The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-10-18
ABOUT POSTAGE STAMPS.
THE ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GEN
ERALS HISTORY oFUNCLE SANS

IaE ASSIST AMI FOSIM AS En- GEN
ERALS HISTORY OFUNCLE SANS
he Tells the Story of the Different
Issues, Why Charges Are Made and
How the Designs Upon the stamps
Are Chosen-Some OF the New Pict-
ures Taken From Daguerreotypas.
The Effect OF the War Upon Our
S,smps-stamps OF High Denomina-
tions-The $50 Stamp and How It is
Used-The Effect of Business on
Stamp Salss-How the Panic of 1878
Reduced Them.
tCopVrgatl
! WASHINGTON, Oct l7.-Americans are
the greatest letter-writing people on the
! globe. OF the fifty odd billion pieces Of
mail which are posted in the world every
| year nearly three billions go through the
postoffices Of the United States. We spend
every year more than So, 000, 900 for post
age, aud during the past twelve months
! American tongues have licked the backs of
SSI. 100000 worth of sticky stamps. The
postage stamps sold every year the world
over far surpass in value the riches of Jay
Gould or the Rothschilds, and the postage
stamp Industry Of the world is one OF the
great factors in the machinery which moves
the universe to-day. And yet postage
stamps are OF comparative recent origin
1t is barely fifty years ago since they were
first used in England, and in IS47 congress
first authorized their use in the United
States
Tne first stamps issued were the denoni-
1 nations = bcsa Sta "a
now obsolste, and they would not be recog>
nized By the pOstothces. The scent stamp
contained a portrait of Franklin made alter
painting by John B. Longacre, in which
the first Postmaster General is represented
wearing 3 hlte neckerchief and a coat with
fur collar. The color of the stamp is a
light brown, ead there is border of fine
straight lines around the entire stamp. The
lO-cent stamp contained a portrait
OF W ashlngton made from Stuart's
painting. Its color was black and It
had IN the upper corners the letters
~. S" These two stamps were all that
were used until 1851, when letter postage
was reduced to 8 cents. and new series Of
stamps came in. All of these stamps are
now obsolete, but they included eleven diff
ferent dsaomi latiOns. There was 1>cent
stamp, scent stamp and Scent stamp.
There was also 10, ~, p, 80 and
90-csnt stamps, and in addition to these two
! edCu OF WHICH cost i cent.
These stamps all bore the busts Of Ameri-
can statesmen. Four of them contained
portraits of Washington. The s.
cent stamp was made after the profile bust
by Houdon. The 10>cent stamp represented
three quarter face of the father of our
country after Stuart's painting and the 24-
cent stamp represented different view of
Stuarts p rtraits. The 90-cent stamp also
bore q portrait of Washington This was
engraved on very dark oblong brown, and
the color OF the stamp was deep indigo blue
1t was taken from rrumbulrs painting aud
represents Washington in his generals uni
form.
These stamps continued in use until 1861,
when the war broke out, and vast guam
tlty or stamps which were III the hands of
the possmasters of the southern states be-
came useless. The postmasters of the con-
federacy did not suppose that they would
ever be called upon to account for them and
Postmaster General Blair Issued an order
stating that after given date all stamp is
sued previous to that date would not be
held good for postage. Up to this time it
was advertised that the old stamps would
be redeemed If they were presented ard
upon the dale fixed the new issue of stamps
was made and this was the issue of 1861 The
same denominations were used as in the
former issue, but the 2cent local postage
stamp was added. In 1865 stamps of 5. 10
age, but they were not popular AID were
soon discontinued. The next issue of stamps
was in 1862 and we had another in 1870
: The series of 1870 continued until 1890, aud
1t was superseded only few months ago by
= the stamps now in use.
At present there are more stamps in use
than most people have any idea of. The
new stamps alone range in denomination
from l cent 10 90 Genus, and there is To-
cent stamp, l5>cene stamp and 30-cent
stamp. The designs for all the stamps are
sslecJe by the Postmaster General with the
assistance of his subordinates. The faces on
the stamps are sharply criticised, and the
greatest care is taken TO get designs which
will be popular and appropriate. It has
: been said that the portraits on all
the American stamps are taken from bnsts
or statues. This is mistake. The
portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the new
Accent stamp is after a photograph from
life, and the same is true Of the Scent
Grant stamp and the 6-cent stamp bearing
the face of ex-Presdent Garfield. The 10
cent stamp hos portrait of Daniel Web
ster after a daguerreotype from life, and
: the same is the origin OF the portrait Of
Henry Clay on the blue lucent issue. The
remainder OF the stamps of the new issue
are taken from busrs and Commodore
Perry's picture on the 90-cent stamp is after
Wolcott's statue.
The highest denomination issued by the
United States in the form of stamp is the
500 stamp, which Is used by newspape in
paying their postage bills For the same
purpose are the 81 80 stamp, the IS stamp
and the various other denominations rang
ing from that on to S4S
In no way can one get better idea of
the growth of the United States in both
population and business than by looking
over the statistics Of stamp sales. During
the three years after stamps were first
adopted. from 1847 to 1851, only
100000 stamps, in round numbers,
were sold. 1t took the people about
three years 10 get acquainted with
their value, and to show that they appreci~
ated the reduction of the postage to 8
cents in 1852. the volume OF letters increased
almost So 600 in single year. In 1862
there were 81 100000 letters sent with
American stamps through the American
mails and from that on there has been
steady increase up to the present, when the
number runs up into the billions. A finan-
cial panic materially reduces the increase in
our sales of postage stamps. Prior to
1873 the country had enjoyed a long
season of prosperity. The war had
been followed by the RS grafton #
business and social intercourse and the
greatest activity prevailed in all branches
of industry. The mails were packed with