Daily camera., 1899-02-14
MILES OF STAMPS.
MANY Millions of Them Were Is
sued Last Year.
Some Mathematical Genius Has Fig
ured 1t Out That Piled One ON the
Other They Would Reach to .
Height of T,venty-One Miles-

Uncle Sam printed just few postage
stamps during the year 1898. The num-
Der of two-cent stamps issued during
the year was about 100000, 900. 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 a
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 distance consid
erably exceeding $4,000 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 belt more than once and
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-
duction and sales, are of minor impor-
tance comparatively speaking, but 1t is
interesting to know that almost exact
" one mile of one dollar stamps were
manufactured for the demand of 1898
OF tive-dolar stamps the production
was equivalent to little more than half
a furlong, or about one-ffteenth of a
mile.
Now. if all the postage stamps print
ed by the United States government in
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 3,5OO,o0O,000 stamps of all
denominations printed during the cur
rent vear-the statement. of course. is
approNimatc-would tower to an eleva
ton of q miles. This is more than three
times the height of the highest noun
tain in the world-Mount Everest, in
the Himalayas. If the same number OF
stamps was piled up in the form Of the
ordinary sheets of 100 each. it follows
that the stack would be over a fifth of a
mile high.
During the year 1898 the number Of
special delivery stamps sold was about
5,25O,OOO. It is only reasonable to sup
pose that the average journey of the
special delivery messenger is half
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 about2,-
5000 miles. That is very consider
able space to traverse, as may be real
lied when it is considered that mes
senger boy in order to accomplish that
total distance, would have to go about
LOO times around the world, or five
times to the moon and back.
1t appears, from figures furnished by
the post office department, that the
average person in Massachusetts,. in
cluding men, women and children,
spends $3.50 on postage per annum.
New York comes second with an ex-
penditure of 1927. The District of Co.
lumbia third with $2.16. Colorado is
fourth with $1.o3, and Connecticut is
fifth with $3.50 The states ranking
lowest in this regard are South Caro-
lima, with 25 cents per capita; Mississip'
pi, with "a cents; Alabama, with 35
cents; Arkansas, with 81 cents, and
North Carolina, with Al cents.-Wash-
ington Star.