The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-06-17
ABUSED A
PRIVILEGE
No More Bronzing Of
u. s. Postal
Cards.

] United States postal raYds witch
/ have been treated by hrcnainR, enam-
| cling 40 other processes ~ coating.
/ have been tnbooed by the United states
| postal department at Washington. and
parties having them on hand anywhere
~ the United states. Hawaii. Porto
1 Rico and the Philippines, must dispose
of them before August 1 next
Mr. Madden. postofilcc inspector In
charge at the Honolulu postofilce.
stated yesterday that the general inter-
pretstion OF the order was that the reg
ulation United States postal card can-
not be used except In it's original con-
1 dition plus original printing. Formerly
the department permitted parties who
had printed announcements on the
| backs OF the cards to bronze over and
thereby conceal the original printing
ana print new announcements over this
| coating. For instance, a frm desired
To send out thousands OF postal cards
| announcing q sale OF this or that arti-
Gle, Quantities were printed with this
announcement, but not all OF them
would be used. The parties having
| them on hand had 40 much dead"
material. The department allowed
these cards to be subjected to a process
| which placed a coating OF bronze or
enamel over the printed announcement
| so that a firms losses would not be
Stfdt. Inc Nert tnen IN cOnCl-
| ton to be printed upon again.
In time, however. this privilege was
abused. Some firms accumulated guam
titles OF them. but never took advan-
| tage OF the permission to coat them
| over Enterprising firms made Offers
for the surplus cards. often getting
| them at a large discount. and in this
manner made money out OF them, a
feature which Is not allowed under the
| postal regulations.
The regulation covering the matter
| which was recently received by Mr..
Madden Is as follows:
Under the postal laws and regula-
tions, edition OF 1899. effective April 1.
last, United States postal cards treated
by bronzing. enamelling or other proc
| ess, thereby lose their postal value.
In order to give owners OF such
! cards reasonable time to dispose OF
those on hand, Il has been determined
| by this office not to enforce the provi-
| slons OF Section 4lS until August LIST
next. Therefore. postmasters will. as
heretofore, accept for mailing. until
| that date, United States postal cards
which have been bronsed, enameled or
otherwise coated prior to the date OF
| this order.
This order, however, does not au-
thorize the acceptance of such cards
when the enameling or other treatment
obscures any part OF the stamp or origi-
nal government print. Where any part
of the stamp or government print IL
| covered or otherwise obliterated the
card il valueless for postage, and post
masters at office OF mailing or delivery,
respectively. must require prepay
ment by stamps affixed, or fullest post
age due at the rate chargeable accord
ing to the classification OF the message.
| When arrangements are completed,
| unserviceable United States postal
cards will be redeemed from the origi-
nal purchaser"
This regulation in no way concerns
the private postal cards sold by news
dealers, which require two-cent
stamp for mailing. The cards bear
gliinpses OF cities, mountains, buildings
AL manner of scenery. half-tone photo
graphs and practically anything picto-
rally, which make them souvenirs OF
the place where sold. These are not
issued from the postofflce department
and therefore require letter postage 70
carry them through the mails The
German government issues them for
revenue, the amount accruing to the
government in 1901 being In the neigh
borhood OF 100000