Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-13
By JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

- uc ldSI dCI u Illc uldIud u Vic
Mothers day stamp will be played"
at the amphitheater at Arlington
Cemetery this afternoon at 2:30, when
the American War Mothers, sponsors
of the stamp, will hold their annual
Mothers day services. The occasion
will be deeply impressive.
Mrs. w. E. Ochiltree, president, will
preside; Representative Edith Nourse
Rogers of Massachusetts and Rear
Admiral Clark H. Woodward will
speak: Mrs. Gertrude Lyons and Miss
Dorothy Reddish will sing, and the
Marine Band will play. A group of
Gold Star Mothers will march through
an aisle of honor" to place wreaths
on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
while Sergt. Frank Witchey sounds
taps.
The public is invited to attend, and
delegations of several philatelic So
cieties plan to be present.
The proposed series of National
Parks stamps continues to hang fire,
but Postmaster General James A.
Farley is supposed to have approved
the plan and the set probably will
be authorized within the next few
days.
There are indications that the
Presidential series will not be issued
until 1885. Philatelists in general
not keenly interested in the SERIES
have objected to the whole lot COM
ing out at any one single time, and
Post Office Department officials have
taken note of their suggestion that
the stamps be staggered" over
sequence of months.
Meanwhile, there has been a re-
vival Of gossip about the proposed
Wisconsin and Connecticut stamps,
but nothing definite is known as to
their fate. Congressional support for
both has been manifested, both have
been noticed In the press, and there
is chance that both will be author
lied. But objections are many, and
the question has been asked as to
where the necessary line IS to be
drawn-every State in the Union will
want commemorative of one kind
or another, if Wisconsin and Con-
necticut are favored.
Approval of the Mothers day
stamp continues to be demonstrated
by collectors as well as by the gen.
eral public. The New England Fed
Grafton of Philatelic Societies is re-
ported as having endorsed the de-
sign, and many prominent philatel-
lists have written to Mr.. Farley to the
same effect.
Max G.. Johl, United States stamp
expert, says: II have seen the new
Mothers day stamp and believe it to
be the finest stamp ever issued by any
country and fitting tribute tc every
mother"
Among the post offices which broke
regulations to allow advance use of
the Mothers day stamp we're: Ross,
Ga; Mexia, Tex; Stanley, N. OAK,
and Sarasota, Fla. But self-respect-
ing collectors will have nothing to do
with illegal covers, and the racketeer-
ing possibilities Of such mistakes"
therefore are small.
George R. M. Ewing, writing In
Stamps Magazine, says: There are
dark and light shades in the Mothers
der to violet. The fiat plate stamps
have distinctly reddish shade.
The size for the rotary is 36l5 NM
by % nm. and for the fat plate SO
nm. by 81 p nm.
In the fat plate there is a small
letter F before the plate number on
the upper right panes."
Actual count of a random lot Of
Mothers day stamps, received
through the regular mails from
points over the entire country, shows
80 rotary type to seven fiat plate.
This would seem to indicate that the
latter variety will be the more val
liable in years to come.
r. K. Lingenfelter, Altoona, Pa,
has something novel in the way of
Mothers day hrst-day covers. A rela-
tive, touring by motor through the
District of Columbia, Virginia, West
Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania
May 2, mailed addressed envelopes
back to him from Washington, VIM
chester, Romney. Cumberland and
Bedford. He thus obtained first-day
four States.
A fourth-class Nebraska post Office
Is said to be responsible for a flood
of cancelled to order" Byrd imper-
forates, and Kosciusko stamps, SIM
Iarly prepared, are being peddled to
spectators at $3.50 a hundred.
An investigation is said to be under
way.
The second consignment Of the
Philippine Olympic stamps are ex-
pected at the Offices of the Philip
pine Commission, Barr Building,
about May 81.
"a bit of benzine dropped upon
the newest stamps from Lithuania,"
says Cecil Betron in the Detroit
News. reveals the coat of arms of
Grand Duke Gediminas. a prominent
figure in Lithuanian history in the
early part of the fourteenth century.
After the death of King Mindau-
gas, the kingdom was divided into
small dukedomS. Trouble brewed
until the reign Of Gediminas, under
whom order was restored and the
country's boundaries were expanded
to the southeast and fortified to the
westward against invaders.
1T was Gediminas who founded
the city of Wilma, capital of Lithu-
ania, in 1922. The city, together with
the Wilma territory, is now held by
Poland as an outcome of the an
nexation by Pilsudski in 1919. Lith-
uanians still claim the city. notwith-
standing that in 1923 the Confer
ence of Ambassadors assigned the