El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-22

100000 post cards are sold every
day in the United States. Not all
of these are mailed, but it Is probable
that the pOstOfficeS every day sell $40
600 worth OF One-cent stamps to be
used on post cards 1t requires an aver
age OF 40 post cards to weigh a pound.
and thus the pOstOffice department re-
ceives s1.2O a pound for carrying post
cards, as against an average cost of
transportation of nine or ten cents a
pound. The post card business is very
profitable to the pOstOIIice.
Originally the picture post cards were
purchased as souvenirs, pictorial de-
scriptions of strange sights in strange
lands. which the traveller might send
back home Now they are used for a
thousand different purposes the chief
one of which is as a time-saver. 1t is
but the matter of a moment to write a
half dozen words on a post card and
anybody is glad to get it. A letter must
have half dozen pages or it may seem
curt and thereby give offence.
The post card is the greatest time
saver on earth in that respect. But it
also imposes a burden. Formerly peo-
pie did not expect many letters from a
friend on a Journey. Now, everybody.
friend and acquaintance, asks for "a
post card from every place you stop"
1t Is easy to have 80 such requests, but
1t soon becomes a great burden to write
90 or rs post cards from every stopping
place on journey. Yet it must be ad-
mitted that the advantages of the post
card far outweigh Its disadvantages as
medium of friendly and informal cor
respondence.
Many Post Card Collectors.
The post card. however, has other
uses than those connected with CORES
of h1Iv
them for their own collections. This
phase of the business is mosf import
ant to the trade. since it stimulates in
tereSt in a class of cards which would
be very slow to sell for purposes of
actual correspondence Series of cards
six to ten illustrating one subject, are
popular with collectors, but have only a
limited use for correspondents. Art
cards, also, are sold for collections.
There is not a famous masterpiece OF
painting or sculpture which has not
its post card counterfeit all ready for
the album of the collector. These cards
have done great service in educating
the taste of the people.
Like every other business, the post
card industry has its ugly side Coarse
and vulgar comics" have their patrons,
in great numbers, and there is always a
means to supply such a demand. Obscene
compared with European countries, for
two reasOns-the vigilance of the post
office authorities and the greater mod
eSty of the American public.
Roosevelt Cards Numerous.
Portrait cards are much more popu-
lar in Europe, where everybody worships
some flower OF royalty or sprig of no
bility. than in democratic America. And
YET there have been more picture post
cards with Theodore Roosevelt as their
subject, both in pOrtraiture and carica-
ture, than of any other mortal man.
More than two hundred different varie-
ties of Roosevelt cards have been pub
lished with relation to his return TO the
United States from his African journey.
Easter and Christmas Cards.
Post card tradesmen make much of the
holiday seasons. Easter and Christmas
are the big post card days, while every
other holiday comes in for its share of
attention. - The post card makers al
ready are busy placing Thanksgiving
and Christmas lines" with the trade.
1t is now the custom in many cities for
the post card shops to keep open late
at night for a few days preceding holt
days, so that everybody may have a
chance TO buy appropriate cards upon
which to write easonal greetings to
friends.
There is a technical difference be-
tween post cards and postal cards"
The postal card is printed by the gov
eminent with the stamp engraved upon
ii, the post card is a private mailing
card, printed by anybody, and to which
the stamp is affixed by the individual
purchaser. The first postal cards were
issued in Austria in 1869, the idea hav-
ing been suggested at the Fifth Ger
man Postal Congress in 1865. The sug-
gestiOn of the congress was nos acted
upon, and in 1869, Prof. Emanuel Her
mann of Vienna published an article
urging its adoption. Prof. Hermann is
now known in Europe as the inventor
of the postal card.
Picture Cards From Germany.
Contrary to The general belief in
America, the picture post card is al
most as old as the official postal card
The first picture post card was the re-
suit of the Franco PruSsian war and
was issued on July 6, 1870. This card
bore the picture of a Prussian gunner
and was published in Oldenburg by a
printer named Schwartz. The manufac-
ture of picture post cards was taken
up by Brandt. in Dresden The growth
Of the business was slow at first, bu.
RAND OF OPIUM SMUGGLERS