The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-27
MILLIONS LOST.
HIGH ART AMONG TaE VICIOUS.

HIGH Art AMONG THE VICIOUS.
where D0 All Our Postage stamps Co..
The Benevolent old Gentleman who
Collects Them Proves To He An Arr
rant knave-POstal Licks Revived, Etc.
TN, x. Herald
"A paragraph appeared few DAYS aap In a
morning newspaper In this city telling how n
lady had received $500 from some eccentric
person for having collected 100000 old
postage stamps. The story will be reeog.
nized as familiar one, told with variations
by many newspapers, OF brief intervals, for
years, and not O little surprise has been ex-
pressed by sensible persons at the alleged
fact that there are persons who will pay
seemingly exorbitant prices for seemingly
worthless stuff. In one shape or another the
aneedote appears as regularly as "odes to
spring in country papers. and seldom fall to
attract the notice Of exchange editors. At one
time some benevolent man offers to bestow a
liberal donation upon some charitable institu-
ton on the condition that his within for old
stamps be gratifed. At another time some
other man, generally old and eccentric, de-
sires to incuIcate habits OF industry In chill
dren, and offers them handsome present on
the same condition. Old stamps are to be
gathered, and the number Is always to be q
million.
| A correspondent Of the Scientific American,
who wells under an initial the name of d
general Ia the army of the United States,
abiding to the pal agraph mentioned, speaks
OF the frequency with which the story is told
and asks why there should be so curious and
SO widespread q longing on the part Of eeeeT,-
trio old men for the accumulation OF old
stamps. 1t is evident that they are not to be
used as curiosities in the collections of as
sorted stamps Of all nations, since any STAN ps
mty be included in the million, and colIec-
tions are not sufficiently humorous to call for
80 many duplicates. Then answering bis
| own question, he says that 200, 900 three-cent
stamps, when washed, are worth $4,000.
The suggestion OF fraudulent use being
found for the apparently useless material led
a reporter Of the Herdtd to make inquiries Of
a gentleman who has devoted much time and
money to study OF how to prevent frauds Of
this kind and from him 1t was learned that
| the United States government has lost money
to the amount of millions OF dollars In this
very way. Not only postage but revenue
stamps are used, Cancelled, washed band made
to do duty the second time, and this In such
large numbers that 1t is evident that sys-
! tematic business Is carried on by somebody.
| Yet so skillful are the operators that they
have thus far escaped detection. In the case
|
| 1t liz known, has not been divuiged, but 1t has
been aemi-ofIlcially stated that the loss to the
Postoffice Department is not less than 81 ,O0O,-
900 year.. This Is. however, probably an
over-estimate,
| OF course the existence of such leakage
has induced numbers OF inventive genuses
to spend time and money In the search for q
| remedy, and the number of different kinds Of
ment for adoption is really surprising. Each
inventor ls, OF course, sanguine, and remains
thoroughly convinced until his ink has been
subjected to the crucial tests imposed III the
postoffice building at Washington, that 1t is
absolutely iDdeltble. for an indelible Ink, II
used In canceling all stamps, would Of course
stop the frauds Some time ago a man tray
eed from st. Louis to Washington with a
bottle Of his ink, being unwilling to risk his
secret by allowing the stuff to 90 out Of his
hands and perhaps be analysed. He reached
the department, and proudly Cancelled q
stamp in the presence OF the authorities, who
took 1t and quickly washed 1t clean with
soapy water. HIS ingenuity In trying different
.antidotes" for his ink had not led him to the
use OF the simplest means prOeurable.
Hundreds of chemical combinations have
been tried by the different inventors Acids
Of all kinds have been combined with the inks
other combination has been found that will
remove all traces and leave the stamp clean
as it was Inks have been offered which eat
away the paper 1t is put on, SO strong are the
acids, but while there Is no doubt Of the ef1ic-
ency the objections to their use are obvious.
The chemist of the patent Office for q long
time found chemical means OF washing out
everybody else's ink, and then presented an
invention OF his own which he could not wash |
out 1t was given to Smithsonian institu- |
ton chemist and he shortly found out how to |
wash 1t clean. After this the department |
ceased to expect that an indelible ink would
OF course 1t was obvious to all Yankees, |
after few failures on the ink question, that |
the true way to cancel q stamp was to destroy |
1t, and all sorts OF devices for the purpose |
have been contrived. In one room In the Post |
office building there are some hundreds OF
them, and many effect the purpose for which |
they were intended. 1t iS an easy thing to |
tear up a stamp and it Is comparatively easy |
to tear it up even when 1t Is pasted on letter,
but there are difficulties In the way OF using |
the machines when they are made. For the
country postmaster, who cancels his stamps
with his pen. in what is perhaps the most IT.
fectual practical way known, delicate piece
of machinery would be useless. He could not
keep it in order. And in the New York office |
where something over 900, 100000 stamps are |
Cancelled in year, it would be expensive to
use machine that has to be put In order
after it had been used on perhaps only 1000
stamps.
SO, although there have been machines de-
vised that prick unnumbered little holes in |
the stamp, that rake the stamp into illegibil-
ity, that saw little sits in the features
backs OF oui letters that perhaps rip off
part of the stamp itself, yet none OF them
have superseded, and none OF them are likely
to supersede the old fashioned pad and hand |
stamp. The little holes are easily remedied
by the fraudulent restorer, by means Of steam
and hot iron, and the machines with knives
and saws In them grow dull. So the depart
ment continues to suffer it's losses from year
to year, and as little as possible is said about
it.
A%<
NIHILISM.