Mailing via post-office... rates

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage....db&recNum=736

[summergarden]

According to the Thirty-Seventh Congress... CH. 71, (1863)

In Sec. 22 it explains the rate of postage on all domestic letters transmitted in the mails of the United States......

and.... in the next section ( Sec. 23) it says..... And be it further enacted that the rate of postage on all letters not transmitted through the mails of the United States, but delivered through the post-office or its carriers, commonly described as local or drop letters......

So it would seem that there is a difference here between United States mail and local or the union states that had post-office carriers that delivered mail.

Additionally, about 12 years ago, there was an U.S. Constitutional Research organization in L.A. that mailed all local ( union states) mail using 2 cent stamps per 1/2 ounce letters.

On the envelope was stamped "First Class/Non-Domestic
12 Stat., ch.71 sec. 23
Postmaster: for add. postage
see 18 U.S.C. sec. 1702 & 1728

They never came back for more postage.

The entire Sec. 23 reads " And be it further enacted, That the rate of postage on all letters not transmitted through the mails of the United States, but delivered through the post-office or its carriers, commonly described as local or drop letters, and not exceeding one half ounce in weight shall be uniform at two cents, and an additional rate for each half ounce or fraction thereof of additional weight, to be in all cases prepaid by postage stamps affixed to the envelope of such letter, but no extra postage or carrier's fee shall hereafter be charged or collected upon letters delivered by carriers, nor upon letters collected by them for mailing or for delivery.

I mailed some myself, and they all went through the mail at 2 cents. As long as it was local mail, it was O.K., but the mail could not go to Washington, D.C ( District of Columbia, where it was "United States" mail (domestic).

Maybe it has something to do with "no extra postage or carriers fee shall 'hereafter' be charged...."

An interesting tidbit?

Summergarden