Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-25
POSTAGE PATRIOTISM.

FIGHTING the kaiser or helping to
win the war with a postage stamp
seems on first thought a weak effort.
When nearly a hundred million people
Join in an action even as slight as this,
the result accomplished is stupendous
The added penny postage on letters
mailed out of town, the extra penny
stamp placed now by law on the reg
ular post cards. as well as the addition
mailing cards. represents a war tax
which will proba bly, be paid directly
into the Golfers of the nation by more
individuals than any other direct tax.
Because almost everybody today car
ries on business or keeps in touch in q
social way with his friends by post. It
is safe to say that all persons old
enough to read or write will contribute
to this item OF national receipts. The
$7o.0oo.00o which Mr.. Kitchin esti-
mates will be the yearly receipts Of
the war tax on frst-class postal mat
ter alone may be used to great ad-
vantage in fighting Germany.
The martial-minded schoolboy who
wishes he were old enough to enlist
might like to know that this postal
fund would nearly pay the bill for
providing a rife, a bayonet. bayonet
scabbard. cartridge belt, a round of
100 cartridges, a steel helmet. gas
mask. trench tool as well as two pairs
of shoes and an overcoat for every
man in an army of million.
1t has been said that an army travels
on its stomach. If SO. this wartime
of a million cheerful on its marches
for about six and a half months by
purchasing the necessary food for that
time. If the person who affixes the ex-
ira postage to his letters is especially
interested in the soldiers eating uten-
sis, he will feel a satisfa ction in
knowing that an army Of a million
men might be provided with canteens,
canteen covers. cups. knives, forks,
spoons. meat cans. haversacks. pack
carriers and first aid kits by the ex-
penditure of about one-tenth Of the
10000. 900.
No Army expense radiates more SYM
pathetic interest than that connected
with keeping the khaki boys in good
health and giving them medical aid
greater claims than that of hospital.
If this frst-class postage war tax were
spent in this department of work, forty
standard one-thousand-bed hospitals,
covering sixty acres OF land. with sew
enty buildings, and costing a half q
million dollars each when equipped.
might be built with this fund, leaving
fifty million dollars to pay for all the
surgical dressings for an army Of a
million during a year, as well as its
medicines. surgical instruments, two
thousand X-ray machines, two thou
sand ambulances and numerous field
hospitals.
In buying some of the most modern
war innovations $70.000.000 will not
make such a showing. II the large six
teen-inch guns at 100000 each were
purchased. with projectiles at $500
each. with this postal tax. the money
would pay for fifty such guns and forty
thousand great shells to be fired at the
enemy. II one projectile should demol-
ish the house of Hohenzollern," the
stamp tax would be voted the most
successful levied.
Surprising airships were obtained in
stead of guns. the tax would pay for q
fleet of seventy of the large bomb
dropping type. costing a hundred thou
sand dollars each. and one hundred of
the five-thousand-dollar kind,
leaving more than sixty millions of
dollars to be expended in the project of
aviation. If the war should be won "a
the air with machines obtained by the
stamp tax, no design but that of the
Goddess of Liberty would be appro-
pirate for the future penny stamp Of
the nation.