The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1882-09-29
AsCAGOULA MISSISSIPPI FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER g. 1882


Scientific American.
The assumtlon that the concerted
washing OF stamps on large scale
would be necessary TO cause the
government TO lose materially by
reused stamps will hardly bold.
There are nearly Is, 900 postoffices
in this country, and il the depart
ment were to carry from each Office
II single fraudulenE stamped letter
n day, the government would be
cheated to the exlpat Of nearly hall
u million dollars y year. IL may
not be possihle. to dispose OF
%, ,000, 900 worth u washed stamps
in hulk; yet out OF ten million let
ter writers il would not be possible
to fnd enough who are willing
to use again cleaned or imperfect.
ly cancelled stamps, and having op.
portunities enough TO do it TO cheat
the revenue out OF all that tue de.
tciency is found TO be.
That the cancellation of stamps
is very frequently imperfect is
known to all who handle many let.
terra. In many Instances the stamp
is not defaced at all; in more the
mark is so slight that il may be
easily rubbed Of. Mr.. Pearson adj.
mits that no cancrling Ink is met
taceable, and Expresses the opin-
ION that postage stamps ought to
be printed In fugitive colors, which
would be removed by any attempt
to wash of the canceling mark.
The conditions under which
stimps must often be- handled,
however, by children and other un.
skillful rersons, both before aud at.
ter they are put upon matter to be
mailed. forbids the use OF other
than fairly permanent ink in print.
ing them. They arr held In sweaty
hands, carried in pockets, where
they ars subject to danpening by
rain, perspiration and the lik', and
always liable 10 overwetting when
the gum is moisteued to affix them.
Hence the necessity Of good paper
and waterproof ink.
Ii stamps are used, security
against their REUSE must be sought
rather in some means of canceling
them iudelibly OF destructively.
Thus tar no ink has been discovered
that could not he discharged ar
washed of by suitable means. For
destructive cancellation many de-.
viceshave been tried to cut, abride,
ruptue or burn the paper OF the
stamp. None of these, however,
have proved entirely satisfactory,
their tendency being to mutilite or
set on fire the letter or parcel the
stamp is applied to. A more
promising plan contemplates the
use of IA stamp OF two parts, one to
be gummed to the letter or package,
the other to he left tree, to b. toru
Oft by the posimastrrand destroyed,
making it impossible to use the same
stamp again.
This plan seems we'll calculated
to prevent the reuse of stamps ex.
cept by parties inside the post.
offices, where there Is reason TO slls
pect large part OF this fraud upon
the revenue is perpetrated. In mul.
titudes of Offices the new mail mat.
ter Often lies tor hours before being
made ready for transmission. In
such cases there is little or nothing
to prevent u dishonest clerk
from removing the uncancelled
stamps and substituting those that
have alrea !y been cancelled. The
individual frauds may he small,
yet, it trrq lently repeated in u
, large number of. places, the ag ,re-
gate loss to the department may
amount up to millions.
The most obvious way of Atopping
frauds OF this nature would seem to
be the use of st mped envelopes
and wrappers; aud in view OF the
probable saving to tho revenue by
preventing reuse, the government
might fhld 1t profitable to encour-
age the more general employment
OF stamped envelopes, BY allowing
TO purchasers OF them a consi'lpra.
BILE discount from the price OF the
stamps. 1t might be practicable
alsosto priut the stamps across the
face OF the envelopes ia such way
that in writing the address the
stamp would necessarily DO can.
celled. The usual postmarks would
suffice to show whether any wrap.
per had done it's appointed service,
The ingenious reader will readily
see how inviting a field is here pre-
sented for successful invention
The large amount of revenue ia
volved, and the urgent dem sud the
world over for a practical preveu.
tive OF the flautls poiuted out. make
1t certain that whoever will solve
the problem will not fail of u large
reward.