Arizona republican., 1902-10-01
POSTAGE STA-IPG OF 1902.

POSTAGE STA lPG OF 1902.
 As soon as the die proof of the first of the new series of United States post age stamps is approved by the post master general plates will be made and the stamp issued to the public. Its de- nomination is 13 cents; Benjamin Har- rison occupies the center of the field.
 This will be the first Recent stamp ever issued by the United States. Up to 1879 a stamp of the value of cents had been in use ten years, but was dis continued when the rate of foreign postage was reuced to cents. The new Harrison stamp will be little used in domestic mails. It's issuance is the outgrowth of the increased foreign reg istration service, covering as it will the postage and registration fee upon a letter weighing one-half ounce any where within the limits of the postal union, which now includes practically all the organized nations of the world.
 Stamp experts who have examined the drawing for the new stamp say it will be one of the finest specimens of a postage stamp ever produced. not eX cepting the famous Columbian series and the Pan-American set. In addition to the usual United States of Amer ica" and Postage Thirteen Cents" the inscription, Series of 1902" together with Harrison" and figures giving the date of birth and death, appear upon the design. The portrait was selected by Mrs. Harrison and Is said to have been the late presidents favorite.
 When the postoffice department or dered this new series it requested the treasury to make special efforts tc pro- vide stamps that should be not onlY distinctive but indicative of the prog ress in the engravers' art in which the United States has become famous. The bureau of engraving and printing has entered into the spirit of the occasion and will produce the best work Of which 1t is capable. After the 13-cent stamp will come the new Accent. This will not continue to bear the familiar features of President Lincoln. but those of General Grant. These two presi- dents change places: Grant appears on the and Lincoln will later have d place on the !. There will be something Of a shaking-up m the postal gallery of nota bles when this new series is com pleted. Commodore Perry. who has for d score of years occupied the central oval on the $1 stamp-rarely seen by the general public-is to be superseded by Admiral F'arragut. General Will liam Tecumseh Sherman. who for many years has figured on the Scent stamp, disappears entirely from the series. His place will be taken upon the stamp of that denomination by Martha Wash ington.
 It has been supposed by some per sons that Martha Washington was th- first woman honored with a position upon a United States postage stamp. It is recalled, however. that the Co., lumbian series, issued in commemora- tion of the worlds fair, contained a DOT trait of Queen Isabella of Spain, ap- bearing, beside that of Christopher Columbus, on the $4 denomination. General Sherman, while he disappears from the stamp series, is not wholly forgotten. He succeeds to the place now held by General Grant O.: tLe re- turn postal card.
 The entire new series will probably be on sale before the close of the pres ent year. They will appear one at q time as the dies are approved and the plates made. Ii is customary to change series of postage stamps every eight or ten years TlIe present set has per formed service continuously Cor twelve years. however. It is notable that with all the ohangings and shiftings of these honors. there is one sturdy figure whu occupies the same place on our postage stamps that he did nfty-one years ago when our first regular series was issued and that is Benjamin Franklin. the founder, almost, of the American post office.
 Through thick and thin Franklin has never been disturbed in his occupancy of the 1-cent stamp. and should wC come to penny postage, which is obvi- ously but a question of time. the issu' would arise whether Franklin should continue in his place, or whether | should go to the much -mOnumente,
 Washington. whose relation to thl postal establishment was much mor, remote. Washington has thus far beer nearly as und!sturbed as Franklin il occupying the popular stamp. In tn
 series of 1869. better known as the ''lo
 comotive" set, from the primitive
 wood burning locomotive. However
 Washington was displaced by the loco
 motive appearing instead on the 6-ccn
 stamp In 1871. when the locomotive
 series was abandoned. he returned t
 the Scent stamp, where he remaine
 until 1880, when the unit of domesti
 postage was changed to cents.
 When the 13-cent stamp is issue
 there will have been but three eligibl
 ex-presidents who have not been hon
 ored with a place in the postal galler