The morning call., 1894-07-01

saving of $4,000 will accrue to the Gov
ernment by having the postage stamps
printed by The bureau.
'sIt has been argued that the Govern.
msnt pays higher wages than private cor
porati0ns, and, therefore, cannot do the
work as cheaply. While this is true IN
the first particular. it is offset In several
ways. but mainly by the lact that the an
nual profit of $4,000 to $4,000 is not in
cluded in the estimate submitted by the
bureau; whereas, that profit is the induce
ment which causes private corporation
or individual to seek the contract.
Postage stamps are securities OF the
Government that should be surrounded in
their manufacture by as many checks
against surreptitious printing, and guarded
| with all the care and vigilance that are
exercised in the manufacture of bank
notes. In fact, there is a much greater
| possibility of fraudulent printing and use
of postage stamps than of banknotes. The
stamps are printed in sheets of 400. and
are. therefore, worth from $4 to $3.50 per
sheet, according to denomination.
"They have no serial number or mark OF
any kind whatever to guide the officers OF
the Government in the detection and stop
| page of fraud. The Government, under
the present contract. is depending not
but on that of the contractors employees.
| 1t would be absolutely impossible to de-
| tect the difference between a stamp issued
| by the Postoffice Department and one that
| had been disposed of and used through the
connivance of either the contractor or the
employees engaged In the production OF the
stamps.
craving and Printing the stamps will be
! subject to the same check register system
and guarded with the same vigilance that
| has accomplished the manufacture OF bill
| lions OF dollars worth of banknotes, bonds
| and other securities. without the loss OF
even sheet Of paper. This, in my opin-
| ion. ia a result that has not been and will
not be obtained by private corporation.
| 1t is attended by the expenditure Of large
annual outlay that would seriously impair
the profit on work done.by private parties.
"The Bureau Of Engraving and Printing
has the finest plant of its kind in existence,
and it seemed strange to me that the post
age stamps, representing millions of dol
| lars of Government securities, should De
printed outside the Governments own es-
tablishment, when the Government could
! be given the benefit of absolute security
| against fraud and also effect largo an
nual saving. These are the reasons for
securing the work for the bureau"
The cost of the current stamps under
| the old contract was about IL cents per
| thousand, and under the new contract they
are 10 be furnished for 5 cents per thou
sand. The unsuccessful bid of the Amer-
can Bank Note Company was about 6
! cents per thousand.
While on the subject OF the cost of
stamps it will be interesting to learn the
prices paid for number of years back.
La 1869 the contract price was 27h cents
per thousand. This rate held good until
1873, when it was reduced to about 10
cents. In 1877 another cut was made to 10
cents. which was further reduced
in 1881 to about 1-5 cents. From June 80.
| 1885, to the 1st of January, 1890, the price
was cents, which was advanced about a
| half cent when the contract was renewed
| to run until to-day.
1t is claimed by the American Bank Note
! Company that there are certain trade
| secrets in making the stamps which are
not known to the bureau, but this state
ment is simply ridiculed by the bureau
people, who say that if there are any such
! secrets the owners of them are quite well
! come to keep them.
The color WORK on the postage stamps
will not be- new to the bureau. In addi-
! tion to the work it has done on
proprietary stamps. it has used every
shade of color in its other work, and all
the mixing of c0lors was done in the bu-
reau.
With the change in the contractors there
! is now greater probability that several
new values will be added to and at least
one value, the 90-cent. dropped from the
new issue. The new denomina ations will
| probably be 50-cent and 81, 50 and ST.
| stamps Should the 90-cent become obso-
lete that value of the present issue is cer-
tain to rapidly advance in price. as COM
paratively few have been used since their
| issuance in 1890. Last year hardly any
were in demand. as the Columbian largely
supplied the need for heavy mail matter.
The present situation also makes the
toned in last Sundays issue of The CALI
more likely.