The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-11-09
STAMP COLLECTORS.
They Are Always Bothering the
Post Office Department., Who
Think Them Cranks.

1uluh 1nOIh OtAh1Aos
One day last week a boy walked in
to the NEWS office and asked permits
sion to rummage through the trash
baskets for old postage stamps. He
was asked his object in collecting
them and answered that he had been
promised forty dollars if he collected a
million. 1t probably never occurred
to the young man that it was as prob
able that he would ever get SO many
together as that he would live a mil
lion years. Apropos of this subject
the Washington Star says
mo one has everyet sent in a mil
lion cancelled postage stamps to the
Post Office Department, although two
hundred letters are received annually
requesting information about the
prize of 5000 which the Government IS
supposed to offer for that number.
How that popular delusion originally
started no one can tell. For twenty
years it las prevailed, and during all
that time people have been making
collections for sale to Uncle Sam. Pre-
sumably no one has thus far secured
the desired million.
'.At all events the packages of old
stamps sent to Washington as INSTALL
ments never contain more than a few
thousand; 90, 900 were the most that
ever came in one bundle. Ordinarily
the collector gets tired by the time
4, 900 OR G, ZOO have been got together.
Children are mostly engaged in this
interesting but fruitless pursuit,
though many women, both young and
old, take it up for a while and bother
everybody they know for contribu-
lions of stamps from old letters.
People are constantly writing to
the department with requests for
stamps to put in their albums, both
domestic and foreign. Sometimes
they say that the dealers charge o
than they can afford, SO they appeal
to Mr.. Wanamaker. Awhile ago the
post office used to sell specimen sets of
it's issues, unused, but that was dis
continued In 1884.
"A very interesting album is keptin
the stamp division, containing sets OF
all the stamps that the Government
has ever issued. The book is worth q
lot of money merely for the face value
represented by it's contents. On the
first page are the two stamps OF Uncle
| Sans issue in 1847. One of them is
for five cents with a head OF Franklin,
and the other is for ten cents with
| Washington's bust. Before that wear
letters were distributed by mail In
packages with accompanying way
| bills, and the prices charged tor post
age varied according to the distance.
On another page of the scrap book
are found the first perforated stamps,
which appeared in 1867. Up to that
time the stamps had to be cut apart
with shears. The perforations then
were made much finer than they are
now. 1t is said that the British Gov
eminent paid a large sum forthe idea,
but the United States did not give u
| cent for its use.
Another page in the scrap book is
occupied by the stamps OF 1863, which
were so very beautiful that the print
ing Of them cost too much and they
had to be discontinued. Whereas
Uncle Sans postal tokens at the
present time are less handsome than
those of almost any other nation,
| these were among the most exquisite
ever issued. The 15-cent brown bore
a picture of the landing of Columbus
in blue. The 24-cent green was
| adorned with the "Signing Of the
| Declaration in purple. The 30-cent
| stamp had a lovely design, represent
ing a shield. eagle and flags in red,
white and blue. The 12-cent sort was
in green, with a steamship on it; the
Scent denomination was u~ltramarine,
with a locomotive, and the 2-cent
brown showed a maj on horseback.
All these colors cost money, and,
where a stamp was printed in two
f;-fe - ha1 ~ ~o fhrNt,r1, tho rapacsoc
twice. Accordingly the entire series
was Don suppressed"
Marriage Statistics.
Here is some information about the
percentage of women who marry,
which is very interesting.
Taking the earliest marrying age to
be fifteen, which is the minimum in
most civilized countries, and letting
100 represent her entire chance of mar
rying at certain points of her progress
through life, a woman's chances of
marriage stand in the following
ratio:-
Per cent.
Between the age of IS and 20 years. 4 ~
Between the age OF 20 and rs years.. 81
Between tn age of % aud 30 years.. IL
Between the age of 30 and SO yeas. 10 f32
Between the age Of 81 and DO years.. 3l-s
Between the axe OF 40 and 45 years. 21-2
Between the age of As an 90 years. .3-S OF
Between the age of so and 80 years. ia of
Above the age Of go her chances are
only one-tenth OF l per cent, or two
in 1000, says the London Times. That
marriage is a lottery is a time-worn
saying, but Sir Francis Cation has
been investigating the results as far
as temper is concerned, with the fol-
lowing curious results based on the
peculiarities of 200 couples.
He found that 90 per cent. of wives