New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-02
THE POSTAL CARD BOOM.
Messages Can Noe BE Wntten on
Left Half of Face.
IF-om The Tribune Bureau. ]

Washington. March This side for the address
only applied TO postcards, is out of date. 1t
became thing of the past the stroke of u
last night, and hereafter when you read it
postcard pay no attention 10 II, but go ahead and
write any message YOU please on the left half Of
the address side OF the card. and have fear that
you VIII fan into the clutches Of the law Neither
you your correspondent will be called on 20 pay
additional postage because you have openly dehed
the printed order. for with the beginning Of this
day an order issued by Postmaster General Cor
telyou four months ago went into enect' and II
is now permissible to use half the face OF q post
card for a message.
The United States as a rule is pretty We'll up
with The times almost everything connected with
progress and civilization, but it has been Just n
little backward now and then on postal afrairs'
The great Souvenir postal card craze struck
Europe and spread all the Old World before
this country to realization of It's time saw
ing. money making and instructive features Atter
a While the craze appeared here. and apparently
bad OF souvenir-postal- cardltls exists
it is possible for people 10 acquire. But the
Postoffice Department did not keep up with the
procession OF nations in the matter of facilitating
the business. The postal authorities or foreign
countries n fine chance 10 boost their
postal revenues by catering TO the fad and it
was not long before they granted to postal card
users the privilege of writing messages on one
half OF The face Of the cards. This VAS done
mainly 10 enable the manufacturers of the cards
10 print pictures all side Of the cards and
BY agreement between the representatives oil me
various foreign postal departments the lett hatt
of the face Of the card was granted to the writers
as well as the entire back, and al that was re-
served tor the address was the right half OF the
face under the postage stamp. This was found TO
be enough. and this generosity the part of the
authorities doubtless resulted in the printing OF
many thousands Of cards that would not other
wise have been made and the consequent increase
in the postal revenues. The Universal Postal Con
Yention, which met in the city of Rome last year,
heartily Endorsed the postal card aid 10 bust
ness, and "O-Kd" The idea o. giving up the left
half of the front face for the writer's use Tho
convention provided for universal admission TO the
mails after October ], 1907 "of postcards bearing
written messages upon the left half OF the front of
the cards
In publishing the action Of the convention Post
master Genera Cortelyou also issued oTuer
which provided that on and after March ]. 1901.
such cards bearing a written message upon the
left half Of the front. the right half being reserved
for the address and postmaTk. when fully prepaid
by postage stamps at the rate applicable 10 poSf
cards shall be admitted both to the domestic and
International mails Of this country and treated as
postcards
Since the PRONUNCIATION Of that order which was
dated October 81. 1895 the PostOfice Department
has received and transmitted without the payment
of extra letter postage all cards of the kind spec-
fed that came from foreign countries. II was not
until to-day. however that the domestic use OF
such cards was sanctioned by tho department