Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-09-25
THE POSTAGE STAMPS OF 1904
Especial Use for which the 1s-oent is
Issued.

of the new series of United States
postage stamps is approved by the
postmaster-general plates will be
made and the stamps issued to the
public. Its denomination is Is cents;
Benjamin Harrison occupies the
center of the field.
This will be the first 13-cent stamp
ever issued by the United States. Up
to 1879 stamp of the value of Z
cents had been in use ten years, but
was discontinued when the rate of
foreign postage was reduced to ;
cents. The new -.arrison stamp will
be little used in domestic mails. Its
general issuance is the outgrowth OF
the increased foreign registration
service; covering as it will the post
age and registration fee upon letter
weighing one-half ounce anywhere
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 postage stamp ever produced, not
excepting the famous Columbian Sc
ries and the Pan-American set. In
addition to the usual United States
of America, 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 p0r-
trait was selected by Mrs. Harrison,
and is said to have been the late
presidents favorite.
Al 4.
ordered this new series it requested
the treasury to make special efforts
to provide stamps that should not
only be distinctive but indicative of
the progress in the engraver's art
in which the United States has be-
come famous. The bureau of en-
craving and printing has entered into
the spirit of the occasion and will
produce the best work of which it is
capable. After the 13-cent stamps
Will come the new Accent. This will
not continue to bear the familiar
features of President Lincoln, but
those of General Grant. These two
presidents change places; Grant APP
pears on the four and Lincoln will
later have a place on the five. There
will be something of shaking up III
the postal gallery of notables when
this new series is completed. Com
modore Perry who has for score of
years occupied the central oval ON
the 81 stamp-rarely seen by the
general public-is to be superseded
by Admiral Farragut. General Viii
liam Tecumseh Sherman, who for
many years has figured on the s.
cent stamp, disappears entirely from
the series. His place will be taken up
on the stamp of that denomination
by Martha Washington.
1t has been supposed by some per-
sons that Martha Washington was
the first woman honored with a po-
sition upon a United States postage
stamp. 1t is recalled, however, that
the Columbian series, issued i'm COM
of the Worlds Fair, con-
tanned a portrait of Queen Isabella,
of Spain, appearing beside that of
Christopher Columbus, on the 81 de-
General Sherman, while
he disappears from the stamp series,
is not wholly forgotten, he succeeds
to the place now held by GEM Grant
on the return postal card.
be on sale before the close of the |
present year. They will appear one
at a time as the dies are approved
and the plates made. 1t is custom
airy to change a series of postage
stamps every eight or ten years. The
present set has performed service
continuously for IL years, however. II
is notable that with all the changings
and shifting of these honors, there
is one sturdy figure who occupies the
same place on our postage stamps
that he did 81 years ago, when our
first regular series was issued: and
that is Benjamin Franklin, the found
err, almost, of the American post
office.
Through thick and thin Franklin
has never been disturbed in his Oc-
cupancy of the 1-cent stamp, and
should we come to penny postage,
which is obviously but a question of
time, the issue would arise whether
Franklin should continue in his place,
or whether it should go to- the much
Washington, whose re-
lation to the postal establishment
was much more remote. Washington
has thus far been nearly as much un-
disturbed as Franklin in occupying
the popular stamp. In the series of
1869, better known as the 'locomo-
tive" set, from the primitive, wood
burning locomotive, however, Wash
ington was displaced by the locomo-
tive appearing instead on the Scent
stamp. In 1871 when the ''locomo
tive" series was abandoned he re-
turned to the Scent stamp where nc
remained until 1880, when the unit of
postage was changed to , |
cents.
When the 13-cent stamp is issued,
there will have been but three eligi- |
BILE ex-presidents who have not been
honored with a place in the postal
gallery of the nation during the last |