Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-03-02
POSTAGE STAMPS.
INTERESTING FACTS CONCERN
ING THEIR MANUFACTURE.
II is Astonishing TO Contemplate the
Proportions to Which This De-
partment Of Uncle Sans
Business Has Grown.
7 TNCLE SAMUEL is a monopo-

exclusive control and behoof are:
The levy and collection of imposts,
otherwise known as the tariff; the
coinage and issue of money, and the
issue and sale of postage stamps.
In each Of these three great lines Of
business he is absolutely without com
petition. But it is in his little stamp
business that our thrifty relative has
his greatest monopoly. Postage
stamps cost him only few cents per
thousand to print, and he sells hun
dreds and hundreds Of millions of
them every year at prices ranging
from $40 up to $1,000 or more per
thousand.
That, however, is only one way OF
looking at it, The printing and sale
of the stamps is only one-half of the
transaction, and 10y the time Uncle
Sam redccms them by performing the
service which they call for, he seldom
has any profit left, and it frequently
happens that he must draw upon his
bank account to make mp deficit.
There is considerable profit in trans
porting letters by the ton and the car
load between large cities at two cents
apiece, but it is the carrying Of the
light mails over the thousands Of 'star
routes" all over the country that abb
serbs the profits.
IT costs more to carry handful OF
letters by mule back to Bitter Root,
or Dog Tooth, or Goose Creek, than
it does to carry whole bag full from
New York to Chicago.
It is seldom that Uncle Sam in
dulges in anything like sentiment but
the old gentleman did so in the recent
matter of the Columbian stamps, and
now he finds it didn't pay. He con
trscted to haze 1900 millions Of these
made at a cost Of seventeen cents per
thousand. or q little over a half million
of cool cash dollars for the mere item
of printing alone.
There wa.5 quite rush for the new
series when they were first put on
sale about a ysar ago, but the novelty
soon wore Of, and it became only too
apparent that the public preferred the
old styles.
Here was a quandary. Seventy. four
dollars and thirty cents per million
for printing the old style which the
public wanted, as against $40 per
million for printing the new, which
they evidently did not want. How
ever. the contractors generously re-
leased the Government from one-third
of the contract, and he now addressed
himself to the task of working off the
remainder Of the 2O0O millions that
were printed and delivered.
And Just here shows up one OF the
beauties of doing business which Is
an absolute monopoly
When, at the closing mp of the year
inst ended, Uncle Sam found himself
with sl65. 900, 0O0 of the undesirable
and unstable "Columbias' still on
hand, he simply prorated the entire
stock among the three thousand and
odd Presidential postofices in the
country, and sent them out with IN
structions to the postmasters to give
the public nothing else until this stock
shall be worked Oft
Uncle Sam is thinking of printing
his stamps himself instead OF letting
out the job by contract, and there
would seem to be no good reason why
he should not do so. He can proba-
bIv have it done as cheaply and as well
in his own bureau of engraving and
printing as it is now done by contract
and there are many reasons why 1t
would be beneficial to the public ser
vice
Under the contract system the
stamps are made by one firm in New
York the envelopes are furnished by
another firm in Connecticut, while
still third firm supplies the postal
cards.
The Government is under the neces-
sitv of maintaining on agent with as
sistants at each of these places, and
these agents must exercise the strict
est oversight of the whole business
from the taking in of the blank paper
TO the sending out Of the finished sup
plies upon the rsquisitions of the
pOstmasters.
All these requisitions must reach the
agencies from the postmasters through
the department at Washington, and all
complaints from the postmasters on
account of shortage or miscount must
travel through the same channel, thus
involving much delay and red tape.
Then again, oil stamps damaged in
the making must be transmitted by
the agent to the department for de-
struction. If but single stamp is
imperfect on sheet the whole sheet
is sent to Washington and destroyed.
-Four or five millions of stamps are
thus remitted to the department every
week, where they are carefully counted
sad then burned. This would seem
to involve much trouble and expense,