The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-23
THE RED CROSS
 CHRISTMAS STAMPS

CHRISTMAS STAMPS How the Little Squares of
 Good Cheer'' Are Holding
 Their Own in the Tuber-
 culosis Fight.
 Ernest F. BicknelI.
 Director The American National Red Cross.
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 Probably a great part of the hum dreds of thousands of people who purchased Christmas Red Cross stamps during the, holiday season of 1908 gave no thought to the significance of the little squares with which they decorated their Christmas mail. They meant much more than mere decora- tion-those stamps of good cheer they meant the saving of life and the assurance of comfort for hundreds suffering from the dread plague, tub erculosis. And this is how the stamps fulfilled their mission and how again this year they hope to accomplish still more.
 In 1908 the Red Cross decided to na- tionalize the Christmas stamp. A new stamp was prepared according to design contributed by Howard Pyle and the state branches of the Red Cross were invited to become agents for the little red and green "stickers'' with their messages of good will and their purpose to help in the warfare nationalize the stamp the central committee of the Red Cross at Wash ington had no means of forecasting the result except the success of the experiment of the year before in Del aware and while this promised well it could not be regarded as a safe index to the reception which the "stickers" would meet in New Eng land, the West or the South. After much discussion an order was given to print 100000 stamps. There was serious question whether so large a number could be sold.
 But the stamp caught on'' wherever it appeared. In New York the slo- gan was ''Every Stamp a Bullet in the Fight Against Tuberculosis" Or Red Cross headquarters by mail, by telegraph, by telephone, by messenger. A second million was ordered from the printer. Then a second printer was engaged and finally third. Or ders from all over the country fairly
 
 and completely. swamped the printers ExaSpera ting delays occurred and good people lost their tempers, all because the central committee of the Red Cross had not had the foresight to prepare for the avalanche.
 When Christmas Day of 1908 arriv- ed, everybody began to breathe easier and to cast up accounts. The central committee at Washington found that it had printed 30,00O,Ooo stamps and chi +n ofc NY0 accurate statement has been procur- able of the number of stamps actually sold by the agents. They purchased the stamps outright from headquar- terS and were not required to ac- count for unsold stamps remaining at the end of the season. Partial reports were received, however, which make it possible to estimate that the num- Der of stamps sold at one cent each was about 16,500,GD0. The large un- sold stock was scattered among agen- cies in several hundred cities and towns and represented a loss to them of about $500 which cut down, by that amount, the profits on the stamps which they actually sold. This loss resulted largely from inability of agents to estimate the extent of the stamp demand Early in the season the tendency was to send in orders which proved too small and this was followed by a tendency to send lex- C0SSlVely large OTQefS III tHe eHCnuSl- asm of the later days.
 The summing up of the entire cam paign showed that the profits from the sale of stamps in the United States after all expenses had been paid, amounted to about s135,O0O. Expenses, including the cost of stamps, adver- Using, clerical work, rents. express charges, postage, and all other items amounted to about $30,000. The ex- penses, therefore, were about eigh- teen per cent of the total proceeds.
 The Red Cross Stamp of 1909 is now in the printers hands. A new de- sign has been adopted, selected i1s the result of a competition in which about twelve hundred persons parti- cipated. The stamp itself will be in white and will be one inch square. The order already placed with the printer is for 20,000,0O0 stamps and more, in any number, can be produc- ed as rapidly as may be necessary. The stamps will be ready for ship ment to agents November l. This will afford agents ample time to complete and be in readiness for the opening of a vigorous selling cam paign in the latter part of November Or first of December
 Experience in 1908, as was to have been expected, demonstrated the ne cessity of improvement in the method of conducting the stamp sale and in the expenditure of the proceeds. It was found that advance payments for stamps was in many instances hard ship for agents. A more effective central control of the distribution of stamp proceeds was found imperative. When each agency paid for the print ing of it's own advertising matter, the small quantities meant high prices. In many instances not enough advertising matter was issued and in other in stances it's character did not prove effective The losses from unsold stamps were discouragingly heavy in some places.