The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-05
a NEW POsTA 3E STAMP.
Urging the Adoption of Stamp That
VIII Contain the Advertisement of
the Purchaser.

VIII Contain the Advertisement of
the Purchaser.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Postmaster General Wanamaker is con-
sidering the practicability and ACCESSIBILITY
of issuing new style of postage stamp to
be known as Business Postage" which
will contain the business card of the pur-
chaser. The originator of Tire idea and
designer OF the stamp is E. J. Paxson, the
real estate ageutat 1905 Arch street. Last
Saturday he sent a sample of his design to
the Postmaster General with an ex6aus-
tive explanation of it's merits and strong
argument in favor of its adoption. The
Postmaster General has not yet been heard
from.
The design is simple but ingenious, and
the stamp willbe only a little more than
double the size of the ordinary postage
stamp. Adjoining the vignette of the
ordinary stamp win be a space large
enough on which to print in readable type
the name, business and address of tha
user. United States" and beneath,
1.-TWO cents Over the vignette will be
the word Business" and beneath. the
word Postage" The sample which Mr.,
Paxson sent to the Postmaster General is a
very neat blue print, photographed and re-
duced from aDif e4tIand drawing. The
features Of George w. Childs adorn the
vignotte in the sample, and the smile of
approval is of itself sufficient to almost
make the Postmaster General adopt the idea
at once.
MIR. PARSONS IDEA.
Mr.. Paxson smiled when asked about his
'new postage stamp" last night, but it was
the smile of a man who knows when he has
a good thi 6. "Yes, | have designed new
stamp" said he. II sent sample of the
design to Postmaster General Wanamaker
last Saturday. have not heard from him
yet, but know no reason why it should not
be adopted. If it is am sure it will be- in
great demand.
1.-THE idea," continued Mr.. Paxson, "was
conceived more through curiosity than any
definite intention to establish new styie
of postage, A short time ago, out of mere
curiosity to see how it would work. l had
my business card printed on about thirty
postage stamps. Three or four of them
passed through the mails all right, but the
rest were returned on the envelopes marked
for postage. | took the ground that the
stamps had not been Cancelled by the print
ing, as only the government had a right to
cancel postage stamps. Neither were the
stamps mutilated by the printing The
government, however, refused to pass the
printed stamps. Then [ conceived this
idea"
'Now there is no reason why such a
stamp should not be issued 1t would not
interfere with the mail service in any way
and would be a source of revenue to the
government If the government will issue
stamped envelopes with If not called for in
l0days, return to-, whatever name the sender
may write on it printed on the envelope |
can't see why they shouldn't issue stamps
with mans address printed on it.
WOULD NOT COST MUCH.
"The stamps themselves would not cost
much moro than the ordinary stamps.
which would of course, continue to be- is
sued for the ordinary purchaser. They
would, of course, be printed by the govern
ment, and purchasers would order them by
the thousand, the government printing the
card or leaving it blank as the purchaser
might desire; III case of the government
printing the card, the purchaser to have the
privilege of selecting the type. The gov
eminent could sell them for 81 cents hun
dred, say, over the regular price, but
even at 3 cents apiece for the 2-cent stamps,
think they would meet with more favor
than thestamped envelopes.
Now, the advantages to the consumer
would be be manifold. We all know that
in large business houses and corporations
there is very often a'large leakage in the
stamp drawer. This stamp would, to
great extent, check that, as it would be so
hard to dispose of stamps bearing the ad-
vertisement of the house from which they
were stolen that even should the thief take
his chances on being caught up no one
would care to use another mans business
mark on his envelopes. Now, don't you
see what an immense item that would be
throughout the country, in which every
corporation and large business concern
would be naturally interested! Many con
Germs use thousands of stamps week, and
there is hardly a large house that don't lose
hundreds Of dollars worth of stamps Year-
". Not only would this be benefit to the
business concerns, but to the great muAic-
pal departments, such as the water and gas
bureaus and tax department Of this city.
1t would necessarily stop petty thieving
from the stamp drawer"
MATTER OF CONVENIENCE.
Gas matter of convenience alone. the
stamp would be worth the extra cost to the
consumer. 1t would do away with printed
envelopes directing where uncalled for let
ters shall be returned. For instance, there
are thousands of travelling men VINO could
carry their firms stamps on the road with
them and thereby have their firms's address
on a plain envelope by merely attaching
the postage stamps
Should the Postmaster General approve
of the idea Mr.. Psxson intends to urge the
adoption of a postak eard with similar
card space in the Upper eff hand corner.
Although he has talketlro only a few bust
ness men about the shasiness postage" Mr..
Paxson says that they have all expressed
an opinion that it is gust obs firing business
men have been needing, and that if ap-
proved by the goverHiHe6s will be univer-
sally adopted. When asked if he intended
patenting or copyrig hting the idea he was
not prepared to say that ne would, but
thought that he would In cases of this
kind, he explained ;. the government does
not pay a royalty, but buys the copyright
outright, paying a fair price for the value
of the invention,
OF course, Mr.. Paxson explained, neither
George w. Childs nor any other purchaser
of the stamps would have his picture on the
vignette of the stamp, as only the regular
stamp vignette could be used The reason
why he selected Georges w. Childs for his
sample, as he yesterday explained in a
letter to Mr.. Childs. qinclosing a sample,
was because he wanted to send a sample to
Washington bearing the familiar features
of a representative business man, especially
as they were features easily and clearly
broughtout on small vignette, and as be
ii mi xuicb IN, H. ba aCf