The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1899-11-16
MILLIONS OF STAMPS.
oOsToFFfCEFiGURES That WILL
ASTON1SH YOU.
Enough 1wa--ent Stamps Issued in
the Year 1855 t. heaeh More than
onee aud Half Around'ths Earth
at the qnator.

Uu9e Sans printing office has m
enormous output OF postage stamps
during a year. \ gentleman long con
aected viii. the service has collected
mass Of statistics regarding The issue
which Is simply paraly.ins. tie says
hat Ire number Of 2-cent stamps j.
Hed durin. 1s9S was about 2.5tD.pn,.
M such 4 number obviously J. he
sond the grasp Of the human mind, hni
perhaps the matter may be nlaae more
clear lay putting Il otherwise
An ordinary 2-eent stamp = exactly
1ne Inch long From this fact Icy
title calculation. II j. easy Ia discover
.hat the number Of stamps OF this De
nomination issued IA ls.t,. placed end
o end would extend a dis tance cons'd-
.rably exceeding 39.0uO 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 bel more than once aud
4 half around The equator
OF course. though the 2-cent stamps
are those principally used, there are
others. Enough 1-eent postage stamps
have been issued during the year ISIS
to stretch from New York city by way
IF Europe aud Asia 10 Bombay, ludia.
+ similarly arranged IN one strip. All
)tber stamps a 10 production and sales
are Of minor Importance. comparative
" speaking. Int It is interesting to
ia 1H- mia "a
81 stamps were manufactured for the
demand Of 1875. OF = stamps the
production was equivalent 10 little
more than half a fnrlong, OF about one
fifteenth OF a mile.
Now. If all the postage stamps print
ID bg the United States Government in
1898 were placed one on top another
~ nearly as mi eht be without putting
them under pressure. how high do Won
suppose the pile Of them would be-
There IS No uSc guessing, you would
never get it nearly right, unless You
went 10 work TO calculate it for your
self. The 1900. 100000 stamps OF all
denominations printed the current year
the statement Is Of course approx
mate-would tower to an elevation OF
lweniv-one miles. This i more than
hree times the height Of the highest
mountain in the world-MOunt Everest
n the IIimalayas. II the same number
If stamps was piled up in the form Of
the ordinary sheets Of loo each it fol
,ows that Tie stack would be over
Gfth OF mile high.
During the wear 1898 the number OF
speclal delivery stamps sold was bout
100000. Il Is ouly reasonable 10 sup
pose that the average journey OF the
special delivery messenger is half a
mile. Indeed, that j. al absurd under
estimate. bnt let it 20 Ut that. on this
assumption the total distance Travelled
for special delivery IN 1898 was about
2.G2J. 900 miles. That is a very consld-
.rable space to traverse. as may be re-
allied when 1T is considered that
messenger boy in order 10 accomplish
The total distance would have 10 90
sbouf ! 100 times around the world. or
i've times 10 the moon and back.
1t appears from figures furnished hy
the PoStofiice Department that the ay-
rage person In Massachusetts. inclad-
ing men. women and children. spends
$50 on postage per annnm. New York
ONES second with an expenditure Of
s227 and The District Of Columbia
third with S2.l8. Colorado Is fourth
with Sl.93 and Connecticut is ffth with
81 ~. The States ranking lowest in
this regard are South Carolina. with -
cents per capita; Mississippi. with "a
,ents: Alabama. with - cents. Arkan-
sas. with 81 cents. and North Caro-.
ina, with Al cents.