Postage-Stamps

The act of congress 4, provide that, to facilitate the transportation of letters in the mail, the postmastergeneral be authorized to prepare postagestamps, which when attached to any letter or packet shall be evidence of the payment of the postage chargeable on such letter. The same sections declare that any person who shall falsely or fraudulently make, utter, or forge any post-stamp, with the intent to defraud the postoffice department, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. And if any person shall use or attempt to use, in prepayment of postage, any postage-stamp which shall have been used before for like purposes, such person shall be subject to a penalty of fifty dollars for every such offence; to be recovered in the name of the United States, in any court of competent jurisdiction. See, also, Act of Mar. 3, 1851, 9 Stat. at L. 589; Act of Aug. 31, 1852, 10 S tat. at L. 141; 1 Supp. R. S. p. 249, § 28. Postmasters and other postal employes are forbidden to dispose of postage-stamps, stamped envelopes, or postal cards except for cash, or sell or dispose of them for any larger or less sum than the values indicated on their faces; 1 Supp. R. S. p. 187. Postage stamps belonging to the United States are personal property and may be the subject of larceny; Jolly v. U. S., 170 U. S. 402, 18 Sup. Ct. 624, 42 L. Ed. 10S5.