The Indianapolis journal., 1903-03-29
PICTURE POSTAL CARDS
A CONTINENTAL FAD THAT HAS CAP
TIvATED THE BRITISH.
Crnze for Them in England Has Re-
daced Correspondence to
Tabloid Basis.
London Mail.


1t is not food and il won't wash. But
IL is soon TO become a terrible reality. 1t
has already grown powerful enough to
move St. Martin 's-Ie-Grand. The front Of
the postcard had borne from time imme-
mortal the legend. 1.-The address only TO be
written on this side" / can we'll imagine
that there were wild scenes at the general
postoffice before St. Martin 's-le-Grand gave
UP its little bit of front before the trium-
phant onward march of the pictorial post
card The line down the middle Of the
pictorial postcard dividing the address on
the one hand from the message on the
other was drawn, L should hazard, with
deep official sigh.
The strenuous cult of the picture post
card was criminal alien two years ago,
but it has now been naturalized. Like a
good many other aliens. it came from Ger
many. Unlike many other criminal aliens.
# left all its criminal tendencies behind in
its Fatherland. Now that it has taken out
its papers and become true British born
it has ceased to insult monarchs. besmirch
nations, and pander to the concealed guilt
ness OF the village youth.
This is WELL for even in a short space Of
time this light-hearted cult has run on in
the past twelve months something like 5O,-
100000 picture postcards have been sold in
this country Few of us are aware of the
colossal possibilities of the pictorial card.
1t has already become a feature in Eng
land. Ii bids fair to become a craze.
What does this mean? 1t means that we
may take what attitude we like with re-
gard to the budget problems, Londons edu-
cation, the water board or the next little
war but We cannot afford TO ignore the
possibilities of the picture post card.
Why, the German husband going on
little journey, say from Berlin to Hamburg,
behaved in fearful and wonderful manner
when the craze was at its height in the
fatherland. He dashed out at each sta
ton, swooped down upon the book stall.
bought a post card bearing picture OF
that particular place (however ugly the
place., scribbled a word or two German
scribbleO to his wife at home or to some
one else, dropped the breathless message
into the station post box and flung himself
into the train just in the nick of time.
So firmly established did this craze be-
come that there was pad and pencil at
the railway book stall and a convenient
corner from which the pictorial post card
could be loaded and fired
A GERMAN ALLIANCE.
And so the pictorial post cards landed on
the German breakfast tables (of Berlin.
not Of Kensington) by the million. L am
told that the number of cards that passed
through the German postoffice during 1899
was 100000, aid that in 1900 this colossal
figure had been eclipsed by one far larger
--7s6 1000.
The story OF the naturalization of this
fascinating alien is the old, old story and is
bound up. not slightly, with the great
speech of the Prince of Wales waking up
England. There was, first, the Indifference
of the British workman; second the con-
tinued triumph of Germany; third, the
arousing of the energy of the British work
man; fourth. the downfall of Germany. So
IL has come about that millions of post
cards are being turned out in England
beautifully finished, correctly printed,
cit was a hard struggle at first" was
told by a picture postcard expert as wan
dered among mountains of cards at the
warehouses of Wrench, Limited, the other
day. 1 must give the name because this is
the only firm in England devOting itself to
the picture postcard and TO nothing else.
Some OF the well-known playing-card MAX
ers are doing "pictorialS" as branch. But
Messrs Wrench. Limited. make the picture
postcard a matter OF life or death.
When people went into Kensington Pal
ace and other English royal palaces and
bought pictorial postcards there with pic
lures showing what they had just seen,
they were naturally surprised to find in
small type at the bottom of the English
scene the words. Printed in Germany, or
Printed in Saxony. They were the more
surprised because the cards also bore the
inscription, The Wrench Series, No. -.
I'VE got special privileges, took the photo
graphs. designed the cards, and gave them
10 British workmen TO do. The results were
melancholy. The line in the front denot-
ing the portion marked off for the address
was often out of it's place, a picture was
askew on the card, an illustration was re-
produced with the best details left out or
appearing blurred or smudged. So we had
10 go back to Germany. The German max
simply took our pictures and fnstruc-
tions, carried out the latter TO perfection or
nearly So and delivered the finished article
almost 20 the very day promised.
I'VE kept in view, however. the fact that
the real obstacle in the way of the English
man was his Indifference. We set to work
10 show him that the picture postcard was
something worth taking pains over, and al
last he took pains. The result was as you
see.''
AMONG THE PIGEON HOLES
He waved his hand over sort Of War
Office of pigeon holes with three million
picture postcards, duly sorted, arranged
and classified. resting in them. Here you
Travelled, pigeon hole by pigeon hole, round
the British coasts. There you made the
acquaintance of sweet little backwaters
on the Thames Then you wandered among
grand old MISUNDERSTANDING, winches-
ter. Durham and the rest. Then you fel
among golf champions, you saw how this
famous player stood and how another SCI
TO work. You sped in a minute to Ireland
and in two contiguous stacks you saw the
old irish lOW-Dacked car. on the one hanC
and Sackville street. Dublin, with it's up
to-date tramway cars on the other. Rows
OF pretty children, knots of fluffy kittens
bevies of beautiful actresses (Of whom
word soon), collection of frowning cas-
ties, colleges enough TO arouse memore:
in the minds of the flower of English
youth-these and many other classes o.
subjects lurked in their own particular
tiers of boxes. You pulled out "a chunl
of EaStbourne, you took half dozeI
BrightOns." You found picture postcards
for every place you had ever visited Of
dreamed of: picture postcards for all tn,
emotions in all the wide gamut of human
feeling.
Do you long for the autograph OF you
favorite actress? Get a pictorial poStcar;
bearing her beautiful portrait, send il [,
her. together with a postal order, an,
she will crafty your wish / don't know
the autograph prices of all our leadin,
actresses, but / am informed that Mis-
Ellen Terry charges half a crown. .
course the whole of the money thus de
rived goes to the theatrical charities.
Tabloid correspondence was born whel
the picture postcard arose. There is n,
room for much writing on the new medium
The languorous, soft-scented three-volum
missive OF grandmother's day is an impos
sibility now, and the picture postcard is
merciful provision in the breach. Now tha
that weird production. the London letter
has spread far and wide to the colonies
our friends oversee neither want nor expec
long letters from home. But the pictur
postcard, with "All's WELL or Willie
married jotted in the corner, can b.
dropped into every departing mail with ;
fresh feature of English life every time