The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-24
THE RED CROSS CHRISTMAS STAMPS Still Do Work In Tuberculosis
 Fight SQUARES OF GOOD CHEER More Than 16,ooo,ooo of the Little stickers Were Sold Last Year. Another Campaign in Pre-
 pairing for Holidays.
SQUARES OF GOOD CHEER
ERNEST p. BICKNELL. Director the American National Red
 Cross.


 Cross.
 Exclusive service The Survey Press Bu-
 reau.)
 Probably great part of the hundreds 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 decoration-those stamps of good cheer they meant the saving of life and the assurance of comfort for hundreds suffer ing from the dread plague, tuberculosis 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. new stamp was prepared according to a de- sign contributed by Howard Pyle and the state branches of the Red Cross were in vited to become agents for the little red and green "stickers' with their messages of good will and their purpose to help in the warfare against tuberculosis, In de- ciding to nationalize the stamp the cen tral committee of the Red Cross at Washington had no means of forecasting the result except the success of the ex- pertinent of the year before in Delaware and while this promised well it could not be regarded as a safe index to the reception which the "stickers'' would meet in New England, the west or the south. After much discussion an order was given to print 100000 stamps. There was a serious question whether so large num- Der could be sold.
 But the stamp caught on' wherever it appeared In New York the slogan was Every Stamp Bullet in the Fight Against Tuberculosis.' Orders for stamps began to pour into Red Cross headquar- ters by mall, by telegraph, by telephone, by messenger. A second million was or dered from the printer. Then a second printer was engaged and finally a third. Orders from all over the country fairly overwhelmed the Washington office and completely swamped the printers. Exas- perating delays occurred and good people lost their tempers, all because the central committee of Red Cross had not had the foresight to prepare for the avalanche.
 When Christmas day of 1908 arrived. everybody began to breathe easier and to cast up accounts. The central committee at Washington found that 1t had printed 30000,000 stamps and ahd shipped to agents 2S o00,000 No accurate statement has been procurable of the number of stamps &C., tually sold by the agents. They pur- chased the stamps outright from head quarters and were not required to account for unsold stamps remaining at the end of the season. Partial reports were re- ceived, however which make it possible 4I-f sold at one cent each was about 16500,0 900. The large unsold stock was scattered among agencies in several hundred cities and towns and represented a loss to them of about S6,500 which cut down, by that amount, the profits on the stamps which they actually sold. This loss resulted largely from the 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 excessively large orders in the en- thusiasm of the later days.
 The summing up of the entire campaign showed that the profits from the sale of stamps in the United States after all expenses had been paid. amounted to about $1S5,0 GOO. Expenses, including the cost of stamps, advertising, clerical work, rents, express charges postage, and all other items amounted to about s30 900. The expenses, therefore were about eighteen per cent of the total pro- ceeds.
 The Red Cross Stamp of 1909 is now in the printers hands. A new design has been adopted, selected as the result of a competition in which about twelve hun dred persons participated The stamp S- self will be in red and dark green, with lettering in white and will be one inch square. The order already placed with the printer is for 100000 stamps and more, in any number. can be produced as rapidly as may be necessary. The stamps will be ready for shipment to agents on November L This will afford agents