General, with the rank, pay and emoluments of a brigadier general; four assistant quartermasters-general, with the rank, pay and emoluments of colonels of cavalry; eight deputy quartermasters-general, with the rank, pay and emoluments of lieutenant-colonels of cavalry; fourteen quartermasters, with the rank, pay and emoluments of majors of cavalry; and thirty assistant quartermasters, with the rank, pay and emoluments of captains of cavalry. SEC. 2. That no more appointments shall be made in the grade of military storekeepers in the Quartermaster's Department, and this grade shall cease to exist as soon as the same becomes vacant by death, resig nation, or otherwise of the present incumbents. Rank and commissions. Promotions and Department. SEC. 3. That no officer now in service shall be reduced in rank, or deprived of his commission by reason of any provision of this act. SEC. 4. That no officer shall be promoted or appointed in the Quar termaster's Department in excess of the organization prescribed by this appointments in act, and that so much of section six of the act approved March third, Quartermaster's eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and for other purposes", as applies to the Quartermaster's Department, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved, March 3, 1875. CHAP. 127.-An act to further protect the sinking-fund and provide for the exigencies of the Government. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act there shall be levied and collected on all distilled spirits thereafter produced in the United States, a tax of ninety cents on each proof gallon, or wine-gallon when below proof, to be paid by the distiller, owner or person having possession thereof, before removal from the distillery bonded warehouse; and so much of section three thousand two hundred and fifty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States as is inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed. 1869, c. 124, s. 6, v 15, p. 318; R. S., s. 1194, p. 212. March 3, 1875. Tax on distilled spirits. When payable. R. S., 3251, p. 630, repealed in part. R. S., 3368, p. 662, amended. and snuff. Tax on tobacco R. S., 3394, p. 670. Proviso. SEC. 2. That section three thousand three hundred and sixty-eight of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out the words "twenty cents a pound", and inserting in lieu thereof, the words "twenty-four cents a pound"; and that section three thousand three hundred and ninety-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out the word "five" wherever it occurs therein, and inserting instead thereof the word "six", and by striking out the word "fifty" and inserting instead thereof the words "seventy-five": Provided, That the increase of tax herein provided for shall not apply to tobacco on which the tax under existing law shall have been paid when this act takes effect. And provided further, That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury by testimony under oath that any person liable to pay the Contracts prior increased tax by this section imposed had prior to the tenth day of Feb. to Feb. 10, 1875, ruary, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, made a contract for the future for future delivery, by whom tax to be delivery of such tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes at a fixed price, which paid. contract was in writing prior to that date, such tobacco may be delivered to the contracting party entitled thereto under special permit from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue provided therefor, without previous payment of such additional tax; but the said additional tax shall be a lien thereon, and shall be paid by and collected from the purchaser under such contract before the sale or removal thereof by him, and when demanded by the collector of internal revenue for the district to which the same shall be removed for delivery to the purchaser; and any sale Sale by purchasor removal by such purchaser, prior to the payment of such tax, shall er without paysubject him and such tobacco so sold or removed to all the penalties ment of additional and processes of law provided in the case of manufacturers of tobacco tax, forfeitures, and penalties. so selling or removing tobacco to avoid the payment of tax. Duties on molasses, sugars, &c. SEC. 3. That on all molasses, concentrated molasses, tank-bottoms, syrup of sugar cane juice, melada, and on sugars according to the Dutch standard in color, imported from foreign countries, there shall be levied, collected and paid, in addition to the duties now imposed in schedule G, R. S., 2504, p. 472. section two thousand five hundred and four of the Revised Statutes, an amount equal to twenty-five per centum of said duties as levied upon Concentrated the several articles and grades therein designated; Provided, That conmelada, how centrated melada, or concrete, shall hereafter be classed as sugar dutiaclassed. ble according to color by the Dutch standard: and melada shall be Melada defined. known and defined as an article made in the process of sugar-making being the cane-juice boiled down to the sugar point and containing all the sugar and molasses resulting from the boiling-process and without Products of sugar any process of purging or clarification, and any and all products of the imported in bags, sugar-cane imported in bags, mats, baskets or other than tight packages &c., considered shall be considered sugar and dutiable as such. And provided further, Drawback on reThat of the drawback on refined sugars exported allowed by section fined sugars, three thousand and nineteen of the Revised Statutes of the United amount retained. States, only one per centum of the amount so allowed shall be retained R. S., 3019, p. 585, by the United States. sugar. amended. R. S., 2503, provi so, p. 462, repealed. SEC. 4. That so much of section two thousand five hundred and three of the Revised Statutes as provides that only ninety per centum of the several duties and rates of duty imposed on certain articles therein enumerated by section two thousand five hundred and four shall be R.S., 2504, p. 463. levied, collected, and paid be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and the several duties and rates of duty prescribed in said section two thousand five hundred and four shall be and remain as by that section levied, without abatement of ten per centum as provided in section two thousand five hundred and three. Increase of du SEC. 5. That the increase of duties provided by this act shall not ties, when not ap- apply to any goods, wares, or merchandise actually on shipboard and plicable. bound to the United States, on or before the tenth day of February, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, nor on any such goods, wares, or merchandise on deposit in warehouses or public stores at the date of the passage of this act. March 3, 1875. SEC. 6. That nothing contained in the act entitled "An act to amend existing customs and internal-revenue laws, and for other purposes", approved February eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, shall be construed to impose any duty on bolting-cloths theretofore admitted free of duty; nor to require the use of a stamp upon the receipt in the receipt-book of a savings-bank or institution for savings having no capital stock, and doing no other business than receiving deposits to be loaned or invested for the sole benefit of the parties making such deposits without profit or compensation to the association or company, when money is paid to a depositor on his pass-book. Approved, March 3, 1875. CHAP. 128.—An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventysix, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Appropriation for States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, Post-Office Depart- and the same are hereby, appropriated for the service of the Post-Office ment for year end- Department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ing June 30, 1876. 1836, ch. 270, s. 3, seventy-six, out of any money in the Treasury arising from the revenues v. 5, p. 80; of said Department, in conformity to the act of July second, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, as follows: R. S., 4054, p. 783. Postmasters. OFFICE OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER-GENERAL. For pay of postmasters, seven million dollars; and the salary of the postmaster of the city of New York is hereby fixed at eight thousand dollars per annum. For pay of clerks for post-offices, three million five hundred thousand dollars. For pay of letter-carriers, and incidental expenses of the free-delivery system, two million dollars. For wrapping-paper, twenty-five thousand dollars. For twine, fifty-five thousand dollars. For postmarking and canceling stamps, ten thousand dollars. For letter-balances, three thousand dollars. For rent, light, and fuel for post-offices five hundred thousand dollars. For furniture for post-offices, thirty-five thousand dollars. For miscellaneous items, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. OFFICE OF SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL. Clerks. Letter-carriers. Wrapping-paper. Twine. Postmarking and canceling stamps. Letter-balances. Rent, &c. Stationery. Furniture. Miscellaneous. Inland-mail For inland-mail transportation, seventeen million five hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars; and out of the appropriation for inland- transportation. mail transportation the Postmaster General is authorized hereafter to pay the expenses of taking the weights of mails on railroad-routes, as provided by the act entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending Juue thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four," approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three; and he is hereby directed to have the mails weighed as often as now provided by law by the employees of the PostOffice Department, and have the weights stated and verified to him by said employees under such instructions as he may consider just to the Post-Office Department and the railroad-companies. For pay of railway-post-office clerks, one million two hundred and fifty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars. For pay of route-agents, one million and fifty thousand dollars. For pay of local agents, one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. For preparing and publishing post-route maps, thirty thousand dollars; and out of this appropriation the Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to pay all the expense of employing clerks, lithographers, experts, and other persons whose services may be necessary in the preparation and publication of said maps. 1873, c. 231, v. 17, p. 556. R. S., 4002, p. 777. Railway-post-of fice clerks. Route-agents. sengers. Locks and keys. Post-route maps. Mail-depreda For payments on account of mail-depredations, and for special agents of the Post-Office Department, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. tions. OFFICE OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL. For the manufacture of adhesive postage-stamps, including official stamps, one hundred and forty-nine thousand seven hundred and sixtyfour dollars. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute postage stamps, six thousand nine hundred dollars. For stamped envelopes and newspaper-wrappers, four hundred and forty-six thousand five hundred and twenty dollars. For pay of distributing-agent and assistants, sixteen thousand three hundred dollars. For manufacture of postal cards, one hundred and fifty-nine thousand eight hundred and six dollars. For pay of agent and assistants to distribute postal cards, five thousand six hundred dollars. Postage-stamps. Agents, &c. Stamped en vel opes, &c. Distributing agent, &c. Postal cards. Agents, &c., to distribute postal cards. Registered package envelopes, &c. Official envel opes. Dead-letter return-envelopes. Ship, steamboat, and way letters. Fees. Engraving, &c. Advertising. For registered-package envelopes, locks, and seals, sixty-five thou sand six hundred and twenty dollars. For official envelopes for postmasters, sixty-six thousand five hundred and sixty dollars. For envelopes for the return of dead-letters, three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. For ship, steamboat, and way letters, seven thousand five hundred dollars. For fees to United States attorneys, marshals, clerks of courts, and .counsel necessarily employed by the special agents of the Post-Office Department, seven thousand five hundred dollars. For engraving, printing, and binding drafts and warrants, three thousand dollars. For advertising, one hundred thousand dollars: Provided, That hereafter the mail lettings for the States of Maryland and Virginia and for the District of Columbia shall be advertised in not more than one newspaper published in the District of Columbia, and at prices satisfactory to the Postmaster-General, not exceeding the customary rates paid in the city of Washington for ordinary commercial advertisements; and R. S., s. 3826, p. so much of section three thousand eight hundred and twenty-six of the 754, repealed in Revised Statutes of the United States as refers to the publication of advertisements in newspapers be, and the same is hereby, repealed. part. Advertisements to be posted up. Miscellaneous. Foreign-mail transportation. Balances due foreign countries. and China. p. 430. The Postmaster-General shall cause an advertisement of the maillettings of each State and Territory to be posted up in each post-office therein, to be posted conspicuously for at least sixty days before the time of such letting. For miscellaneous items, two thousand five hundred dollars. OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FOREIGN MAILS. For foreign-mail transportation, three hundred thousand dollars. For balances due foreign countries, including unsettled balances due France, for the fourth quarter of the year eighteen hundred and sixtynine, and the first and second quarters of the year eighteen hundred and seventy, eighty thousand dollars. SEC. 2. That the following sums, or so much thereof as may be neces sary, be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, namely: Steamship-serv- For steamship-service between San Francisco, Japan, and China, five ice between San hundred thousand dollars, to be paid in accordance with the provisions Francisco, Japan, and and conditions of the act entitled "An act to authorize the establishment of ocean-mail steamship-service between the United States and 1865, c. 37, v. 13, China," approved February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixtyfive, and of the second section of the act entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department during the 1867, c. 41, v. 14, fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and for other purposes," approved February seventeenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the contracts heretofore made in conformity to the provisions of said acts. p. 393. Repeal of certain provisions of act. That so much of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June thir tieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, approved June first, eight1872, c. 256, v. 17, een hundred and seventy-two, as relates to and authorizes a contract to p. 199. be made by the Postmaster-General with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for steamship-service between San Francisco, Japan and China, is hereby repealed, and any such contract made by the PostmasterGeneral in pursuance of said act is hereby annulled. Steamship - serv For steamship-service between the United States and Brazil, thirtyice between seven thousand five hundred dollars. United States and Brazil. For official postage stamps for the Post-Office Department, nine hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars. Official postagestamps. SEC. 3. That if the revenues of the Post Office Department shall be Deficiency approinsufficient to meet the appropriations made by this act, then the sum priation. of six million eight hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and five dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply deficiencies in the revenue of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six. That the provisions of section thirteen of the act of June twenty- Provisions of s. third, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, entitled "An act making 13, act of June 23, appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal 1874, ante, 237, to apply to ex-memyear ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy five, and for bers of Congress, other purposes," shall apply to ex-members of Congress and ex-delegates &c. for the period of nine months after the expiration of their terms as members and delegates, and postage on public documents mailed by such persons shall be as provided in said section. SEC. 4. That hereafter the Sixth Auditor shall keep the accounts in his office so as to show the expenditures of the Post-Office Department under each item of appropriation provided by law. SEC. 5. That from and after the passage of this act, the Congressional Record, or any part thereof, or speeches or reports therein contained, shall, under the frank of a member of Congress, or delegate, to be written by himself, be carried in the mail free of postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General may prescribe; and that public documents already printed, or ordered to be printed, for the use of either House of Congress may pass free through the mails upon the frank of any member or delegate of the present Congress, written by himself, until the first day of December anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-five. Accounts of Post Office Department, how to be kept. Congressional be franked, &c. Record, &c., may Investigation to Post-Office Depart Congress. SEC. 6. That the Postmaster-General shall cause a full inquiry and investigation to be made into all branches of the expenditure of the Post- reduce expenses of Office Department, with a view to reduce such expenditures as nearly ment. as practicable to the postal receipts; and with that purpose he shall report to the first session of the next Congress such a rate of compensa- Postmaster-Gention for postmasters and other employees of that Department as will eral to make cerreduce such compensation to a rate not exceeding that paid for equal tain reports to service in private employments, and to limit the number of clerks and employees, and to reduce the number of free-delivery cities, and the compensation of postal transportation companies; and that he also report a rate of postage on printed matter and packages approaching the actual cost of their transportation and delivery, together with such practical measures that will, in his opinion, tend to make the Post-Office Department self-sustaining. Seeds and agri free. SEC. 7. That seeds transmitted by the Commissioner of Agriculture, or by any member of Congress or delegate receiving seeds for distribu- cultural reports tion from said Department, together with agricultural reports emanating from that Department, and so transmitted, shall, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General shall prescribe, pass through the mails free of charge. And the provisions of this section shall apply to ex-members of Congress and ex-delegates for the period of nine months to ex-members, &c. after the expiration of their terms as members and delegates. Approved, March 3, 1875. CHAP. 129.-An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and for other purposes. Benefit extended March 3, 1875. Legislative, ex Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury ecutive, and judi- |