The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-08-05
Facts About Postage Stamps.
SOME THING WORTH KNOWING ON THE
PART OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.

From Kate Fields washington.
1t is barely nifty years since this con-
venlence was introduced into the
United States. The stamp is a little
older in England When first in
troduced, ostage stamps were SOLD in
solid sheets. OF course great
many were wasted in the effort to
tear them apart when there were no
perforations Indeed the loss and in
convenience was SO great that the
government offered a liberal reward
for a patent which.would o. ercome the
difficulty. The first machine sub.
mitted was one which cut the stamp
nearly but not entirely apart. While
the Post Office Department was con
sidering this machine, the idea of
perforating the sheet in rows each
way was offered and promptly accept
ed, Nothing better has ever been sought.
There was a time when better pap
er and mucilage was used, and when
the printing was an improvement UP.
on the present stamps, but since we
have learned that damp sponge is
fully as good as the tongue in pre-
pairing the stamps for adhesion the
quality of the materials used be
comes of less importance.
The number Of postage stamps used
in a year is something enormous. For
instance, the ordinary postal revenue
for the year ending June so, 1891,
exclusive Of the money order bust
ness, was S65,o65, ,so5,S7. OF this
S4I,432,I29.5o came from letter
postage. The bulk of this is, OF
course, in two cent stamps, and it is
safe to put the whole number Of this
denomination used more than two
billions per annum.
The issuing of postage stamps,
stamped envelopes and newspaper
wrappers all belong to one Of the
divisions under the care of the Third
Assistant Postmaster General. There
is another division OF the same
bureau which looks after registered
letters, and still another which attends
to the system for the special delivery
OF letters. The classification of mail
matter belongs to this bureau, and it
Is with the Third Assistant Post
master General or his clerks that
newspapers and periodicals have to
quarrel over their rights to officials en-
try as second-class matter.
A Ioc, special deivey stamp on a
letter is supposed to keep it in con-
slant motion from the time the letter
is deposited in the main or branch
post Office until 1t is delivered to the
addressee. There is liable to be a
little delay in the starting OF a letter
when it is deposited in letter box in
stead Of post Office, but everything
must make way for special delivery
letters after they once get into the
vicinity Of mail bag. The clerk
hustles them out with the first mail
leaving the Office and put them on
the outside ofpackages, or in bum
die by themselves, SO that the next
official can see them at once. If the
special delivery stamp is put on a
package of second, third or fourth.
class matter-that is, it goes into a
pouch instead of a sack, and is push
ed through just as rapidly as a letter
bearing the same stamp.
Last year there were over two and a
half million of pieces sent by special
delivery, and it is interesting to note
that the average time consumed III
the delivery of parcel after it reached
the post office of the addressee was
twenty minutes.