The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-15

into a scheme to make them stand and
deliver.
They had some reason for their dissatis
faction, too. for very few of the stamps
os large denomination were used. being
mostly bought up by dealers and collectors,
and therefore the Government received
sums ranging from one cent to IS for merely
issuing little bit Of engraved paper. 1t
i hard to tell how much Uncle Sam cleaned
up on this deal, but the sum would 90
long way toward building our new post
Office
sThe great outcry Of the stamp people
bore fruit, for when the Pan-American
Exposition was held at Buffalo the Govern
ment took compassion upon the suffering
stamp devotees and the stamps comment
Grating the event we're placed within the
reach Of all, being confined to the one,
two. four, five, eight and ten cent denomi-
nations. For the recent Louisiana Pur-
chase Exposition they embraced only the
one, two, three, five and ten cent stamps.
Even though the varieties were few and
the denominations small. so many were
taken up by people interested in stamps
that the Government turned pretty penny
by their issue.
another instance in which the Govern
ment made a nice sum out of stamp col
leotors was the newspaper stamp deal of
1895.
"The first issue Of the newspaper stamps
was in 1866, and they ranged in value from
one cent to SEQ. II was against the law to
have one Of them in your possession. The
second issue was from 1874 to 1883, while
the third and last was from 1894 TO 1895,
In which year the issue wns discontinued.
They were issued for the purpose Of
being placed on the Ills Of receipt for
postage due from newspapers for carrying
their circulation through the mails. II a
bill was for $1,000, say, hundred-dollar
stamp and n fifty-cent stamp would be
place. On it and cancelled by the local post
master, and then the bill would be for
warded to headquarters at Washington,
where it was filed away.
-Of course everybody interested In stamps
wanted a SGT Of this issue. When their
use was discontinued Howard X. Sander
son OF Lynn. Mass, an enthusiastic stamp
collector, together with number of others
interested in the fad succeeded in getting
a bill passed by Congress authorizing the
sale Of 5000 sets Of the newspaper stamps.
The supply Of some OF the larger de-
nominations vas found 10 be exhausted,
so their printing Was resumed the differ
ence between the new issue and the regular
Issue being IN the quality OF the paper and
Inc gum. The face value Of the whole
series originally amounted TO Sis7.9s. con-
eisting Of one two, five. 10. rs and so cent, and
80 So $40. $40. $50 and Sl0O denominations.
The bin provided that a complete set should
be sold for s..
here again the Government made a
snlendid killing, for the cost Of production
probably did not average more than five
cents a get. But with tho Investor 1t was
Quite A different matter.
'Nsny persons bought from 100 10 1000
zcts. expecting that the premium would
not them a handsome profit. But they
sadlv miacaloulated. for to-day these same
acts sell as low as 50, and the demand for
them. even az that figure. is slight.
Stamp collectors to-day are looking
forward with quite little pleasure TO a
much needed rest from commemorative
issues. now that the St. Louis fair is over
although Uncle Sans yearly output Of
new stamps is always large enough TO
take up their leisure moments, and their
idle currency as well.