The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-12-29
POSTAGE STAMPS.


HOW THEY ARE MADE-THE MANNER OF
THEIR DISTRIBUTION.
New York letter to the Buffalo Exnress
gives the details connected with the manu-
iacture of postage stamps: Every United
States postage stamp in use is made here in
New York. The contract was held bv the
american Bank Note Company from July /,
1901, until the same day in 1873 That
was for three terms of four wears each
The Continental Bank Note Companv
at that time offerng to do it for one-baif
the amount required by the other company.
the contract was awarded to them. The
once OF the continental is at the corner of
Greenwlcn and Liberty streets, but as il was
desirable to have the postage stamps made
In a perfectly fire-proof building the fifth
story OF the Equitable Life Insurance build
Ing, on the corner of Broadway and Cedar
street, was rented by the company for that
purpose.
The office here is for the use of Mr.. Daniel
M. Boyd, the government agent, and Mr..
Charles +. Steel, the agent and suDerintend-
ent appointed Dy the company. The facts
given in regard to the making of the stamps
were obtained by your correspondent from
Mr.. Henry Bowen, Mr.. Boyd's assistant. Two
passenger elevators run to the ton of the
building, and upon leaving them, the only
entrance to the postage stamp rooms is by
means of door which is constantly kept
locked and guarded by janitor, who always
SITS inside to answer the bell, which is just
Office and printing room, and away to the
left, at the front of the building, are the other
rooms used in
MAKING THE STAMPS.
In printing steel plates are used, on which
wo hundred stamps are engraved. Two
men are kept hard at work covering them
with the colored inks and passing them to
man and girl, who are equally busy ct
printing them with large rolling hand
presses. Three of these little squads are
employed all the time, although ten
of necessity. After the small sheets
of paper upon which the two hundred
stamps are engraved have dried sufficiently
they are sent into another room and
gummed. The gum used for this purpose is a
peculiar composition, made of the powder of
dried potatoes and other vegetables mixed
with " alter, which is better than any other
kind, for instance, gum arabic, which craks
the paper badly. This paper is also of
peculiar texture, somewhat similar
to that used for bank notes.
After having been again dried. this
time on little racks, which are famed by
steam power for about an hour they are put
between sheets of pasleboard aud pressed in
hydraulic presses, capable of applying q
weight of 200 tons. The next thing is to cut
the sheets in half; each sheet, of course,
when cut, contains hundred stamps. This
is done by girl with large pair of shears,
cutting by hand being preferred to that of
machinery, which method would destroy too
many stamps. They are then passed to two
other squads, who, in as many operations,
perforate the sheets between the stamps.
Next they are pressed once more, and then
packed and labelled, and slowed away in
another room, preparatory to being put in
mail-bags for dispatching to fulfill orders.
If single stamp is torn, or in any way
mutilated, the whole sheet of 100 is burned.
About SOC, 900 are burned every week from
this cause. For the past 20 years not a
single sheet has been lost, such care is
taken in counting them. During the process
of manufacturing the sheets are counted IL
times.
DISTRIBUTING THE STAMPS.
There are Sc, 900 postoffices throughout the
country, and they use in the course of one
year 700, OOe,O 900 postage stamps. A week or
two since 64,OOO,0OO finished and 81 100000
unfinished stamps were put into the safes,
The New York postoffice alone uses 120, 000,-
600 q year, somewhat over one-sixth of the
whole number used, or equal 70 the amount
required by 5000 other offices. Four times
year the different postofhces send an order
for the number of stamps they expect to have
J occasion to use during the coming three
months. OF course, if they run out during
that time, they are at liberty to send for
more. The Office here in New York is sup
piled differently. Twice month an order
is sent for about SOC, 900 Of various denom-
nations. Three cent stamps are, of course,
in much greater demand than those of any
other value. In answer to the orders
| the stamps are made and sent
to the offices, and there counted
Immediately In the presence of a wit
ness. An accompanying blank receipt is
| filled up and sent to the third assistant
postmaster at Washington, who has charge
Of this branch of the postoffice department.
The pay of the majority of postmGsters is
not by any means extravagant. The holder
of that position in Guthrie, Ind, receives
the small salary of 81 per annum, and there
are many others who get the same.
and so on up to $1,000. Although
a salary of few dollars Is
not in itself of Importance the holding of
such an Office generally is. For Instance, in
little village the postmaster is almost al
ways the owner of the grocery store, and
the villagers, while waiting for the mail,
find it convenient to lay in a stock of pro-
visions, so that the postoffice draws GUS
tom. Besides, the postmaster is usu-
| ally considered a man of much i'm
portance in a small town. / know
storekeeper who is the postmaster of viii
lage in the southern part of New Jersey,
and who gets only Sl2 year for that posi-
ton. But he wouldn't resign il for three
| times that amount every year. 1t is only
| the postmasters OF large towns or cities who
receive as much as $4,000. Mr.. j. L. James,
the postmaster of this city, gets salary of
Sc, 900, the largest given, but really small,
considering the large amount of response
bility and work which it involves.