Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-10-28
| ABOUT POSTAGE STAMPS.
Assistant Postmaster General
HazAn Discusses the Subject.
He Tells the Story of the Different Is
sues, Why Changes Are Made and
How the Different Designs Upon
the Stamps Are Chosen.
ICOPYRIGHT, 1911

ICoPYRIGHT, 1911
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
post offices of the United States.
We spend every year more than
So, 900, 600 for postage, and during
the past twelve months Ameri-
can tongues have licked the backs of
$37, 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 bare
ly fifty years ago since they were first
used in England, and in 1847 congress
first authorized their use in the United
States.
The first stamps issued were the de-
nominations of five and ten cents.
These stamps are now obsolete and
they would not be recognized by the
post offices. The five-cent stamp con-
UdluCu IL pOIIIuiI Vi
after painting by John B. Longacre,
in which the first postmaster general is
represented wearing a white necker-
chief and a coat with fur collar. The
color of the stamp is light brown and
there is a border of fine straight lines
around the entire stamp. The ten-cent
stamp contained a portrait of Washing
ton, made from Stuart's painting. Its
color was black and it had il the upper
corners the letters ''U. S." These two
stamps were all that were used until
1851, when letter postage was reduced
to three cents, and new series of
stamps came in. All of these stamps
are now obsolete, but they included
eleven different denominations. There
was one-cent stamp, a three-cent
stamp and a fve-cent stamp. There
was also ten, twelve, twenty-four,
thirty and ninety-cent stamps, and in
addition to 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-quarter face of the
father of our country after Stuart's
painting, and the twenty
stamp represented a different view of
another of Stuart's portraits. The
ninety-cent stamp also bore portrait
of Washington. This was engraved on
a very dark oblong brown, and the
color of the stamp was deep indigo
blue. 1t was taken from Trumbull's
painting and represents Washington in
his generals uniform.
These stamps continued in use until
1861, when the war broke out, and a
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 to account for them, and Postmas-
ter General Blair issued an order stat
ing that after given date all stamps
issued 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, and upon the date fixed the
new issue of stamps was made, and this
was the issue of 1861. The same de-
nominations were used as in the former
issue, but the 2-cent local postage
stamp was added. In 1865 stamps of s,
10 and 25 cents were issued for news
paper postage, but they were not popu-
lar and were soon discontinued. The
next issue of stamps was in 1869, and