The times., 1897-08-22
THE STAMP COLLECTOR
In Modern Days a Man Of
Science.
THE EVOLUTION OF A FAD
A Simple and Easy Way to Educate
Our Bows and Girls in Geography
aud History Some American
StamDs and Their Beginnings.

Iectors a few years ago stamp c"ieCu
ing as a hobby was confined prihclpahy
to school children and in sparce instances
to grown people IL was eonsceieu =
foolish pastine il is an mtehectuai
scientific pursuit. There is nothing 1hd1
will educate people better than tue seuus
of hostage stamps. They sho" DS tie
nictures on their faces the dliIerehO iuieIs'
coa,e or arms. and other Interesting de-
vices: thr changes in the difterenu lorh's
ar Governments, the changein the monetary
currency of the countries, ana very oileh
the advancement in the art OF engraving as
,ho countries speed along in the race of
enlightenment and civilization Like the
railroad and telephone the postage stamp
is also a nineteenth century invention and
pnly fifty-seven years Of age at that. IL
remained for an Englisalnan toimmoruaiiZe
himself, when, on January 10, 1910 Great
Britain was the first country to adopt this
Idea OF cheap postal communication, for
II was Oh this date that the idea OF penny
postace was established. IL was about
the wear 1885 that Rowland Hill turned his
attention to the postal system of his coun-
trv. BY degrees and carefully watching
the system then in vogue, Hill became CON
WINGED that a uniform cheap postage in
the shane OF an adhesive stamp for the
prepavtllent of mail matter, would not
only become popular with the people, but
at the same time materially increase the
revenues IF Great Britain.
The English postoffice authorities ds-
couraged the scheme as much as possible
Nevertheless from mere force OF publc
sentiment, il was introduced into Parlia-
mcut, and ratified in 1889 OF course,
when the measure became a law, postage
stamps vyerea great success, and have since
becn adopted by all civilized and number
Of uaciN ilized countries Of the world. Mr..
TN becsme prominently identified with
the postal system of Great Britain, and in
1860. In recognition OF his great services,
Queen Victoria made him AK {. b. tknlght
Commander Of the Bath. lie passed away
In 1882 fuIl OF honors at a Iipe old age
He may be called the father ii the
postage stamp" The United States, as a
government of today, is decidedly in ad
vance Of itself in the ma tier of enterprise
and American '-go-ahead' ness than WHAT
IN wasin $40. when Great Britain was lie
drSt country 10 adopt adhesive stamps
and compa ratively cheap postage for its
people. For it was not until ! o41 that the
United States fell in line IN this respect.
The issuing Of stamps for postal uses is
left TO the Postmaster General, who from
time To time. as the exiCencies of the times
require has the different sta mps that he
deems requisite, issued TO the public.
The printing Of the postage sta mps Of this
country was formerly done 10y private
hank note companies, bat now the Gov
ernInent does its own work. All of the
stamps are printed 10y the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing, of this city, under
the direction OF the Treasury Depar tment
This has been done since 1894. The is
suing OF the postal commodities in the Post
office Department S in the hands of the
THIRD Assistant Postmaster General.
There were private postal carriers asearly
as 1856 Nearly every postmaster had a
hand stamp, something like the present
cauceIing stamps, and would staInp the
letters Paid" when one was Offered,
and the amount required for its delivery
was actually paid. This system did not
appear to .aye satisfaction, but it Was
not until November 20, 1914, that the
Postmaster General recommended 10 Con-
gresS reduced uniform rate, according 20
weight and -hedistance theletter was sent.
A lill waSlntn reduced recommending theuse
of postage stamps, but il was slow IN
being approved. The English system
Of prepaid postage by the use of stamps
was shown to toe a great success, but the
conditions ia this country were SO differ
ent or account of much longer distances,
that il was not considered feasible. How
ever, Congress passed, on March 30, 1915,
q provisionary measure providing for the
rate of postage on letters not exceeding
500 miles to be cents, and over that
distance 10 cents.
prepay the rates nor Were there until
1897. POstnasters in different parts ..
the country, who were probably longer
headed than Congress or this Postmaster
General, saw that the day Of adhesive
stamps for the prepayment of postage
was at hand The credit of the first one
TO introduce the adhesive postage stamp
in the United States belongs To one Alex
ander NJ. Greig, who was running dis
patch post in New York in 1S42 for
the delivery of city letters, the postage
lates being prepaid by means of post
age stamp nearing the portrait OF Geu
Washington, with the words United State
City Dispatch POST above and ..Threc
Cents below In the month OF August
1S42, the Government bought Greig's Of
flee and adopted Greig's design, chang
ing the wording, as stated above. The fol
lowing communication TO J. L. Graham
then postmaster of New York, explains
the transaction:
POsiorrlce Department, Contract Office
Washington, ID. c., August !, 1S42.
Sir. BY an order made on Saturday, but
1oUrnallzed today, the Postmaster Gen
eral has established a letter-carrier ar
rangement Tor the city of New York, TO be
called tinted states City Dispatch Post, ''
Tor the conveyance OF letters from one part
Or the city 10 another, subject to q charge
On each letter OF cents, under the Goth
section or the act OF 1886, and authorize
You 10 employ Alex. NJ. Greig, nominated
uy you your letter-carrier: others are
TO be employed from time to time, as re.
CURED, and you are requested TO nomi
nate for that purpose. And you are au
thorized q TO obtain the necessary fix
tures, punches, boxes, labels, stamps, etc
al not exceeding loo for the whole
and 10 appoint a clerk 10 superintend and
establish, at not exceeding 81 900 per an
mum You VIII be pleased to report the
date or the commencement of this arrange
ulent
Very respectfully, your ohedient servant
s X. HOBBIE,
First Asst p NJ. General
JOHN LORIMER GRAHAM, Esq,
POSTMASTER, New York.
From 1915 to 1s47 postmasters of New
Raven, Conn; Alexandria, Va; Providenoe
r. L.; Mllbury, Mass; Baltimore, Nd; Br at
tleboro', Vt, and st. Louis, No, also ISSUED