POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.—­The postmaster-general presides over the post-office department.  He has control of all questions relating to the management of post-offices and the carrying of the mails, and appoints all postmasters whose annual salaries are less than a thousand dollars each.  Postmasters whose salaries exceed this sum are appointed by the President of the United States.

BUREAUS.—­The postmaster-general has four assistants, who, under him, are in charge of the various details of the vast establishment devoted to the postal service.

The first assistant postmaster-general has general charge of post-offices and postmasters, and makes preparations for the appointment of all postmasters.  He also controls the free delivery of mail matter in cities, and the dead letter office.

The second assistant postmaster-general attends to the letting of contracts for carrying the mails, decides upon the mode of conveyance, and fixes the time for the arrival and departure of mails at each post-office.  He also has charge of the foreign mail service.  The United States has postal treaties with all the other civilized countries in the world, by which regular mail lines are maintained.

The third assistant postmaster-general has charge of financial matters.  He provides stamps, stamped envelopes, and postal cards for post-offices, and receives the reports and settlements of postmasters.  He also superintends the registered mail service, the postal savings system, and the post-office money-order business.  By means of money orders people may deposit money in the post-office at which they mail their letters, and have it paid at the office to which their letters are addressed.

The fourth assistant postmaster-general has charge of the rural free delivery system,—­a very important service.  He also furnishes blanks and stationery to post-offices throughout the United States, and supervises the making of the various post-route maps, such as those used for rural delivery and for the parcel post.

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.—­The secretary of the interior is the chief officer of the interior department.  The former name, home department, suggests the character of the subjects under its control.  Its duties relate to various public interests which have been transferred to it from other departments.  The department of the interior has charge of pensions, public lands, Indian affairs, patents, education, and the geological survey.

The commissioner of pensions has charge of the examination of pension claims and the granting of pensions and bounties for service in the army and the navy.  There are about a million names on the pension rolls of the United States, and the annual payment of pensions amounts to about one hundred and forty million dollars.