Arizona republican., 1899-03-16
MILES OF STAMPS.
Many Millions of Them Were Is-
 sued Last Year.
Some Ma hematica1 Genius Has Fig ured It Out That Piled One on the Other They Would Reach to a
 Height of Twenty-One Miles.

Uncle Sam printed just a few postage stamps during the year 1898. TLr num- Der of two-cent stamps issued during the year was about 2,500, ,0O0,O Such a number, obviously, is beyond the grasp of the human mind, but perhaps the matter may be made more clear by putting it otherwise.
 An ordinary two-cent stamp is exact ly one inch long. From this fact, by little calculation, it is easy to discover that the number of stamps of this de- nomination issued in 1898, placed end to end, would extend a distance consid- erabIy exceeding 39, ,OOO miles. In other words, they would make a continuous strip Of stamps, each one adorned with the head Of the father of his country, stretching in a belt more than once and T half around the equator.
 Of course, though the two-cent stamps are those principally used, there are others. Enough one cent postage stamps have been issued during the year 1898 to stretch from New York city, by way of Europe and Asia. to Bombay. India, if similarly arranged in one strip. All other stamps, as to pro-
  tance comparatively speaking. but it is interesting to know that almost exact ly one mile of one dollar stamps were manufactured for the demand of 1898. Of five-dollar stamps the production was equivalent to little more than half a furlong, or about one-fifteenth of a nile
 Now, if all the postage stamps print ed by the United States government in 1898 were placed one on top another, as neatly as might be without putting them under pressure, how high do you suppose the pile of them would be? There is no use guessing; you would never get it nearly right, unless you went to work to calculate it for your self. The $500, ,0OO,O0O stamps of all printed during the cur rent year-the statement, of course, is pproximate-would tOwerlto an eleva-d tion of 21 miles. This is more than three times the height of the highest noun tain in the world-Mount Everest, iR-4 the Himalnyes. If the same number of l stamps was piled up in the form of the l ordinary sheets of 100 each, it follows that the stack would be over a fifth of mile high. 571
 During the year 1898 the number Of special delivery stamps sold was about l 5,250,0 It is only reasonable to sup | pose that the average journey of the 1 special delivery messenger is half a T mile. Indeed, that is an absurd under estimate; but let it go at that. On this assumption the total distance travelled | for special delivery in 1898 was about g. i25, ,OOO miles. That is very consider- lble space to traverse. as may be real zed when it is considered that a mes senger boy, in order to accomplish that otal distance, would have to go about 100 times around the world, or five imes to the moon and back.
 It appears, from figures furnished by he post office department, that the Iverage person in Massachusetts. in .luding men, women and children, pends $2.30 on postage per annum. Iew York comes second with an ex- ,enditure of $2.27. The District of Co., umbia third with S2.16. Colorado is ourth with $1.93. and Connecticut is fifth with $1.8O. The states ranking owest in this regard are South Caro- ina, with 25 cents per capita; Mississip- Ii, with 34 cents; Alaba ma, with 35 ents; Arkansas. with 37 cents. and Worth Carolina, with II cents.-Wash- ngton Star.