derived from the adoption of as many different postal systems as there are States in the Union. § 3. Besides, the burdens would be unequal. It is far more expensive to transport the mails through the sparsely-populated regions of the West, South, and South-west, in proportion to the amount of matter conveyed and distance traveled, than it is through the more densely inhabited regions of the East and North. Yet it is in a high degree important to the whole country that the forest and the prairie be subjected to the hand of cultivation. § 4. And who will become pioneer, if he must be shut out from all communication with that world which he has left behind? Hardly one in a thousand of the hardy, industrious settlers who have peopled the Western and South-western States would have left their homes in the East to undergo the privations of a new country, were there no facilities for the transmission of intelligence to and from the friends of other days. § 5. The general superintendence and direction of the post-office department is under the care of the Postmaster-General. He has the establishing of post-offices, appoints most of the postmasters, and has the letting of the contracts for carrying the mails. For some of the larger offices, to the number of nearly a thousand, the appointments of postmasters is made on nomination of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. § 6. Few of the pupils, or even of the teachers, of the common schools of the present day, remember the days of dear postage. Until 1845, postage was much higher than at present. Letter postage was as follows: Each letter conveyed less than 30 miles 6 cts. § 7. March 3, 1845, Congress passed an act reducing the rates Each letter or package weighing less than half an ounce, if carried less than 300 miles 5 cts. 10 cts. § 8. At the second session of the Thirty-first Congress, which convened Dec. 2, 1850, another act was passed, reducing still lower the price of letter postage, to take effect July 1, 1851. Under this act, Each letter prepaid, weighing not over half an ounce, and conveyed not over 3,000 miles, wholly within the When the same shall not be prepaid 3 cts. 5 cts. For any distance exceeding 3,000 miles, double these rates. Double weight (that is, one ounce), double charges; triple weight, triple charges; and so on; every additional weight of half an ounce or less to be charged with an additional single postage. For letters sent to foreign countries, various rates were established (higher than these), the rates depending on the countries to which the letters are sent. § 9. When at first cheap postage was established, there was a great deficiency in the finances of the post-office department for several years. The income did not equal the expenses until 1861, when the mails were withdrawn from the insurgent States of the South. On account of the less expense of transporting the mails at the North in proportion to receipts, the post-office department exhibited a better financial condition after the mails were withdrawn from the Southern States. § 10. The report of the Postmaster-General, dated Nov. 26, 1867, shows that there were in operation in the United States, June 30, 1867, post-offices to the number of 25,162; and that the Receipts from all sources during the year were Expenditures for the same time Receipts over expenditures $19,978,693.54 19,235,483.46 $743,210.08 § 11. It is encouraging to know, that, under the cheap-postage plan with which the American people are now favored, the post-office department is self-sustaining. The introduction of cheap postage encouraged and stimulated correspondence of all kinds to such extent as to produce this result. Some idea may be formed of the progress of the postal system in this country, when it is known, that, at the adoption of our Constitution in 1789, there were but seventyfive post-offices in the United States. Now, including offices soon to be opened at the South, which were closed during the Rebellion, there are not far from thirty thousand. In 1790, the receipts of the department were $37,935; in 1867, almost twenty millions. The aggregate number of miles traveled in carrying the mail, in 1790, was 7,365; in 1867, almost seventy-two millions. 2.-POST-ROADS. § 12. It has not been necessary, except in a few instances, that Congress should exercise their power to establish post-roads. In some cases, however, this power has been found necessary, and Congress has used it. But generally the roads already opened by the inhabitants of the country through which the mails are conveyed have been found sufficient. They are regularly selected, and declared, however, to be post-roads, before being used as such. The waters on our rivers and lakes, over which travel is public and regular, are, in many instances, established as post-roads in this way. § 13. June 30, 1867, there were 6,930 mail-routes in operation within the limits of the United States. The aggregate length of these mail-routes is 180,921 miles. The aggregate cost of carrying the mails over these routes for the year ending June 30, 1867, was $8,410,184.00. The mails are carried by private individuals, or by railroad or steamboat companies, the contract being made with the Postmaster-General in behalf of the United States. He advertises for bidders, and lets the contract in each case to the lowest responsible bidder. Bonds are given by the mail-carriers to the government, with good and acceptable sureties, for the faithful execution of the contract. Those who are in immediate charge of the mails are sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. ART. VI.-PATENT AND COPY RIGHTS. To provide for the progress of science and the useful arts by granting, for limited times, — 1st. To authors, the exclusive right to their respective writings. 2d. To inventors, the exclusive right to their respective discoveries. 33. 1.- COPYRIGHT. § 1. The power to make provisions for patent and copy rights did not belong to Congress under the Confederation; but, in the Constitutional Convention, there was no opposition to these provisions. The necessity of some law of this kind was not only conceded by that body, but by the universal acquiescence of the country. § 2. Few men who are wealthy are disposed to take the field of authorship, however competent they may be. This rule, however, has its exceptions. But the poor man, it will be admitted, can not afford to devote himself to the production of valuable books, if the fruits of his industry may be appropriated by others without reward. § 3. The States could not afford the necessary protection to authors; for their legislation could only cover their own respective territorial boundaries. Few books would be written requiring elaborate authorship, the sale of which, in the estimation of the author, was destined to be confined to the limits of a single State. That a man has the same right to the labor of his brains that he has to the labor of his hands will hardly be questioned. § 4. Judge Story says, "No class of men are more meritorious, or are better entitled to public patronage, than authors and inventors. They have rarely obtained, as the histories of their lives sufficiently establish, any due encouragement and reward for their ingenuity and public spirit. They have often languished in poverty, and died in neglect; while the world has derived immense wealth from their labors, and science and the arts have reaped unbounded advantage from their discoveries." § 5. Under the laws of Congress, the steps are very simple to secure a copyright. A copyright may be secured to authors for books, maps, charts, musical compositions, cuts, and engravings, or for any other literary and scientific productions. The copyright extends for twenty-eight years and if, at the end of that time, the author is still living, he may obtain its extension for fourteen years longer; or, if dead, his living representatives may obtain its exten sion. The author, or he and his representatives, therefore, enjoy a monopoly of the sale of his productions for forty-two years. § 6. The steps to secure a copyright are these: Before publication, a printed copy of the work proposed to be published, or its titlepage, must be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States in the district of the author's residence. Within three months after publishing the work, a full copy of the work must be delivered to the clerk aforesaid, which he transmits to the Secretary of State, to be kept in his office at the seat of government. Within the same period, a copy must be furnished to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and also one to the Congressional Library. § 7. The owner of the copyright must give notice to every reader of his work that he has secured the copyright according to act of Congress. This notice is printed on the titlepage, or on the page succeeding, in the following words: "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year of the , by (the author), in the Clerk's office of the District Court These words must be published, or other words equivalent to them, in every edition of the work. The expense of securing a copyright is but trifling, one or two dollars. § 8. An act of Congress passed Feb. 18, 1867, requires every proprietor of a book, pamphlet, map, chart, musical composition, print, engraving, or photograph, for which a copyright shall have been obtained, to deliver a printed copy of the same to the Congressional Library within one month after publication. Penalty for neglect, twenty-five dollars. The publication may be transmitted free of postage if the words "copyright matter" be plainly written on the outside; and postmasters shall give a receipt for the same if requested. 2. PATENT-RIGHT. § 9. Patents are issued by the patent-office at Washington, giving the inventor of any new and useful machine, instrument, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement of them, the monopoly in their manufacture and sale. This patent |
