Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1908-11-22
|CHR|sTMAs STAMPS
OF THE RED CROSS

thNat lcr1EV a Oli iCtAuao Ht4Auks WIN
the kings head and the word Jul,
the same as our 'Yule," on IT, II was
not good for postage. only as stick
er" for Christmas letters, postcards
and packages. The proceeds from n
were TO go toward building a tubercu
losis hospital for little children. II
succeeded beyond all expectation. four
million being sold at an oere, or half
cent apiece. Denmark has contin-
ued 1t since to maintain .tuberc.lcs,s
work. and the sale In the native land
of Hans Christian Anderson has dou-
bed each year.
Why the Red Cross Issued the Stamp
America needs just such stamp.
but her postoffice officials cannot is
sue or handle 1t under the present pos
! tai laws; and special act of con-
gress would be necessary. Jacob Riis.
nimEelf a Dane, wrote an eloquent
article. published in the Outlook Va
July G. 1907, urg ng government actio.
/. in the matter, but there were too
many difficulties in the way. II seem
( cd hopeless to try, but at this juno
ture the Red Cross, wnich exists for
+ Just such emergencies, took It up.
The Red Cross is a great national
Organization, with branches in each
state, formed to act in times OF CRISIS
and to render aid in war, pestilence
and famine. tuberculosis, the great
waite plague, Is the most terrible pes
, thence In the known world, claiming
one death out of every seven. The
Red Cross has taken up tuberculosis
work, therefore, as part OF its peace
activity" The present time is one OF
crisis In the war against consump-
ton. Eacn state needs education and
awakening in the subject, and money
for the work The Red Cross, there
fore, with the approval of the postal
authorities, took up the Christmas
stamp last Christmas and tried it on
one state.
Where the Christmas Stamp Started.
1 This was the little state of Della
ware-very small, very conservative.
mot given to enthusiasms. aud having
londw a few shacks In a woodland
meadow near Washington as tuber-
iculosis hospital. The state as a whole
was ignorant and uninterested on the
Subject, yet the stamp printed and
put on the market only eighteen days
before Christmas. amazed everyone D,
its sensational record. Fifty thousand
had been printed to sell at one cent
apiece. They went in week, and
then the stamp got into Philadelphia.
where the Pennsylvania Red Cross
welcomed il and backed it, and the
J North American gave il splendid aid
The Delaware schools sold it, the
women's clubs in Delaware took it up,
the newspapers gave columns to 1t,
the department stores, banks, drug
stores and hotels sold it, 1t was sold
in the corridors of the Wilmington
4 federal building, by permission from
the government, though not the post
Office itself. The presses in the last
few days before Christmas ran night
and day to supply the demand. People
used the stamps on packages and let
tiers, and business firms on their Cor
respondence. Nearly four hundred
thousand were sold, and nearly three
thousand dollars cleared from this
small unobtrusiye penny stamp.
/ What the Stamp Did for Delaware
! With this money the Delaware Red
Cross first brought an educat onal
anti-tuberculosis exhibit to Delaware
which was visited by twenty thousand
I people in ten days. The clubs,
oranges, city boards, teachers, clergy
men, labor unions, state officials, were
all specially invited on special days,
and the whole state was walked up.
| A nurse was sent to the sanitarium,
\ and free dispensary supplied with
/, milk. eggs. drugs and visiting nurse
for the consumptive poor, and this
1 has gone on all year One thousand
! dollars has been set aside as anucleus
toward building hospital. Delaware
is now decidedly interested in tubercu-
/ losis work, and all this was done in
| eighteen days by penny stamp.
The American National Red Cross
| this year has decided to issue the
Christmas stamp in every state. A
beautiful stamp has been especially
i designed by Howard Pyle, the famous
artist. II bears a wreath of holly
and Merry Christmas and HapIs
New Year" II viii be on sale at the
Red Cross headquarters in each sta;e
ana it probably can be obtained froni
local dealers in almost every town
after the first of November, 1908. 1t
will be sold in sheets, like an ordl-
nary stamp, and also in small books,
lnine for ten cents, twenty-four 1oi
| NNSht1 CEANog MY
cents. like the government stamps.
The Christmas stamp is not good
for postage. 1t viii not carry any
kind of mail, but any kind of mail
Will carry 1t. Each one who uses
this holiday stamp will help to stamp
out the white plague" It has been
printed this time by the million 10
supply the demand. 80 any quantity
can be ordered, but cash must be sem
with each order, this rule having been
followed last year witt success. No
body makes any profit on the Christ
I mas stamp, but it was found last
Christmas that everyone was glad to
help it along on these terms. For an
order OF one stamp or a thousand the
price is the same, except in the little
books. which add the cost of the bind
ing, just as the government does. The
proceeds in each state go toward tu-
berculosis work in that state.
During the run of the stamp last
year Jacob Riis wrote a congratuIa-
tory letter to the Delaware Red Cross,
and Governor Stuart of Pennsylvania,
Secretary Root and Secretary Taft ali
telegraphed their approval and goou
wishes. This year the stamp goes for
/ ward to wider usefulness. Its value
will be twofold It educates ana
arouses. II gives each one a chance
to contribute, II only a penny, to the
war against the white plague, and pro-
vides a funds for needed work. IL little
Delaware made 1t succeed. then other
states, north and south, can do so. The
National Red Cross brings this Christ
mas stamp to the whole nation this