The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-16
Major, Beware tho Sticky Green.

We wonder X GREEN ARSENIC HOWARD
is yet alive, or is it his sickly verdant
ghost that stalks, in 1897, through the
corridors of the General Post Object
Without warning to the sleeping cham
pions of philatelic art, without notice to
the people of the United States, without
opportunity for public discussion, it is sud-
denly announced from Washington that
the Mckinley Administration has decided
to resurrect and restore to circulation the
sickly green two.cent postage stamp which
was sent to the morgue in June, 1889, by
Postmaster General WANAMAKER amid
universal rejoicings.
We cannot believe that this report Is
true. Americans have not yet forgotten
the memorable campaign of 1ss7-1ss9 for
the determination of the nauseating thing
which GREEN ARSENIC HOWARD, with
Postmaster-General Villas aiding and
GROVER CLEVELAND consenting, inflicted
upon the country in place of the beautiful
Venetian red stamp that President AR
THURS Administration had given us. The
sickly green stamp of ten years ago re-
sembled nothing so much as "a hand
full Of stewed spinach smashed against a
"hhtS hih toilioStohS, 90 was apply
remarked by one of our heroic allies
in that eighteen.months' fight for sound
aesthetic principles. 1t was not the least
Of the sins Of C~levelandism. 1t excited
general disgust and occasioned widespread
misery among business men. wives and
sweethearts, and all others who frequently
use the United States mails. With charac-
teristic stubbornness the Cleveland Admin
istration, while it lasted, refused to change
the sickly green postage stamp even at the
demand of sixty millions of people bowling
for relief. Not until Gen. HARRISON came
in, with his patriotic impulses. and the
Hon. JOHN WASAMAKER, with his gener-
Gus regard for public opinion, did THE Sun
succeed in persuading the Post Office au-
thorities to wipe of the spinach stain from
the face of GEORGE WASHINGTON and to re-
store the cheerful hue of health to that hon
ored countenance.
We respectfully advise Major MCKINLEY
to make a personal investigation of the
historical facts before he permits the Hon.
JAMES ALBERT GARY. at the instigation OF
GREEN ARSENIC HOWARD, or anybody else,
to issue another edition of the sickly green
postage stamp OF Mr.. C~LEvELAND's first
term. Let the President send for some
trusted friend who has preserved in an al
bum examples Of the past horrors of phil.
ately, and see for himself, II he has already
forgotten, what the stewed spinach and
marble tombstone thing of the late eighties
was really like. Major MCKINLEY is q
cheerful gentleman, and he wants to
make things pleasant for others. Let
him ask himself if he desires that his AID
ministration shall be remembered and exc
Grated as the reviver of that dismal aniline
atrocity. Let him not be misled by the
assertion Of any person belonging to the
arsenical party that a less depressing green
is now possible on account of progress in
the art of making inks, or that green is
particularly becoming to the majestic fea-
lures of the Father of his Country. 1t is
quite enough that WASHINGTON should be
depicted in that color ON the back Of the
one-dollar silver certificates.
We observe the paltry argument that the
Post Office Department will save 80, OOOa
year by going back to green ink for the
two-cent postage stamp. 1t will be u costly
economy. That is to say, for the sake of an
infinitesimal saving of about one.thtrd of
one.thousdndth of one cent on each of the
three billion two-cent stamps issued an.
%nually, every inhabitant of tho United
States Is to be compelled to undergo an un.
necessary pang or risk a qualm of nausea
every time he or she mails or receives n
business communication, a misslve Of
friendship, or the tender epistle of domes-
tic or pre-connubial affectionl