The National tribune., 1903-05-28

lflTcc ulllcS liOni any hioitohiOhy anu SOA'
sisted of a simple slit in rock covered
by a closely fitting stone. When letters
arrived at Drimmin for the district OF
Barr they were conveyed to the rock by
q shepherd or crofter going that way.
Having been dropped in and the slit re-
closed, they were left until shepherd or
crofter from the other side happened to
come along. when they were taken up and
delivered at their destination. No let
ter was ever known to be lost at this
primitive post-otfce. AT Burra, Scotland,
an old tin canister, made water-tight with
newspapers and pitch. was once picked
up on the shore. 1t contained 10 letters
with the correct cash postage. With
these was note for the finder, urgently
requesting that the accompanying mis-
siyes be posted. as they were important
business communication After the let
ters had been carefully dried they were
mailed to their destination, which they
reached: in safety. Thus there are Earia-
fions in the mail service equal to the musi-
piano passages in fortissfmo at wrong
tempo and one-eighth off the key.
Remote localities are reached through
the service of the allied postal money or
der system. Money orders are sent to
Iceland through Denmark. Orange Free
State through Cape Colony Jerusalem
through Austria, Borneo and the East
Indies are connected with the Neither
lands.
Letters are often uniquely backed; I;
for example, one addressed to the IN.
x. Fairbanks Co., New, York, Chicago,
letter was addressed to "Granny Goddard,
Bill Goddard's ma"
Alaska holds the record in the matter of
almost marvellous achievements in con-
nection with some of its post-offices. Dur
tng the stampede to tie Yukon in 1898
the offices at Skagway and Dyea made
records for large transactions in the sale
of money orders, each Office exceeding
5000 in a single day. This record, how
ever, was entirely eclipsed by the Nome
office last Summer. where for nearly two
months the sale of money orders aggre-
gated from $4,000 to $4,000 daily. A
single money order remittance was made
from Nome last Summer in one regis
tered @ mail aggregating $4,000. Of which
$4,000 was in currency and $4,000 in
gold coin.
The first step in the preparation of post
age stamps is the submittal by the corps
of artists Of various designs. These are
altered according to suggestions made by
the Postmaster-General and the Director
are enlarged many diameters, until they
appear like giant stamps, large enough to
frame and hang upon the wall. Each of
the accepted desi gns is then reduced, pho
Geographically, to the desired size of the
finished product. These photominiatures
are printed upon white paper and distrib-
uted among the engravers. The enlarged
designs and the original portraits of the
subjects are placed in view. of the en-
gravers, that they may attain greater ex-
actness of detail and expression. Sew
eral of the most expert engravers work
upon the portraits alone. These are the
first to copy the designs in steel. With
magnifying glasses to their eyes, they
FIRST etch the figures in outline, and thep
add the finer delineatiens.
When the Pan-American stamps were
6rst issued sheet of the two-cent de-
nomination with the central locomotive
yignet inverted happened to pass the in
specters. Lucky people who got these
realized as much, as $50 apiece for them.
Soon safferward messenger at East
Hampton, Conn.,, bought 40 one-cent Pan
American stamps for 40 cents, discovered
that the central steamship vfgnet was in
verted, and sold the lot for S61960 These
freaks are steadily increasing in value
Like whisky, they become more precious
with age.
Now that we are to have an interna-
tional return postal card, the next step
will be to get an International postage
stamp. This was proposed to the Postal
Congress at Vienna in 1891, by the United
States delegates, but was voted down.
Since then nothing has been done. Now
1t is time to agitate it again.
England conquered India in fit of abb
-sentmlndness. Americas grasp of the
Orient was equally unintentional We
must largely rely on liberal disburse-
ments for public schools and for az en-
terprislng postal service. to justify our in
trusion and reeoup our-outlay.
?. To test the honesty of postal employees
a New. Yorker recently sent a silver dol
lar through the mails to his daughter.
He pasted slip of white paper. with his
daughters name on it, on one side of the
dollar, placed 1-cent stamp on the bare
face, and put in the post-ofice. 1t reached
his daughter safely.
A complaining postal patron hands ont
the following sample specifications: The
glue on the backs Of the one-cent postage
stamps must be- nursed with much pa
thence before the picture Of Ben Franklin
can be pursuaded to stick where he be-
longs. The one-cent and two-cent wrap
p.iS are diNdss u tflue 100 SD0r1 or q
trifle too long for the newspaper to be
wrapped. AS for width-none ever was
known to be wide enough to protect the
article incIosed therein. And what is the
deep object of having the glue on the end
OF wrapper stop within an eighth of an
Inch of the margin?
The general delivery clerk must deal
with the jealous wife who seeks to inter-
cept her husbands letters, and the stray
adventures who has several interchange
able names and is not sure which one her
mail will bear.
When post-office is robbed, the first
impulse of the Postmaster is to ask to be
relieved from responsibility for the loss of
postage stamps, which he can always
claim occurred through no negligence on
his part. Within certain limits the Post
Office Department has the discretion to
grant this relief. Outside that limit Con-
gress must be appealed to, and the appeal
Is seldom made in vain. If all resources
for relief fail and the Postmaster is uu-
able or unwilling to make good the loss,
1t becomes the duty of the Auditor to en-.
ter suit against his bondsmen for the
amount involved. Much of this loss and
trouble would be avoided If Congress
should see fit to enact law. which has
often been proposed, restricting the pri-
waite sale of postage stamps to amounts
not exceeding 81. Facilities for purchas-
ang stamps at post-ofiicee and at stations,