Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-12-28
Sidelights on the European War

Havre.-(Correspondence of the AS
ISOLATED Press).-The little branch
postoffice in the district of Ste. AID
Tesse, Havre, is now the most impor
tant in the world in the view of stamp
collectors. 1t falls within the section
of the city temporarily made over to
| Belgium as its capital, and as such is
on Belgian soil. A letter posted there,
even If destined only for another part
/ of Havre, must carry the full foreign
postal rate of 25 centines. or 3 cents.
1t is not due to the fact Of Belgian
stamp used, but to the postmark OF
! Havre on the stamp that makes it val
liable to philatellists.
/ During the office hours stamp collec-
tors stand in line in Ste. Ad resse. The
greatest sale is of postcards with the
embossed stamp of five centimes, two
stamps of two centimes and one OF
one, making total of two cents. They
buy the entire issue. which they usu-
ally stick on an envelope addressed
to themselves and have them cancelled
Immediately at the window. But the
most valuable collection is one placed
on an official envelope marked and
signed by the mail censor. It is thus
a triple souvenir.
If IL were not for the collectors this
Belgian office would do small bust
ness. But in view of the stamps can
celled for the sake of the postmark it
is probably the best paying Office OF
its size in any part of the globe.
The Hague Correspondence OF
the Associated Press. -There is
scarcely a school in European coun-
tries remaining neutral which has not
been struck by the mania for the ac-
emulation of war relies. The desire
FOR possession of collections of weird
and strange objects even extends 10
schools of the belligerent countries.
First in the list o. interesting items
comes bullets. How these bullets ever
find their way from some Siberian reg !
iment into the hands of a Danish ur-
chin or how a pieces Of shrapnel from 4
the battlefield of the Aisne is discov-
cred in the pockets of little Dutch i
child are oftentimes strange stories
Of ingenious schcolboy bartering.
When the war continued its dreary
course and the supply Of bullets in
creased, certain objects of murderous
intent began TO ge; certain specific
values The old Belgian army bullets,
made after Z pattern of the year 1883.
are not rated very highly. When a.
most thirty thousand Belgian soldiers
marched across the Dutch frontier
and threw away their arms, the supply
of those heavy bullets became so large
that only beginners in the field of col
lecting were willing to accept them at
all
Neither does the true connoisseur
give much for the English bullets.
Three thousand British sailors were ,
deprived of their ammunition when ,
they were obliged to cross into Hol- ,
and and this made British bullets too !
common to be considered art treasure.
German bullets, which seem to be COM I
non enough in the country of their ,
origin. are rated high by the children
abroad The same can be said of the /
lrcnze pointed French bullets which, \;
ike the German bullets, unless they 4
lit some vital organ, merely make a 7
heat little hole which easily cures. Y
But alas. honesty even in this child Il
sh mart of barter would not remain Il
or long One boy who desired his Y
collection left the narrow G
oath which runs between the right r
md wrong of the collectors, code. I
With an axe he changed his common Q
Belgian bullet into a gruesome fat h
Iosed ''dum-dum." The first specimen {
# this terrible weapon was passed Z