Postmaster

An officer who keeps a postofiice, attending to the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of letters and other matter passing through the mail. Postmasters must reside within the delivery district for which they are appointed. For those offices where the salary or compensation is less than a thousand dollars a year, the postmaster-general appoints; where postmaster at New York, according to the amount of salary; those of the first class receiving three thousand or more, those of the fourth less than one thousand; 1 Supp. R. S. 110, 417. They must give bond to the United States; see IT.

— S. v. Le Baron, 10 How. (U. S.) 73, 15 L. Ed. 525; which remains in force, for suit upon violation, (luring the term; Boody v. U. S., 1 W. & M. 150, Fed. Cas. No. 1,036;

— for three, formerly two, years after the expiration of the term of office; R. S. § 3838; Jones v. TJ. S., 7 How. (U. S.) 681, 12 L. Ed. 870. See R. S. § 3836. Where an office is designated as a moneyorder office, the bond of the postmaster shall contain an additional condition for the faithful performance of all duties and obligations in connection with the money-order business; R. S. § 3834. The presumption that public officers do their duty applies to the duty of postmasters to report a contractor's delinquencies; U. S. v. Carr, 132 U. S. 644, 10 Sup. Ct. 182, 33 L. Ed. 483. Every postmaster is required to keep an office in the place for which he may be apl»ointed; and it is his duty to receive and forward by mail, without delay, all letters, papers, and packets as directed, to receive the mails, and deliver, at all reasonable hours, all letters, papers, and packets to the persons entitled thereto. Every person who, without authority from the postmaster-general, sets up any office bearing the title of postoffice is liable to a penalty of $500 for each offence; R. S. § 3829. A postmaster is liable for all losses occasioned by his own default in office; 5 Burr. 2709; 2 Kent 474; Story, Bailm. § 463; see Raisler v. Oliver, 97 Ala. 710, 12 South. 238, 38 Am. St. Rep. 213; but in order to make him liable for negligence, it must appear that the loss or injury sustained was in consequence of such negligence; Dunlop v. Munroe, 7 Cra. (U. S.) 242, 3 L. Ed. 329; Wiggins v. Hathaway, 6 Barb. (N. Y.) 632. He is bound only to the exercise of due diligence in the care of matter deposited in the postoffice; U. S. v. Thomas, 15 Wall. (U. S.) 337, 21 L. Ed. 89. See 1 Ld. Raym. 646, where the question is elaborately discussed. A postmaster is liable for the acts of his clerks or servants who were not regularly appointed and sworn as his assistants; Christy v. Smith, 23 Vt. 663; Fitzgerald v. Burrill, 106 Mass. 446. He is not responsible for their secret delinquencies; though, perhaps, he is answerable for want of attention to the official conduct of his subordinates; Schroyer v. Lynch, 8 Watts (Pa.) 453; but see Raisler v. Oliver & Co., 97 Ala. 710, 12 South. 238, 38 Am. St. Rep. 213. An attempt to induce a postmaster to sell stamps on of the United States to a violation of his lawful duties; In re Palliser, 136 U. S. 257, 10 Sup. Ct. 1034, 34 L. Ed. 514. A postmaster is liable for the full value of a registered letter embezzled, regardless of the liability of the government to the sender of the letter; Gibson v. U. S., 208 Fed. 534.