Evening star., 1920-12-29
THEIR HUMAN SIDE

The customary three wishes" in a
, fairy story are a real life reality to
Representative Harold Knutson. the
republican whip of the House. When
he was sixteen years of age he was
.. bound-boy on a farm. and hired
out at $50 year and his keep. While
thus employed he made three wishes,
or rather conceived three ambitions:
% to own the farm on which he
| worked, one of the best in that sec
ton of Minnesota. about 1000 acres
in extent; CD to own and edit a news
paper, and 90 to come to Congress.
! WITHIN twenty years, by his own
| labors. he had achieved all three of
| these ambitions-and, in addition. had
| been elected whip of the House
| majority.
Knutson made his fortune after
| Quitting the farm in Canadian real
| estate IN the town of Alberta during
/ the famous Calgary boom. The phil
osophy of his salesmanship was
! when you drive a prospect out on the
! prairie to sell him a town lot or farm,
! don't let him sit in the car. Have
him get out and stretch his legs and
| take few good long breaths of the
atmosphere. Then he will begin to
! feel as if he'd like to own the uni
| verse, and you can sell him piece
| of it.
Considerable interest in philately
has been shown by readers of this
| column since the publication of a
little story about Representative f.
H. Ackerman as stamp collector.
Daniel c. Roper. who was first as
sistant postmaster general. vice
| chairman of the United States tariff
commission. and commissioner of in
| ternal revenue, gives some very in
nj fn linn hA III
He says that the Post Office Depart
ment receives annually $25O,0O0 from
! stamp collectors, for which no postal
return is required and for which no
postal service is performed. He also
gives the stamp collectors credit for
detecting practically every counter
felt stamp designed to defraud the
government.
Mr.. Roper points out that the post
age stamp, while trivial in intrinsic
.h.i sathe' mas behind it all the power and
authority of the nation, and COM
mands human service in all parts of
the world. He says that the postage
stamp originated in England in 1880.
and that the first stamp of an official
| nature in the United States was used
by the postmaster of New York in
1912. The law of 1S45 established uni
| form postage at low rates. Individual
specimens of some of the early issues
command from $500 to $1,000 and
| @h0AC arc SOIHe private COtlectlOnS
worth more than $1,000, ,00O Uncle
Sam himself has not kept a complete
collection, and there is no reliable
official information regarding some of
the early issues. Some of the COM
! memoratiTe issues of stamps were
Centennial Celebration. Philadelphia,
1876: Chicago Worlds Fair, 1898:
Worlds Fair, st. Louis, 1904; James,
| town Fair. 1907; Panama-Pacific In
ternational Exposition, 1915.
The hue and cry of the farmers for
| protective legislation reminds Rep
resentative c. b. Hudspeth of Texas
of the panic time some years back
when an old ranchman sent a train
load of sheep to market, and after
waiting some time for his money, fin
ally received a bill for more than 5000
for the cost of transportation. He an
swered that he didn't have any more
money, but could send another train
load OF sheep to square accounts
Uncle julius" Kahn sometimes takes
a few minutes away from military legis-
lation for quick work in taking care of
other interests. The other day he
strolled in at the conference of MEM
bers from agricultural sections who
were discussing items to be included in