter, respecting the Government of the United States, or of any nation engaged in the present war, its policies, international relations, the state or conduct of the war, or any matter relating thereto : Provided, That this section shall not apply to any print, newspaper, or publication where the publisher or distributor thereof, on or before offering the same for mailing, or in any manner distributing it to the public, has filed with the postmaster at the place of publication, in the form of an affidavit, a true and complete translation of the entire article containing such matter proposed to be published in such print, newspaper, or publication, and has caused to be printed, in plain type in the English language, at the head of each such item, editorial, or other matter, on each copy of such print, |