Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-06-27

!" HE recent issue by the Post
Office department OF d Sesqui-
centennial postage stamp adds
i another stamp to the national
historical collection depicting
American history. The period COW
cred by the stamps ranges from the
landing Of Columbus to the present
hour. The "Sesqui stamp" as it will
undoubtedly be called, commentaries.
event in the Nations life--thiS time
the one hundred and fftieth anniver-
sary OF its birth.
The stamp is of the special deliV
cry" size. 2-cent denomination, red in
color. bearing columnar supported
Liberty Bell in its center, surmOunted
by the word 'Sesquicentennial.'
f1anked on either side by the dates
"1776-1926"
The practice OF the Government in
portraE wing the history Of the Nation
by means of stamps is not old. Ii is
we'll within the memory Of the pro-
verbal oldest inhabitant. 1t dates
only from the year 1S76-the ami
of the Nations birth. The Centennial
stamp, therefore, has birthday ami
versary Of its own at this time, if one
chooses SO to say
In the above year the Government.
at the Centennial Exposition in Phil
adelphia. as a part of its Post Office
Department exhibit. displayed ma
chine which manufactured stamped
envelopes. To distinguish the en-
velopes from the regular issue. a spe-
cial stamp design was used. Ii con
sisted OF a shield inclosing a mounted
postboy. train Of cars. telegraph pole
and wires as its principal figures.
The stamps were intended TO be sold
a. the Philadelphia Office only, but
the demand for them in q short time
became 80 general that they were
offered for sale throughout the coun-
try. From this response. no doubt
the Post ONCE Department took cue.
For when the Columbian Fair was
held in Chicago in 1893 there was
struck by the department a series of
adhesive stamps commemorative OF
the discovery Of America by Column
bus. This marked the first commem-
orative series.
Adhesive stamps themselves are not
descended from hoary antiquity,
though letters. which they are de-
signed to convey "poste haste to the
addressee. are the children of yellow
ing time. Even postal systems antedate
stamps by several centuries Irregu
lar postal systems existed in ancient
Persia, Rome and early France. Let
ters delivered by an organized postal
system came into use in America in
1889
The first adhesive stamps known to
use appeared in England around 1910,
under the direction Of Sir Roland Hill
who fills the role of Benjamin
Franklin" for the tight little island"
In the year 1S47 the adhesive stamp
idea crossed the Atlantic and became,
through the United States Post Office.
part and parcel of American domestic
and business life. In that year Con
gress authorized an adhesive stamp.
1t was offered for sale in New York on
July !. after being tried out at a. few
smaller post Offices beforehand. A
curious fact registered about the
stamps Of 1S47 is that they did not
take so well. The first fiscal year of
their existence shows only $50, $50
stamps struck.
For something like two years before
the stamp act of 1S47 there were
issued by Individual post offices post
masters PROFESSIONALS" These stamps
were adhesive, local in character, and
are today the rarest and most val
liable stamps in all America.
Previous to the use of the adhesive
stamp-and this with particular refer
ence to America-letters for mailing
were folded skillfully and sealed with a
wax wafer. The address Of the person
for whom the letter was intended was
written on the outer side Of the folded
letter. The letter paper used was OF
very tough quality. made necessary by
the double duty 1t was compelled to
do. Postage was collected from the
sender or the recipient Of the letter,
as the case might be, and was gov
erned entirely by the number Of sheets
and the distance carried, or to be car
ried.
MANY no doubt who read these
AsA lines recall. stored in some spot
sacred to family memory. a bundle of
faded yellow packets bearing dates a
century gone by, mementoes of love
and adventure from some one of the
family circle gone to the western
country" 9helr cyinklipg folds bear
male scrip - an even and frm- hand.