3. Telegrams shall not be sent except in urgent cases, and when of a personal nature shall be prepaid. Telegrams asking that runs be provided for or leave of absence granted and replies thereto are personal and shall be paid for by applicant at commercial rates.

Sec. 1526. Lay-off periods shall not be utilized by clerks for the purpose of engaging in business for profit either as principal or as agent for others, nor should they overtax their physical strength so as to prevent their being in a refreshed condition when resuming active duty.

2. The carrying of freight in railway postal cars or traffic ir. merchandise by clerks while on duty is strictly prohibited.

Sec. 1527. Clerks shall not smoke while receiving mail from the public or while loading or unloading mail or visiting letter boxes. Smoking on duty is a privilege and not a right, and shall not be indulged in to the detriment of a clerk's work or the discomfort of nonsmoking employees.

2. No person shall smoke or carry lighted cigars, cigarettes, or pipes in mail storage cars while same are being loaded, unloaded, or while in transit. Railway postal clerks and transfer clerks shall prevent any violation of this regulation.

Sec. 1528. Railway postal clerks shall remain on duty the whole length of their allotted runs and shall not exchange runs without authority. When off duty they are expected to protect any run that they are advised is vacant.

Sec. 1529. Clerks in charge of railway post offices shall keep on hand a supply of 1-cent and 2-cent postage stamps for the accommodation of the public at the car; and such stamps shall not be sold for more than their face value."

Sec. 1530. Railway postal clerks shall observe in their official intercourse with the public and with one another the strictest courtesy, and endeavor, by active and intelligent effort, to promote the interest of the service. Discussion and loud talking when at work shall be avoided.

NOTE. Clerks shall maintain respectful official relations with railroad and other carrying companies and shall not engage in controversies with railroad officials involving the administration of the postal service. All information, criticism, or complaint, which clerks can give from personal knowledge or obtain from credible sources, looking to the betterment of the postal service and the comfort and safety of their persons while officially employed, shall be forwarded through their superior officers, that prompt investigation and proper action may be taken.

Sec. 1531. Railway postal clerks shall not use intoxicating liquors when on duty, and the frequent and excessive use of the same while off duty will be sufficient cause for dismissal from the service.

Sec. 1532. Post-office inspectors presenting proper credentials shall be given such official assistance as they may require, and the fact that a post-office inspector is on the train or has ridden thereon shall not be communicated by a railway postal clerk to any person whatever at any time, either during or after the run. Entry of the fact shall not be made on the trip report or the record of the arrivals and departures.

2. The presence of a supervisory officer of the Railway Mail Service in the car shall be noted on trip report unless instructions are given to the contrary.

Sec. 1533. No information shall be imparted concerning mail matter passing through the hands of railway postal clerks in the discharge of their duties, except to persons who are entitled thereto under the regulations. (See sec. 508.)

NOTE. Clerks are prohibited from imparting information to unauthorized persons concerning matters which come to their attention while handling the mails. They shall neither discuss with persons not connected with the service nor with one another cases of depredation which are under investigation by the Division of Post-Office Inspectors.

Sec. 1534. The rules and regulations of the railroad companies over whose lines a railway postal car passes, not in conflict with these regulations, shall be respected and obeyed.

NOTE. The practice of boarding or jumping off moving trains is contrary to public policy and a menace to the individual. Clerks are cautioned in the interest of their own safety against this practice.

Sec. 1535. Mail shall not be placed in a postal car unless there is a clerk on duty to care for it.

Sec. 1536. Railway postal clerks shall accept from a postmaster or sworn assistant loose mail matter on which the stamps have been canceled, but matter bearing canceled stamps shall not be accepted from mail messengers or the public, except matter of the first class readdressed for forwarding.

2. Railway postal clerks shall accept from the public, unless otherwise ordered, all mail matter of the first class upon which the proper rate of postage is paid; all matter in penalty envelopes or bearing the frank of any person entitled thereto by law; soldiers' and sailors' letters unpaid when duly certified; and matter of the first class upon which the stamps are canceled when readdressed for forwarding. They shall not accept from the public mail matter of the second, third, and fourth classes.

NOTE. All postal cars and mail apartments in cars and steamboats are post offices for the distribution of mail in transit, and mail matter placed therein is deposited in a post office.

Sec. 1537. A correct list of pouches due to be received and dispatched shall be kept and checked as the pouches are de

livered from or received into the car, except at local offices where not more than one pouch is exchanged. When a railway post office or a post office makes up two or more pouches for the same address, the pouch label shall indicate the sequence of the pouch in the series, numbers to be used in regular order for that purpose, thus, the first pouch "1," the second "2," the third "3," and so on, the label of the last pouch to bear, in addition to its proper number, a cross, thus, "X," to indicate the last pouch of the series. In case of failure to receive any regular pouch, and the cause of the failure is not known, the division superintendent or chief clerk shall be notified by telegraph.

NOTE. Where it is necessary for a post office to use more than one pouch for the same dispatch of air mail, and the pouches are closed with rotary locks, or part are closed with rotary locks and part with L. A. locks, all of the pouches comprising the dispatch will be numbered and marked as one series.

2. If irregular or emergency pouches are received or dispatched entry thereof shall be noted on the record and proper check made.

NOTE. Railway postal clerks receiving unlocked pouches shall note the same, and when registers are received therein or contents apparently tampered with such facts shall be noted on the trip report.

Sec. 1538. The Postmaster General may provide by order the terms upon which route agents (railway postal clerks) may receive from publishers or any news agents in charge thereof, and deliver the same as directed, if presented and called for at the mail car or steamer, packages of newspapers and other periodicals not received from or intended for delivery at any post office.

2. Railway postal clerks may receive newspapers and periodicals from publishers and news agents only when accompanied with a certificate from the postmaster at the office of publication that the postage has been paid.

3. Second-class matter marked to be delivered outside the mails shall be so delivered only when addressed to news agents, or agents of publishers, and shall be treated according to instructions upon the package.

4. Publishers shall have printed in bold type on wrapper of mail packages for outside delivery the words "U. S. mail for outside delivery at publisher's risk."

5. When news-dealer packages are forwarded as mail on trains upon which no railway postal clerk is assigned, the baggageman shall deliver the packages as outside matter at place shown in the address, and while in his custody they shall be considered as mail matter.

6. Baggagemen shall not receive second-class mail directly from the publisher on postmasters' certificates unless specially authorized to do so by the department through the division superintendent.

NOTE.-News dealers' packages for outside delivery addressed to stations where no regular delivery of mails is made shall be delivered in accordance with address.

Sec. 1539. When railway postal, transfer, or terminal railway postal clerks are authorized to receive second-class matter direct from publishers, accompanied with a certificate signed by the postmaster, they shall insist on a certificate with each load offered, showing number of sacks, the weight of the mail, and that the postage has been paid thereon; otherwise the matter shall not be accepted for mailing.

2. When matter is offered without a certificate, that fact shall be communicated to the publisher or the postmaster, if time will permit, with request that a certificate be furnished; if not done, the matter shall be refused.

3. In case of apparent discrepancy in either the weight or number of sacks, the papers shall, if practicable, be weighed at the time of receipt by the clerks and proper correction noted on the accompanying certificate, being careful not to deface the original as furnished by the postmaster. The certificate, together with report, shall then be mailed to the postmaster and also report made to the division superintendent, in addition to proper notation on trip or daily report. When, in case of discrepancy, the sacks can not be weighed or the discrepancy otherwise reconciled, the matter shall not be accepted.

Sec. 1540. Railway postal clerks shall visit letter boxes maintained at railroad stations and collect mail therefrom at the last moment practicable before the departure of their respective trains unless such duty is performed by a transfer clerk. Care shall be taken to lock the box after collection is made. Letter boxes at local stations shall be conveniently located with respect to the operation of the Railway Mail Service.

Sec. 1541. Railway postal clerks shall carefully distribute mails by the official schemes furnished, which shall be kept corrected to conform to changes published in general orders.

2. Only such pouches as may be ordered by the division superintendent or chief clerk shall be made up, except when necessary to make an emergency pouch to advance mails, in which event note thereof must be made on trip report.

Sec. 1542. Railway postal clerks shall complete the distribution of the contents of one pouch or sack before opening another,

2. The address label shall be removed from a pouch or sack

when it is opened.

Sec. 1543. After emptying and before using a pouch or sack care shall be taken that no mail is left therein; it shall be held so that the whole interior can be seen and examined.

NOTE.-Insurance tags found loose in the mails which can not be identified with a parcel shall be backstamped and so endorsed by the clerk and forwarded to the office of address.

Sec. 1544. Letters and circular mail shall be made up in packages and not placed in the pouch or sack loose. The twine used shall be tied in a hard knot, and no more used than necessary to make package secure.

NOTE. In order that circulars may reach the proper channels for distribution, postmasters shall cause, in addition to the address, the word "Circulars to be shown on all facing slips covering packages consisting wholly of circulars in envelopes of a size permitting distribution in a letter or circular case, or of such larger dimensions as can be otherwise made up advantageously into direct packages; also covering packages consisting entirely of private mailing cards wholly in print, with the same limitations as to size. However, circulars or cards containing market quotations on grain, stock, and produce (as distinguished from prices current or catalogue quotations on general merchandise) shall not be so labeled.

Sec. 1545. A “direct package" is made by placing all letters for one post office in a package by themselves, all faced one way, with a plainly addressed letter on the outside and a slip covering the back of the package. The slip shall be postmarked and bear the name of the clerk making the package. When necessary to include circular mail in a direct letter package, a letter shall be tied on the outside of the package.

Sec. 1546. Newspapers and periodicals sent to regular subscribers shall be promptly dispatched to destination. Such matter shall not be withdrawn from its wrapper except to ascertain its destination, or, if necessary, the name and the date.

Sec. 1547. Postage stamps affixed to mail matter and all stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers, and postal cards deposited in railway post offices shall be immediately and effectually canceled by the use of black ink. The postmarking portion of the postmarking and canceling stamp shall not be used to cancel postage stamps. (See sec. 560.)

Sec. 1548. All mail matter, except that of the second class mailed by publishers, deposited in a car for mailing shall be legibly postmarked.

2. On trains running in more than one day the postmarking stamp during the entire trip shall show the date the train is scheduled to start.