The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-23
Columbian { tamps.


clerk, as he sat on the ledge in the postoffice
lobby, sticking Columbian 1-cent stamps on
a batch of circular letters. "They are too
big to handle quickly, and a few of them
exhaust a tongues moisture"
The clerk probably voiced the sentiment
Of large portion OF the business commu-
nifty as TO WEAKNESS Of the Innovation. No
body is Obliged to buy the Columbian stamps
unless he wishes to-; at the same time it is
policy for business men TO use them.
for a while yet. at least. until the
novelty wears off. They attract the
attention of the person addressed, and
that is a desideratum with all persons who
have something to sell, and convey the in
formation by post. Nevertheless, it is a
fact that the popularity of the new stamps
is waning. The postoffice department seems
to have struck a happy medium in the size
OF the old regular-issue stamps. They are
neither too large nor too small for rapid
working business men and are quite artistic
enough to suit exactiDg philatelists, and
these are the classes chiefly interested in the
size and shape of postage stamps The
casual correspondent can get along with
| anything.
AS regards the new stamps, the collectors
are the people chiefly interested in them
now; the business men long TO return to the
OLD stamps, which they will do as
! soon as the pictures on the l.,
and scent Columbian stamps become
familiar. The higher priced stamps will
never become familiar to the public. from
the simple fact that they canuot possibly be
used in the mails. Occasionally it may be
expedient TO use a ,50-cent stamp for the
transmission OF a package through the
mails but such GASES are, not frequent so
even the 50-cent stampis almost useless IN
| business, and the making Of Columbian
stamps of that value, and ON up TO IS, was
simply working kind Of confidence game
on the collectors. They will pay their dol
lars for scraps of payer to add to their col
lectious that other wise would not be worth
a picayune 10 the government, since post
age stamps represent nothing but the gov
ernments receipt for postage paid.
Even II a person should desire to use
one of the larger denomination of stamps in
| actual mail service he could hardly do
so without wantoniy throwing away a
part of the cost, or mailing an extraordi-
narily heavy book. Under the postal Law S
no package Of the fourth Tor merchnndisel
class in excess of four pounds can be sent
through the mails. The new stamps can
not be used on second-class tuewspaper)
matter, which goes at a low rate per pound.
The rate on fourth-class matter is l cent
Ter ounce. On package coming up to
the full limit OF weight. sixty-fdur ounces,
it will be seen that. even II the package
we're registered. it would not require 81
stamp. Suppose the package should be
an enormous letter, Weighing sixty
four ounce, at cents per
ounce aud registry fee, the amount
would be much less than the value of S2
stamp. If the package should be book
| (third-class matter, rate l cent for two
ounces), it would have to weigh sixty-two
pounds and eight ounces to require a s.
stamp. And there are very few Of that
weight books published.
The "jubilee' stamps are pretty; they
teach snort course in the history Of our
country by pictures, at the rate of $40. 20 per
course, and are decidedly neat souvenirs OF
the Columbian period in which we now live
But for practical purposes more than half Of
the denominations are useless and the
others are little larger than busy people
like to lick.