"

All these matters of routine engage the laborious attention of this division, that the numerous associations may be continuously kept up to the requirements of law.

IV. THE REDEMPTION DIVISION.

829. This division is charged with the receipt and destruction of worn-out and mutilated notes; also with the safe-keeping, in a vault prepared for the purpose, of the notes sent to the office for destruction until they shall be prepared therefor, and shall have accumulated in convenient amount. These mutilated notes are received from the Treasurer of the United States, and when destroyed and redeemed a certificate of the facts is sent to the Division of Issue, through which division they are replaced by new notes, put up from the stock on hand and transmitted to the proper bank. The destruction is accomplished by maceration, in a machine constructed for the purpose, in the basement of the Treasury building. The notes are first carefully counted, having been previously counted, assorted, and registered in the Treasurer's office, and their destruction is witnessed by separate persons representing the Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasurer of the United States, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the particular bank or banks whose circulating notes are to be destroyed. These representatives are formally deputed for the purpose by these officers and the bank or banks respectively, the latter by a written and formally executed power of attorney. These persons make a record of the respective denominations of notes destroyed, together with the amount of each denomination; also a certificate of the same.

This division keeps a careful record of all these transactions, makes periodical reports of the notes destroyed, and conducts all correspondence relative thereto.

Outside of these divisions considerable labor of a mis

cellaneous character is transacted. The receipt and care of all United States bonds received to secure circulation of the banks are intrusted to a bond clerk before they are finally deposited with the Treasurer of the United States. He is also intrusted with the exchange of one kind of bond for another when desired by a national bank, and also with the correspondence of the office relative to the business in his charge.

All correspondence relative to the affairs of insolvent national banks, and the questions arising in their settlement and the transaction of business of the receivers, is conducted under the immediate direction of the Comptroller.

CHAPTER XX.

THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

830. The establishment of this department followed that of the Treasury, and is accordingly the fourth in order of date. The act of Congress of September 22, 1789, creating it, is entitled "An act for the temporary establishment of the Post Office." A subsequent act of May 8, 1794, established at the seat of government a General Post Office, and provided for a Postmaster-General and an assistant, also for deputy postmasters at places deemed necessary by the Postmaster-General. The present organization of this department owes its existence to the recent act of June 8, 1872, entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the Post Office Department."

831. The head of the Post Office Department is the Postmaster-General, with whom are immediately associated three Assistant Postmasters-General. The department has also a Chief Clerk, and is subdivided by law into divisions or bureaus, as follow:

1. The three offices of the Assistant Postmasters-General, each office having its Chief Clerk.

2. The Office of the Money-Order System, with its Superintendent and Chief Clerk.

3. The Office of Foreign Mails, also with its Superintendent and Chief Clerk.

4. The Dead Letter Office, with a head called Chief of Division.

5. The Office of Mail Depredations, also with a head called Chief of Division.

6. The Office of the Blank Agency, with a Superintendent, one Chief Assistant, and four Assistants.

The statutes provide also for an Assistant AttorneyGeneral for the Post Office Department, who acts as the Solicitor for that department.

832. The Assistant Postmasters-General are designated by the head of the department as first, second, and third, and they are likewise assigned their special class of duties. There has also been assigned them respectively the charge or supervision of the several offices and divisions before mentioned, besides certain other divisions which have been formed in the department by the Postmaster-General. This arrangement and distribution of business will be referred to in detail in a proper place.

833. The post offices over which this department exercised control on the first day of December, 1878, were thirty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy-nine in number. Some conception may be formed from this statement of the vast labor demanded of the officers of the department in this connection, to say nothing of the vast business transactions of the department in connection with the money-order system and with the interchange of correspondence, embracing almost all the countries of the world and their dependencies.

834. In treating of this department in detail, the same arrangement is adopted as with the other departments.

First, the duties, powers, and functions of the head of the department as they are specifically set out by the stat

utes.

THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

835. The oath of office required by law to be administered to this officer is peculiar, inasmuch as it is required to be administered to all officers of the postal service as well, and is substantially different from that required by general

Under the direction of the Postmaster-General, the postal revenues and all debts due his department, when collected, must be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and duplicate certificates are to be given the depositor by the Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, or depositary receiving the same. All such deposits must be brought into the Treasury by warrants of the Postmaster-General, countersigned by the Sixth Auditor, before any credit for moneys so deposited can be allowed. (R. S., §§ 407, 408.)

844. The Postmaster-General may discharge from imprisonment any person confined in jail on any judgment in a civil case, obtained in behalf of this department, if it is made to appear that the defendant has no property of any description. (R. S., § 410.)

845. He may prescribe such rules and modes of proceeding as shall appear expedient for the government of the Sixth Auditor in ascertaining the facts in each case of fine, penalty, forfeiture, disability, or liability, by way of damages or otherwise, for any money, incurred under any provision of law relative to the officers, employees, operations, or business of the postal service, and upon the facts being ascertained he may give his written consent to a decision of the Auditor mitigating or remitting such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, removing such disability, or compromising, releasing, or discharging such claim. (R. S., § 409.)

846. The Postmaster-General is required to make the following annual reports to Congress:

1. A report of all contracts for carrying the mail made within the preceding year, giving in each case the name of the contractor; the date and duration of the contract; the routes embraced therein, with the length of each; the time of arrival and departure at the ends of each route; the mode of transportation, and the price to be paid, together