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or guarantors, and the same may be immediately recovered by the UnitedStates , for the use of the Post Office Department, in an action of debtagainst either or all of the said persons.
Sec. 28. And be it further enacted, That no contract for the trans-portation of the mail shall knowingly be made by the PostmasterGeneral, with any person who shall have entered into any combination,or proposed to enter into any combination, to prevent the making ofany bid for a mail contract by any other person or persons; or whoshall have made any agreement, or shall have given or performed, orpromised to give or perform, any consideration whatever, or to do or notto do any thing whatever, in order to induce any other person or per-sons not to bid for a mail contract. And if any person so offending bea mail contractor, he may be forthwith dismissed from the service ofthe Department: Provided, That whenever the Postmaster Generalshall exercise the power conferred on him by this section, he shalltransmit a copy or statement of the evidence on which he acts to Con-gress , at its next session.
Sec. 29. And be it further enacted, That no person whose bid for thetransportation of the mail may be accepted, shall receive any pay, untilhe shall have executed his contract according to law and the regulationsof the Department; nor shall any payment be made for any additionalregular service in the transportation of the mail, unless the same shallhave been rendered in obedience to a prior legal order of the Post-master General.
Sec. 30. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act con-cerning the Post Office Department, approved March third, eighteenhundred and twenty-five, as directs that duplicates or copies of contractsor orders made by the Postmaster General shall be lodged in the officeof the Comptroller of the Treasury, be repealed.
Sec. 31. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of thePostmaster General to furnish to the postmasters at the termination ofeach route, a schedule, specifying the times of arrival and departure attheir offices, respectively, of each mail, a copy of which the postmastershall post up in some conspicuous place in his office; and the Post-master General shall also furnish a notice in like manner, of any changeor alteration in the arrivals and departures which may be ordered byhim. And it shall be the duty of every postmaster promptly to reportto the Department every delinquency, neglect, or malpractice of thecontractors, their agents or carriers, that may come to his knowledge.And the Postmaster General shall cause to be kept, and returned to theDepartment, at short and regular intervals, by postmasters at the endsof routes, and such others as he may think proper, registers, showingthe exact times of the arrivals and departures of the mails.
Sec. 32. And be it further enacted, That if any postmaster shallunlawfully detain in his office any letter, package, pamphlet, or news-paper, with intent to prevent the arrival and delivery of the same tothe person or persons to whom such letter, package, pamphlet or news-paper may be addressed or directed in the usual course of the trans-portation of the mail along the route; or if any postmaster shall, withintent as aforesaid, give a preference to any letter, package, pamphlet,or newspaper, over another, which may pass through his office, byforwarding the one and retaining the other, he shall, on convictionthereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, andimprisoned for a term not exceeding six months, and shall, moreover,be for ever thereafter incapable of holding the office of postmaster inthe United States .
Sec. 33. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed bythe President of the United States , by and with the advice and consentof the Senate , a Deputy Postmaster for each post office at which the
Contracts notto be made withpersons whohave entered in-to combination.
Proviso.
No paymenttobe made untilafter the execu-tion of contract.
Part of act ofMarch 3, 1825,ch. 65, repealed.
Postmasters tobe furnishedwith scheduleof times of arri-val and depart-ure.
Penalty for de-taining letters,&c. in a postoffice.
Certain post-masters to beappointed byand with the