Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-07-01
SeIf.DefacIng Postage STAMPS.

The Postofiee Department sustains .
large loss annually BY the fraudulent1se
Of postage stamps that have already
done duty once, and from which the de-
facing marks have been renoved.-
Thought is probably within thecompass
of human ingenuity to make the dsfa-
cling ink inefaceable by any subsequent
treatment, yet the Journal Of Comnlerc,
says this has not yet been accomplished
The invention of selfdefacing postage
stamp, which could never under any
circumstances be used but once, would
be of great value to the Government. be-
cause it would do aHay with the clumsy
blocks cut in the form Of circles. wheels
or stars which are employed in the post
Office (besides the usual postage mark
to spoil the image Of George Washing
ton, and theEother fllustfi6dsa fathers Of
the Republic, who beam out upon the de-
generate sons from the, northwestern
corner OF our letters. Numerous az
tempts have been made to do this desi-
rable thing, bat they have thus far in The
opinion of governments that have tested
them, been unsuccessful. Chemical sub
stances have been discovered, which be-
ing incorporated with the stamp, wonId
change its color and general appearance
in from six to twenty-four hours after
the stamp was glued on the letter By the
application Of water, The chemical
change would take place while the letter
was in the mail bag, in trGnsitH, and she
stamp would be received in defaced con
dition, and Of course could not be used
again. But this plan would not work IN
cases where letters were stamped and ac-
cidentsliy retained in the Office of the
writer for some hours before they were
sent to the postoffics, or in cases where
they lay in the postofice some hours be-
fore they were inspected by the clerk;
for by that time the work of defacing
might be completed, and the stamp
might appear to have been twice used.
These are sufficient objections, if there
we're no other, to postage stamps thus
prepared,
An ingenious style Of stamp, upon
different principle, has been late.
ly patented in this country. Tie body
Of the stamp is made of gold-beater'
skin (instead of paper, which is tough,
and SO nearly transparent that the i'm,
preston upon it shows almost as well on
one side as on the other. The design
the legend, numerals, &c, are intended
to be read through from beneath; and
are therefore printed in reverse. The
ink Is also of 3 peculiar description
When this stamp is wet and glued on the
letter, It remains permanent and IN
changed, until some person attempts tc
peal it of. He then finds the printed
matter remains detached to the letter
while the gold beater.s skin comes of
quite colorless, and having scarcely 9
trace of postage" about it. The Post
/ Office Department is investigating this
invention carefully, with what results III.
public have not heen informed, There
are so many points to be considered il
adopting a new form Of postage stamp
that the department naturally approach
es the subject with care and caution
Cheapness, freedom from sickness. anc
many other considerations, have to be
taken into account Now that the in
ventiVe Yankee race have undertaken t.
get up self-defaeing postage stamps, i
will be done sooner or later BY some
body, with proper encouragement from
the GoVernment-LoH Journal.