Evening star., 1932-02-23
FIRST DAY covers
TAX POST OFFICES
Mount Vernon Is Elevated to
Thi?d-C!asS Status Due
tc Heavy Demand.

Although the post Office at Mount
Vernon closed at o'clock yesterday,
postal authorities estimated it would re-
quire all day today and perhaps part of
tomorrow to clear away the flood of
mail accumulated as a result of the all
day posting of first day covers by
stamp collectors at the historic Virginia
home OF George Washington yesterday.
Scores Of late-arriving philatelists de-
string to secure the special Wakefield"
i cachetS and Mount Vernon poStmarks
made available by the Post Office De-
partment In commemoration Of George
Washirgton's birthday were turned
away as the doors Of the little post Of
fee and CT the wing Of the Concessions
Building temporarily converted to a
mail room we're closed.
100000 Pieces Cancelled.
The postmarks and cachets were
placed on more than half a million
pieces Of mail according to officials, and
! approximately 40 bags of letters re-
mained to be Cancelled this morning.
Meantime, reports were being re-
ceived here that pest Offices in every
, town and city in the country with the
name of Washington were besieged by
throngs of stamp collectors seeking
February % cancellations yesterday
Other post Offices with names asso-
ciated with the life of Washington.
such as Wakefield, Va. Stony Greek,
Va; Yorktown, Valley Forge and Fred
erickSturg, we're flooded with an un-
usual influx of mail. The skeleton
crew" in charge of the post office in
the Capital was rushed, too, taking
care Of an unexpected demand for
stamps and cancellations.
Mount Vernon, as result of the
heavy flow of mail incident to the
special cachet being placed on letters
mailed at that office alone, attained
the status Of a third-class post office
for perhaps the third time in its his
tory. The rating is based on the num-
Der of cancellations handled by the
office officials explain, and the turn
over at Mount Vernon seldom is sufi-
cient to class it better than a fourth
class Office.
Booked as Third Class.
On January l next Mount Vernon
will go down on the books as a third
class post office, but unless some cCm-
memorative event involving the his
toric shrine causes a rush Of mail at
the post office nsXt year, it will retain
that status for 1893 only.
Stony Greek is the nearest post Of
flee to the birthplace of George Wash
ington, at Wakefield Manor, WeStmore-
land County, Va, according to the
postal authorities. and for this reason
much mail was handled there yesterday.
There is a post Office at Wakefield, Va,
some 40 miles from the scene of wash
ington's birth, and this office also was
taxed with unusually heavy mail
The Official cachet placed on mail 60
ing through the Mount Vernon Post
Office was made available for yesterday
only, under the joint auspices of the
United States George Washington BIZ
centennial Commission and the Post
ONCE Department. According to M. L.
Eidsness, jr, in charge Of the stamp
division at the City Post ONCE here,
more than 100000 YVES spent by stamp
collectors and others for postage on
"hrst-day covers" mailed at Mount Yer
non alone. An additional corps of 60
clerks was assigned from the iucal Office
to handle the advance patches of mail
sent in charge of the postmaster at
Mount Vernon intended for release yes
terday.