Telegram-herald., 1891-10-26
OUR POSTAGE STAMPS
Assistant Postmaster General aa-
zen Discusses the Subject
ALL ABOUT TIE SEVERAL ISSUES
He Tells the story Of tbs Digereas H.
$685. Why Change. Ara Made and
asS the DsGsss1t Desigas Spss
thu stxzsps Are Shss~a.



Americans are the greatest ietter-
writing people On she globe. OF ths
sfty odd billion pieces Of mail which
are posted in the world every year,
nearly three billions 60 through the
poss Offices Of the United States
We spend every year more than
go. o.. GOO for postage. and during
the past twelve months Ameri-
can tongues have licked the backs Of
81. go. oeo worth of sticky stamps The
postage stamps sold every year the
world over far surpass in value the
riches Of jay Gould or the Rotasehilds.
and the postage stamp industry of the
world Is one of the great factors IN the
machinery which moves she universe
to-day Aad yet postage stamps are OF
comparative recent origin II 10 bare
ly dry years ago since they were first
used in England, and In istT congress
frss authorized their use IN the United
StaseA-
The first stamps issued were the de-
nominations Of i've and ten ceots-
These stamps are now obsolete and
they would sot be recognized by the
post ssces The Gvs-cent stamp con-
tanned . portrait Of Franklin made
after painting 0y John B. Lonsacre,
n which the irss poetm sstsr general u
represented wearing . white neeker-
chief and Goat with . fur collar. The
color Of the stamp il a light brown and
there Ia border OF fine straight lines
around the entire stamp. The ten-cent
stamp contained a portrait Of Washing
Ron. made from stuartis painting. Its
color was black and n had in the upper
corners the letters u. 3" These two
stamps were all that were used until
1851, when letter postage was reduced
10 three cents. and a new series OF
stamps came in All Of theee stamps
are now obsolete, bat they included
eleven different denominations. There
was . oae-cent stamp, . three-cent
stamp and . fve-eent stamp. There
was also ten, twelve, twcnty-four,
thirty and ninety-ccnt stamps, and m
addition 10 these two carrier stamps
each of which cost one cent These
stamps all bore the busts of American
statesmen Four of them contained
portraits Of Washington. The three
cent stamp was made after the profile
bust by Houdon- The ten-cent stamp
represented three-quaYter face Of the
father Of our country after Stuart's
painting, and the Unemployment
stamp represented . different view Of
another of Stuart's portraits. Tho
ninety cent stamp also bore a portrait
OF Washington. This was engraved on
. very dark oblong brown, and the
coler Of the stamp was . deep indigo
blue. IL was taken from Trumbulrs
painting and represents Washington In
his generals uniform.
These stamps continued IN use until
1861. when the war broke out, and .
vast quantity of stamps which were in
the hands of the postmasters Of the
southern states became useless. The
postmasters Of the confederacy did not
suppose that they would ever be called
upon 10 account for them. and Postmas-
ter General Blair issued an order stat
ing that after . given date all stamps
issued previous 70 that date would not
be held good for postage. Up 10 this
time il was advertised that the old
stamps would be redeemed II they were
presented. and upon the date fixed the
new issue of stamps was made, and this
was the issue Of 1894. The same de-
nominations were used as in the former
issue. but the Decent local postage
stamp was added In 1868 stamps of 5.
10 and & cents were issued for news
paper postage. but they were not popu-
lar and were soon discontinued The