The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-12-12

too many"
Ten o'clock the morning Of De-
cember Is, 1907, few thousand Of
the stamps, they were so-called at
first, on sale in the publication Office
and few more at a booth in Wanna
makers. Also a top-of- five
bank head on page one of the North
American. Next day the whole edi-
torial space devoted to plea to buy
these bullets in the battle against
the worst foe"
Next day a seven-column spread"
on page one, and on December Is,
with the stamps selling by thou
sands and kilograms from many
parts of the country asking about
them.
The presses in Wilmington couldn't
print them fast enough, so a Phila-
delphia printer was enlisted. Through
it's Washington correspondent, the
newspaper got the postmaster gen.
erals permission to put up booth
in the Philadelphia post office lobby.
From Jacib Riis, on December 10:
"Good for you and for Philadelphia
and the North American. Keep it
up. I am glad the little seed
sowed in the Outlook last summer
has borne fruit"
Five days before Christmas the
governor of Pennsylvania and the
Pennsylvania branch of the Nation
at Red Cross Endorsed the stamp.
Four days before Christmas an edi-
torial urged that "A Million Mercy
Messengers" be bought by the peo-
pie. Two days before Christmas
Happy New Year" was added to
the stamp design, the demand hav-
ing grown so. The day after
Christmas more than half a million
already distributed to city, state and
nation.
Then a flight Of signed indorse-
ments from Washington, President
Roosevelt, Secretary of State Root,
Secretary of War Taft; from Balti-
more, Cardinal Gibbons from other
places leaders in public life, phil
anthropy and education all featured
on page one.
On January s, check for S1,013.97
sent to Miss Bissell, the proceeds of
the North Americans part in this
prafooa 70 cto ropipO ont tho mic ono
several times the sum Delawar-
cans had wanted to raise and
feared they could not get. And as
much more from other sources in
Pennsylvania. All told, Delaware
and Pennsylvania raised $1,000 from
this first sale of stamps.
Meantime, the National Red
Cross stopped, looked and listened,
at an annual meeting, to Miss Bis
sell and the cubby-hole man, and
slowly but surely decided to get be-
hind the stamp. So the field was
widened for the second round Of
these harmless bullets" harmless
to all save the deadly germs.
On November II, 1908, the first
gun in the second campaign was
fired by the North American, page
one promise to sell 100000 of the
1908 stamps, and one month later
to the day it ordered it's fourth mil
lion. Meantime
Every day from November II to
January 1, the Red Cross Christmas
Stamp was matter Of first-page
moment, and many day it was
given precedence over all other
news in the North American.
ut is splendid" said President
Taft at the meeting of the Red
Cross in Washington, December s.
Two days later the first page of the
North American came out with a
border of the stamps in red and
three-column facsimile likewise col
ored. Other newspapers in many
parts of the land were joining the
procession. When the curtain was
rung down on this act, in January,
the net result of the stamp sale
throughout the nation was $135, 900.
II never could have believed it,
said Miss BisSell.
Gimme one" and how the tinkle
of that copper coin has grown!
Annual sales of Christmas seals
amounted to $53,OOOOOO to date,
from this source alone. Yet the
money is the least part of it. The
message is what has counted most.
Between them, the death rate from
tuberculosis has been cut in half.
And it is still going down. Its fate
Is sealed.
GO by Western Newspaper Union.l