Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-01-25
HAS STAMPS TO BURN.
Left Over Pan Americans will Make
Great Elazs a. Wash
in2ton.

America is situated in the basement of
the postoffice building in Washington.
The crematory dispOses of condemned
postage stamps. Chief George Scott of
the redemption division is making prepa
rations for q burning" that will eclipse
all previous stamp ccnfagrations in the
| history Of the department: million dol
lar Dyre, as it were, the unfortunate vic
tins in this case being the remainders
Of the beautiful two-color Pan-American
stamps unsold October 81.
The pan-American stamps were a dis
appointment to the department in two
ways. The stamps We're Placed on sale
May l, with the opening OF the Buffalo
exposition, by July / the demand had
been 50 great and held So steadily that
there seemed To be danger that the sup
ply would be exhausted two months in
advance of the closing of the exposition,
so the pOstotice department sent an or
der to the bureau duplicating, practical
", the first requiSiti0n. making the entire
order more than 520.00O.000 stamps
and this, in addition To the regular Sc
Iries of stamps. which was selling almost
mp 10 high-water mark at the same time.
soon Lost Favor.
The bureau of engraving and printing
was hammcrng away upon the second
| order. having printed close TO half the
| number, when the bottom seemed to drop
out Of the Pan-Americans. From COM
modify i'll active demand these stamps
dropped within few days to one which
was al actual drug OH the market. No
body wanted them; people wanted the
common stamps. and, of course, got them,
postmasters having been instructed to
offer the twO-colored series only when
called for.
As soon as it became apparent that the
| commemorative series was dead, SO to
| Snn1l- orders cont n fbn hnrnaI1
discontinue printing, and the plates were
tied up and stored away in the vaults.
Perhaps it should be stated that the
| ordinary postage stamps cost the pOstof-
| flee department ) cents per thousand.
| On account of the increased work in
volved in their manufacture, requiring
| two Impressions upon slow presses, the
| Pan-Amerlcan stamps cost 70 cents per
thousand. The only way in which the
government could possibly come out even,
! to say nothing of making profit OF
| the venture, was in the increased sale
of the stamps to philatelists, or stamp
collectors, the world over as manifestly
a peculiar style of postage stamp is no
stimUiant to letter writing.
Pushing the Sales.
| Accordingly it was ordered that the en-
| tire stock should be sent to postmasters
| in the larger cities, and instructions were
| issued to all poStmasterS throughout the
furnish the ordinary stamps only when
| specially requested. 1t was hoped that
| the surplus might thus be worked off, the
! ordinary stamps, temporarily sidetracked.
| being available for sale without limit Of
| time. However, the public had been sur
| feited with pictures of steamships and
railway trains and automobiles and Nj
| agafa bridges, and was not slow to make
the special request which gave it the or
binary stamps. However; the surplus
was TO some extent reduced, but still the
stock remaining on hand October 81 was
| exceedingly large.
! Postmasters had orders TO forward all
unsold remanders TO the redemption di-
| vision at once, and for Il month this
branch of the department was literally
covered up with Pan-American stamps
they came in boxes, cases, pouches, bum
dies and packages of all sizes. A large
| room in the redemption division is re-
served for storage of condemned stamps,
being provided with shelving. The
shelves were speedily filed, then the
| floor was utilized and today is piled high
| with the conslgnmentS Of p0stmasteIS.
Millions of Retn-ns.
1t is too early to form anything like
even an approximate estimate of the
| number of stamps returned. Later ac-
tual figures will be Obtainable. but all
that Chief Scott cares to know about the
matter he has before him in the way of
| ocular evidence. He has all the testi-
money he wants in the shape of cubic
feet and avoirdupois. However. rough
estimate would place the number of re-
| turned stamps at 20,O0.000. and this
may fall far short of the mark On the
| basis of 2O,00O,OOO, at cost of 20 -onts
| per thousand. it will be seen that here isan
item Of $4,000 of dead loss to the govern
| mcnt. The stamps We're paid for in cold
| cash: they will be ruthleSsdy DESTROYED
and with them the $1,000. However, the
government has not lost money on the
series, taken as Il whole.
| OF course, the series was not Manned
nor executed with a view to making
| money, but as Il compliment TO the Pan
american exposition at Buffalo, and in
TINS respect the hopes of the department,
were more than realized. The stanlps
were pronounced by French art critics
! TO be real miniature works of art: the
| hnest specimens of postage stamps ever
| issued.
To be Counted and Checked.
Within a few weeks force of score
or more clerks will be detailed to the
| redemption division and the st11nnndouS
| work of accounting Will begin There
VIII be 10000 or more p0stmaSters To
| deal with. Every stamp in every boy
and package must be counted several
times, records made, verified. checked
OH, compared with the statements of the
postmasters, repacked, blanks filed in
and preserved for reference. copies made
and forwarded to DoStmastcrs. Then
there Win be an endless amount of cor
rGSpondence over errors, mscounts. etc.
When this has all been completed tho
stamps will he taken to the basement
OF the poStofice and burned.
Work of Cremation.
When the accumulation of stamps be-
comes sufficient to justify burning"
the chief of the redemption division, with
Two clerks, proceeds TO the Sub-basement.
the stamps scheduled for the sacrifice
usually being in bags or boxes. There is
no ceremony; the big upper iron door
IS opened. a few sheets of stamps are
lighted and thrown into the cayernous
opening then the bundles and packages
are torn open and the sheets thrown into
the furnace, heller SHELTER. and soon thou
sands of dollars worth of stamps, face
value are roaring merrily The iron door
IS then closed and sealed by means of n
big paddock, and the task is completed.
these nurnings occur every few days, !
the OO1ntifV Of St9O1vS n Sfrnvn1