Evening star., 1931-12-06

TNHERE are approximately 500 900
to 100000 George Washington
Bicentennial stamps bearing IN
a Vitations to half a dozen cities,
including Washington, in 1882,
that seem doomed to remain in the
hands Of their originator, Soterios
Nicholson, Washington attorney, unless
he can overcome the charge of com
mercialjsm" that has risen against
their 5ale at cent each.
There are possibly hundreds of thou-
sands more Of these stamps in the
hands of Mr.. Nicholson's New York
partners, since he hasn't received his
share of the proceeds from their sale,
And, incidentally, the engraVerS and
printers Of the stamps are Clamoring
for payment.
Representative Sol Bloom of New
York, who is associate director of the
George Washington BiCentennial Com
mission, created by Congress to push
the celebration on a nationwide scale,
is chiefly responsible for the slow sale
Of Mr.. NiCholSon's stamps.
The Stamp Sales Co. of Washington,
with headquarters in Mr. Nicholson'S
combination law and magazine publish
ing office in the National Press Build
ing, suspended its activities in the sale
of BiCentennial stamps after Mr.. Bloom
raised quite a furor about the com
mercializing of a patriotic celebration"
Yesterday after Mr. Bloom described
1t as purely commercial in motive, the
George Washington Bicentennial Seal
Stamp Association, with offices on Fifth
avenue, New York, suspended its opera
tiOnS with a gross collection of about
sac, according to Col Barry Buckley
formerly Of Washington, one Of its
leaders
The fact which chiefly aroused the
ire Of the New York Representative was
that both Of these concerns, which are
definitely affiliated in a close and at
first confusing partnership, lent much
high-pressure to their sales through
the use of phOtOstatic copies of a letter
Mr.. Bloom had written to Mr. Nicholson,
describing a sample stamp as "attrac-
tive and appropriate in calling atten-
tion to the celebration"
I'D write such letter for any one
who had created something really in
teresting or useful for the Bicenteu-
nial" Mr.. Bloom said last night.
i have no objection to the sale by
legitimate means and at legitimate
prices Of any articles commemOrating
and advertising the Bicentennial," the
New Yorker declared. But these
SJdnpS- ana JNey are attractive stamps,
certainly-arent worth $40 a thousand
Of any mans money. Why. III bet they
don't cost 81 a thousand to print and
buying them in large quantities would
probably cut down their cost to rs
cents a thousand"
Meanwhile Mr. Nicholson, who holds
Patent Office protection on all Bicen-
tennial stamps, sat in his Office in the
National Press Building bemOaning Mr..
Blooms attitude on the letter of in
dOrsement." He outlined to a reporter
for The Star the whole story of the
Bicentennial stamp from its inception.
Mr., w. c. Benson" Nicholson re-
lated, who is associated with me in
connection with the Nations Capital
Magazine Of which I am publisher, and
myself conceived the idea of a Bican-
tennial stamp that would both advertise
the City of Washington and the Bicen-
tennial Celebration, Mr.. Benson, who
is an artist, designed an attractive
stamp and we had 100000 printed.
Then we asked the District of CO.
lumbta Bicentennial Commission to in
dorse them. We conferred at length
with Mr.. Arnold Kruckman, director of
the commission and finally we entered
into contract with the commission,
under which it received a certain per-
centage of the proceeds to be derived