The aegis & intelligencer., 1899-02-24
MILES OF STAMPS.

Uncle Sam printed just few post
age stamps during the year 1898. The
| number of two-cent stamps issued
| during the ear was about :, 500, ,000, 900
Such a number. obviously, is beyond
the grasp Of human mind, but per-
haps the matter may be made more
| clear by putting it otherwise.
An ordinary two-cent stamp is ex-
actly one inch long. From this fact,
| by IA little ejaculation, it Is easy to
| discover that the mum Der of stamps of
| this denomination issued in 1898,
| placed end to end, would extend
| distance considerably exceeding
80, 600 miles. In other words, they
| would made 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 other. Enough one cent
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 long strip. All other stamps
as to protection and sales, are OF
minor Importance comparatively
speaking, but it is interesting to know
that almost exactly one mile of 81
stamps were manufactured for the
demand of 1898. OF So stamps the
production was equivalent to little
more Than half u furlong, or about
onf -.itl leenth of a mile.
Now, # the postage stamps printed
by tho 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
yourself. The $500, ,000,0 ,0G0 stamps Of
all denominations printed during the
current year-the statement of course
is would tower to an
elevation of twenty-one miles. This
is more than three times the height of
the highest mountain 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 folio VS. that the stack
would be over Il fifth of Il mile high.
Daring he Year 1898 the NUN Ler of
special delivery stamps sold was
about 5 $50 900 1t is only reasonable
to suppose that the average journey
of the special delivery messenger is
half mile. Indeed, that is an absurd
underestimate; but let it 20 at that.
On this assumption the total distance
travelled for special delivery i'll 1898
was about 2,G25. 900 miles. That is
very considerable distance to traverse
as may be realized when it is consid-
cred that Al messenger 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.postoffica department, that the
average person in Massachusetts, in
Guiding men, women and children,
spends - 30 on postage per annum.
New York comes second with an eA
penditure of So 81, the district of Co.
lulu bia, third with $2. IL. Colorado is
fourth with 81 SO, and Connecticut is
fifth with 81 so. The States ranking
lowest in this regard are South Caro-
lima, with twenty five cents per capita,
Mississippi with thirtytour cents, AL
ALBANIA with thirty-iiye cents Arkan-
sas, with thirty seven cents, and
North Caroliua with forty-one cents.