St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-10-08
ABOUT POSTAGE STAMPS.


0ullooo OF I0eo Coe0 AoD0olIy-Th0 -
cial Delivery Feature.
Il is barely Afty yeas since this con
venience was introduced into the Unite(
Statea The stamp is . little older IL
England. When first introduced post
age stamps were sold in solid sheets
OF course . great many were wasted il
the effort to tear them apart wheu
there were no perforationA Indeed
the loss and Inconvenience was 50 grea,
that the government offered . liberia
reward for patent which would over
come the difficulty. The first machine
submitted was one which cut the
stamps nearly but not entirely apart
While the postoffice department wa
considering this machine the idea OF
perforating the sheets in rows each
way was offered and promptly accepted.
Nothing better has ever been sought.
There WAS time when better paper
and mucilaRe was used, and when the
printing was IN improvement upon the
present stamps, but since We have
learned that damp spongue is fully "a
good ~ the tongue in preparing the
stamps for adhesion the quality Of the
materials used becomes Of less impor-
tance.
The number Of postage stamps used In
. year is something enormouA For
instance. the ordinary postal revenue
for the year ending June 50, 1881. ex-
elusive Of the money order business.
was e65, ,065, ,2o3.s OF this al. lS9, 1eo..
80 came from letter postage. The bulk
Of this is. Of course. In 2-cent stamps,
and it ID safe to put tho whole number
Of this denomination used 1t more than
two billions per snnum. The issuing
Of postage stamps, stamped en-
velopes and newspaper wrappers
al belong TO one Of the divisions under
the care Of the third assistant postmas-
ter general. There II another division
Of the same bureau which looks after
the registered letters. and still another
which attends 20 the system for the
special delivery Of letterA The clsssi.
acation Of mail matter belongs to this
bureau, and il Is with the third assist
ant postmaster general or his clerks
that newspapers and periodicals have
to quarrel over their rights 70 official
entry a second-class matter.
A ten-cent special delivery stamp on
. letter is supposed to keep Il in con-
slant motion from the time the letter is
deposited in the main or branch post
Office until it ID delivered to the ad-
dressee. There Is likely to be . lit
tie delay in the starting Of .
letter when IL il deposited In .
letter box instead Of post Office. but
must make way for special
delivery letters after they once get into
the vicinity Of . mailbag. The clerk
hustles them out with the first mail
leaving tie Office. and puts them on the
outside Of packages or in . bundle by
20 that the next Official can
see them 1T once. II the specialize
livery stamp is put on . package Of SEC
pnd, third or fourth-class matter, il has
10 be treated in . first-class manner-
that is, it goes into . pouch instead of
! sack, and il pushed through just Is
rapidly rs . letter bearing the same
stamp Last year there were over two
md half millions Of pieces sent by
special delivery, and II is interesting to
note that the average time consumed
n the delivery Of each parcel after it
the post Office of the addressee
Was only twenty minuteA-Kate Fields