The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-12-29
AID TO NAIL SERVICE
New Postal Coupon to Help
Foreign Correspondents.
COVERS THE RETURN POSTAGE
Slip May Be Purchased in One COGn-
try, Mailed TO "A Person I'm Another,
nnH Exchanged for a stamp of
FiVe-cent VnIue-Have Not Come
Into General Use as Yet.

New York. Dee. ga Universal Postal
Convention. signed in Rome In May. 1906
contained a provision which went into
effect on the first OF last October. for
international reply coupons" to be
issued ana redeemed by all the countries
subscribing 10 the convention.
This coupon may be bought in any
post-ofice OF any such country, and sent
by the purchaser TO a correspondent in
any other country. where the post-ofice
will redeem il with the equivalent Of a
fye-cent stamp. which prepays the post
age on the correspondents answering let
ter
One Of these reply coupons has the APP
pearance Of a small piece Of paper money,
being printed on thin. white paper IN
blue ink over a background Of clouds
and vines In olive green. The size Of the
coupon is "A by 3is inches
On the top border Of the face. in rather
heavy capital letters. are the words:
"Coupon-response international and be-
meath, in small letters. the English
equivalent. international reply coupon.
Beneath this line. just above the main
design. IS the instruction. printed in
English and repeated in French below
the sign, This coupon can be exchanged
for a postage stamp OF the value Of p
confines C25zd.). or the equivalent OF
that sum in countries which have adopted
the arrangement" The back Of the
coupon bears this same sentence. printed
in German. Spanish, Italian. French, and
English.
The principal design on the face OF the
coupon is the 1gure OF a flying woman
in a loose robe and scarf. her right hand
lightly touching a globe representing the
Eastern hemisphere. Her left hand holds
letter. which she is Offering TO the
Western hemisphere
In Several Languages.
Near the lower border Of the face ap-
pears the name OF the country Of issue IN
French and the language Of the country
OF issue. the English issue reading Grand
Bretagne-Great Britain" In the process
Of their service the coupons are further
marked the left hand. or Eastern hemi-
sphere. being postmarked by the Office Of
issue. the other being postmarked by the
Office which redeems the coupon by Civ
ing a response stamp in exchange
for H.
The convention which provided for these
coupons superseded the Washington Uni
versal Postal Convention signed in June
1885, and the Rome convention included.
so far as the United States are con-
cerned nearly every country in the world
having a post-0fiice, with the exceptions
Of Canada Mexico. Cuba. and the Repub-
lie Of Panama. with which countries We
have separate postal conventions.
SO II you have a correspondent you
wish to supply a reply coupon to in Zulu
land, Sarawsk. or Chile, you inclose him
one. he exchanges II for stamp Of his
country which equals in value one OF our
scent stamps. and neither Of you have
more 10 do in respect 10 the transaction.
But the troubles Of the two post-ofices
involved have only begun. These post
Offices treat the coupons as II they were
checks. and they must be put through a
clearinghouse process universal in scope.
Not Popular Here.
E. P. Russell. cashier Of the New York
post-ofice. said to-day that the reply cou-
pons had not yet become popular here.
probably because the city's foreign colony
was not yet acquainted with them. They
are cleared quarterly. and the first
quarte- OF their use has not quite ended,
so the cashiers figures respecting them
were not made up. But. speaking from
general knowledge, Mr.. Russell said he
thought that not more than l0OJ0 OF the
coupons had been issued in this city.
The first patrons OF the Office TO under
stand the convenience OF the coupons
were merchants with correspondents in
small distant seaports. 10 whom they sent
the coupons by hundreds
For his trouble in handling the coupons.
Uncle Sam gets a cent for each. the sell
ing price being six cents. All purchasers
are warned TO instruct those 10 whom
coupons are sent that the coupons are not
themselves valid for postage, but must be
exchanged for hostage star1ns