Evening star., 1933-12-17
TRIBUTE Of STAMP |
DESERVEDByM MANY
Retired Postal Official Sees
Neglect of Heroes, States
men and Others.
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

age stamps no longer should be monop-
olized by successful politicians
Such, in any case, is the argument of
Michael L. EidSness, ir, for II years
(until October IS, last) superintendent
of the division of stamps and chief of
the philatelic agency of the Post Office
Department, and probably the most
widely known figure in Stamp-collecting
circles in America.
In the first interview granted since
his retirement from Federal service, the
veteran philatelic leader said "It is
reported that the next series of regular
stamps will be devoted to exhibiting
the portraits of Presidents hitherto
neglected. The Bureau of Engraving
and Printing is supposed to have sub
mltted drawings for the set, and the
stamps, originally scheduled for Janu-
ary l, are expected to be ready in the
early Spring But not all the Presi-
dents have been statesmen. Some of
them were merely successful politicians
who rose TO the highest Office through
the accidents of political maneuvering
rather than by the manifestation of
superior merit.
"These accidental Chief Executives
are not heroic characters, individuals
whose lives are an inspiration to the
people. They do not deserve to be re-
membered in stamp designs
Worthy Ones Overlooked.
"On the other hand, there are a
great number Of men and women OF
unqueSt1oned eminence who have been
consistently overlooked. To illustrate
the point, consult any standard ency-
clopedia. Here is Alexander Hamilton,
with three and a half pages of biog-
raphy, and James Buchanan. a we'll
meaning but Intellectual President, with
only three-quarters of a page. 1t is
fair question to ask which of these
men is the more important in the an
nails of the Nation. But it is Bu-
chanan who, according to present plans
Is to be commemorated by a stamp.
Again, we have four pages on Chief
Justice John Marshall and but a single
page on Chester A Arthur, but it is
Arthur who is to have the tribute of
inclusion IN the new series. That
there must be some legitimate iustif-
cation for criticism in the circum-
stances is demonstrated by the fact
that there was an Alexander Hamilton
stamp in 1870 and John Marshall
stamp in 1894 and 1902. 1t was only
within the present generation that their
names were dropped from the list"
Mr.. Eidsness declared that the first
stamp ever issued by the United States
was one showing a portrait of Ben
larlln Franklin. Thus there is a
primary precedent against an exclu-
sively presidential series
The complete roster of chief magis-
trateS honored by stamps includes:
Washington, jefferson, Madison, Mon
roe, Jackson, Taylor Lincoln, Grant.
Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Benjamin
Harrison, Mckinley, Theodore RooSe-
Velt, Harding, Wilson and Taft. Presi-
dents omitted are: John Adams, John
Quincy Adams, Van Buren, William
Henry Harrison, Tyler Polk. Fillmore.
Pierce, Buchanan, johnson, Arthur and
Coolidge. Former President Hoover is
ineligible under the rule which forbids
the use Of portraits Of living persons in
stamp designs.
New Denominations Suggested.
To accommodate the entire roll of
neglected" Presidents, Mr.. Eidsness
said, it would be necessary to print
stamps in several new denominations
To do this, AZ, Is and 10 cent values
have been suggested. But in the judg-
ment of many these novelties are
neither necessary nor desirable
However, Mr.. Eidsness made it plain
that he favorS retaining Franklin,
Washington and Lincoln In the designs
of the l, 2 and 3 cent stamps Postage
stamps he explained, ARE potentially,
if not actually. the most democratic
educational mediums we have, and !
believe that the names and portraits
of Franklin, Washington and Lincoln
Should be kept before the eyes of the
youth of the country for that reason
One Of the handSomest stamps ever
brought out in America. AIr Eidsness
said, was the half-cent stamp depicting
Nathan Hale. the brave young martyr
CT the Revolution. "A character like
his is so inspiring that it should be
h0n0red by his spiritual descendants,
the Americans Of today" the former
superintendent argued. "But fortunately
we have had many noble and patriotic
characters who also are worthy of re-
tnembrance
Commemorative stamps have been
issued for Mad Anthony Wayne, John
Sullivan, George Rogers Clark and other
heroes, and public sentiment has ap-
proved the tribute. But what about
Israel Putnam. Francis Marion Ethan
Allen and Joseph Warren? What about
Paul Revere and Caesar Rodney? Are
they not heroes of equal importance?
And since we have stamps in honor of
Won Steuben, Pulaski, Kosciusko,
Rochambeau and De Grasse, why not
a stamp for La Fayette? Again. there
is the case of John Paul Jones, the
valiant fighter on the sea. He, surely,
has as valid claim as Farragut, al
ready accorded philateliC recognition.
Still another anomaly is that of the
stamp issued in tribute to John Ericsson
when Robert Fulton and John Fitch
inventors of the steamboat, are ignored
Achievements of Inventors.
Inventors as a class, I think, should
be commemorated in stamps Eli
Whitney. Elias Howe, Samuel F. B.
Morse, Cyrus Hall Mccormick, Cyrus
w. Field Thomas Alva Edison, Alex
ander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers
and Luther Burbank did as much TO
change the nature of mankind for the
better as many statesmen. Leave out
of modern civilization such things as
the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the
reaper, the telegraph, the ocean cable,
the telephone. the incandescent lamp,
the phonograph, the storage battery,
the cinematograph and the airplane,
and nothing very much remains. 1t has
been the inventors who have shown
humanity the road out of medieval
darkness and poverty"
Mr. Eidsness also cited the great ethi-
cal teachers as being proper subjects
for postage stamp designs. Think of
men like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau, Theodore Parker, E. P.
Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry
Ward Beecher, Edward Everett Hale,