The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-02
NATIONAL

red and green and was designed by
| the famous artist, Howard Pyle.
The Christmas stamp is not good
| for postage. 1t will not carry any
kind of mail, but any kind of mail
| will carry it. Each one who uses this
| holiday stamp will help to stamp
| out the white plague 1t has been
| printed this time by the million to
supply the demand, so any quantity
| can be ordered. Il -..
How to Get 1t. .---,
These stamps Essell for a penny
apiece and every penny of profit from
stamps SOLD IN Kansas is to be used to
fight the spread Of tuberculosis in
Kansas. 1t will be handled by one of
Topeka's large department stores. as
well as by dealers where postage,
stationery, confectionery and other
supplies are to be found. 1t will prob
ably be found in various bazaars and
small fairs. Efforts are on foot to
have them on sale in the corridor of
the postoffice and in the express Of
fees. -t'T5ii- .v.--. .-.f
Stamps can be obtained by sending
to the secretary of the Kansas branch,
Mrs. B. B. Smyth, state house, Topeka,
Kan, either by mail or telephone.
Kansas needs to get into this anti
tuberculosis campaign. When we
realize that there are at least 5000
cases in the state at the present time;
that 100 die every month and at the
present rate $4,000 of the people now
living in Kansas are doomed to die
of this preventable disease, it is Ger
tainly imperative that something be
done.
To Stamp Out White Plague
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
white plague. Is the most terrible
pestilence in the Known world, claim
ing 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 consumption.
Each 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 in
one state.
Where the Christmas Stamp Started
This was the little state of Delaware
enthusiasnis. and having only a few
shacks in a woodland meadow near Will |
state as whole was ignorant and unin- |
terested in the subject, yet the stamp |
printed and put on the market only eigh- /
teen days before Christmas, anna zed every |
one by its sensational record Fifty thou |
apiece They Went in a a week, and then then
the stamp got into Philadelphia. where the |
pennsylvania fSed cross welcomed 1t ana !
backed it. The Delaware schools sold it, |
the Womens clubs in Delaware took it up, |
the newspapers gave columns to it, the |
department stores. banks. drug stores and |
hotels sold it.
1t was sold in the corridors of the Will
mington federal building. by permission
from the government, though not the
postoffice itself. The presses in the last
few days before Christmas ran night and I
day to supply the demand. People used
the stamps on packages and letters, and !
business firms on their correspondence. /
Nearly four hundred thousand were sold,
and nearly three thousand dollars clear
ed from this small unobtrusive penny
stamp.
What 1t Did for Delaware.
With this money the Delaware Red |
Cross first brought an educational anti
exhibit to Delaware which
was visited by twenty thousand people |