The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
B. I'll. LEVY & Bro.


matter to be sent under frank by mem
bers of congress. In 1873 the franklng
privilege was abolished entirely. In 1874
a rate of 10 cents for each bound vol
ume of public documents was established.
But the next year 1t was provided that
the Congressional Record or any part of
II, as well as copies of speeches included
in It, might be franked At present "a
senator or representative is at liberty to
frank anything except matter that is
strictly private.
The United States government prints and
sells 4OO,O0OO00 stamps annually. Up to
two years ago all the stamps were printed
under contract by the bank note company
I'm New York; but Ii was decided that the
charge Of the business itself Very little
machinery had to be bought for the pur-
pose, inasmuch as the treasury already
possessed one of the finest engraving and
printing plants in the world. The print
ing Is done by small presses, each of which
turns out 1000 stamps minute, or about
100000 an hour. The printed sheets of
stamps go to the cumming machine, where
they are fed into one end of a covered
trough sixty feet long. Each sheet re-
ceives a coat of fresh mucllage On its re-
verse side as 1t enters the trough and Is
then carried along by endless chains
through the covered box, which Is heated
by hot-air pipes, coming out at the other
end perfectly dry. 1t only remains TO put
the sheets through contrivances with little
toothed wheels, to make the perforations,
and then they are ready to be put up in
packages and sent to the postoffices on re-
QUESTION by the postofTiee department.
The fad for collecting postage stamps
has grown greatly in popularity during
the last few years, so that the market
value OF rare specimens generally has
about doubled within n decade. good
collection OF stamps represents as def
mite value as so much real estate, and
VIII fetch corresponding price al auc-
ton any time. Thus many persons have
gone into the business OF collecting as an
investment, the steady increase in the
worth of the rarer issues being equivalent
10 nigh rate of interest on the money
Some OF the most valuable collections in
the world are said to belong to certain
indian princes. IL is stated that not long
ago minor potentate of Afghanistan
paid to a dealer in London the sum OF
NzOO Tor collection of Afghanistan
stamps. The greatest collection OF stamps
IN the world Is owned by the multi-mil-
I1onalre - FarrarX,, and is worth $4,000.
SlO,DO. These and one other In possession
OF an English millionaire named Tapeling.
are the three greatest collections In the
Not many years ago a ragman in Lon
don picked out OF a. refuse heap a queer
looking stamp which he was shrewd
e snr s6 % 2b PIreserybe selling Il eventually
an enormous price. but since then single
postage stamps have been disposed of for
as mucn as $1,000 apiece; The most valua-
BILE stamps In the world to-day are those
OF Maurtius, certain Hawaiian specimens
coming next In 1871 an issue of two stamps
eIHdHhleu from tue lsland-One an orange
colored one-penny stamp, the other a blue
two-penny. Uncanceled, these are worth
5000 apiece Cancelled they lose $3.50 In val
ne. Among the most valuable stamps are
certain issues OF the confederate states
There Is an issue OF JetersVille Va which
was only IN use about three months. But
two specimens are known, and they are
valued at 81 900 each. There Is "a great de-
mand at present for the distinctive stamps
which were issued at one time by the va
rious government departments. those OF
the department OF justice being especially
valuable The s. state department stamp
Is worth 500 to-day, and !, 2, 3. and %
cents executive stamps are quoted at $50 a
set
The most beautiful stamps In the world
to-day are those Of Russia, but they are
printed in water-colors. and viii not wash
me postage stamps Of the United States
nowadays do not speak very well for art
culture In this country, but the earlier is
sues were very beautiful, indeed. being
each OF them In several colors This made
the printing of them much more expeu-
sive, and on that account the present
method OF employing only one tint was
adopted. one Of the most astonishing phe-
nomena In stamp collecting Is the vitality
OF the old delusion which may be called