The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-19
Little Gummed Label Which Has Be-
come so Essential in All Coun-
tries, Originated There
In 1910.
RIDICULED IT AT FIRST
Idea Was Not Considered to be Worth
Much When It Was First
Announced to the
Masses.

Not all the revolutions that pro-
foundry affect the world for veal or
woe are wrought on the BATTLEFIELD.
Seventy-fve years ago the English
government put into actual use Sir
Rowland Hills idea of a postage
stamp, and the exchange Of communt-
cations by mail, up to that time pos
sibly only as luxury for the well-t0
do, became the privilege Of the poor
est man in the United Kingdom.
So common has the postage stamp
become and so thoroughly is it identt-
fed with every day life that few OF the
present generation even dream it is
Ia comparatively modern contrivance,
being first officially used on May 6,
1910.
In that year Rowland Hill. an Eng
lish schoolmaster, and his friend.
James Chalmers, created universal
ridicule in England when they an
nounced they had plan for carry
ing letter from London to Edin-
burgh for two cents, and still leave
modicum of profit for the govern
ment. At that time the fee was 81
cent for two-sheet letter, with IN
crease of postage for increase of pages
In the letter.
Everybody Had Laugh.
The poor, who were to be benehte1
most, laughed as long and loud as the
rich. but the schoolmaster persisted
in announcing his idea, and when the
time was ripe, laid his figures before
the government officials and the pub
lie. Hill proved that the expense OF
hiring a small army of men to weigh
individual letters and compute the
postage on each could be abolishei
by the ABORTION of a fiat rate, and the
use of a label showing the postage
had been prepaid. The use of the
label" would make the work OF CO..
lecting the postage on the delivery OF
the letter unnecessary.
The idea gained friends. Some or
the leading men of England urged the
government to give the plan trial,
and as a result postage stamps. or
stamped labels" as they were called,
we're first used just seventy-five years
ago on May g. 1t is pleasant to re-
call that the schoolmaster who pro-
nosed the plan was knighted by the
English government, and received
gift Of $4,000 raised by popular SUBJ
scription.
IL Universal Now.
Seven years after they were first
used in England. postage stamps were
introduced in this country, and now
the little stamped LABEL carries let
tiers and parcels into practically every
corner of the world. So much pant
of everyday life has it become. few
people ever give the convenience Il
thought: the stamp is universally
used as a matter of course; and mere
Nv represents to the user the fee
charged by the government for per-
forming what has come to be neces-
sarH service.
Possibly no other revolution, conf
mercial. military or social. has proven
so large a boon to so many people "a
the practical fruition of the English
schoolmasters thinking. To the bust
ness world the Introduction of the
hostage stamp was an incalculabla
benefit, and to its use must be credited
many of the most successful modern
business methods. What the common
letter stamp has meant socially only
a romancer could tell. Letter writ
ing received an impetus instantly, and
what had formerly been the preroga-
tive of the rich became, and has re-
the privilege of the poor.