Evening star., 1934-04-22
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

Il.
Postage stamps printed at the Bu-
reau of Engraving and Printing in
single average year, if laid en- to end,
would reach from the earth to the
moon, Alvin w. Hall, director. Tuesday,
evening told meeting of tn! Wash
ington Chapter of the Printing House
Craftsmen, assembled: at the Hotel
La Fayette.
The line would exceed 100000 miles.
or eight times the circumference of
the globe, and 25 different colorS
would be represented in the chain.
Stacked in sheets of 100 stamps
each, the annual stamp production
would make 90 piles as high as the
Washington Monument.
Eight hundred tons of paper, 430
tons Of ink and 240 tons of gum are
used man ordinary l2-month period.
Mr.. Halk repUrted. And amoue the
stamps We have made at the bureaus
he said, have been specimens which
sold for thousands of dollars at phil
stelic auctions and thus may be
judged the most highly valuable
scraps of paper in the world"
Mr.. Hall described the routine of
declared: Probably ours is the only
printing plant in the United States
whose patrons check up on the work.
manship with a microscope. Philate-
lists as a class know more about
stamps than the men who design and
print them: they study them with
scientific technique.
stamp collecting has the highest
ideals of any pastime practlced IN
America. 1t is the most popular and
the most fascinating hobby in exist
ence, a source of instrut ton, pleasure
and profit to millions of people"
A. Nelson Wilson presided. and ap-
proXimately 100 members were present
The meeting closed with discussion
Of presS-rOOm problems.
The Mothers day stamp went on
the rotary presses at the bureau Wed
neSday
Plate numbers for the Mothers day
stamp are Flat plate. 21202 to 2l205,
inclusive rotary. 2l2l0 and 2l2ll. =.
The campaign to prevent the Post
Office Department from limiting first
day sales to Washington finds express
sion in a Western stamp periodical.
which quotes Roy NJ. North, Deputy
Third Assistant Postmaster General,
as saying that mo such decision has
been made"
Postmaster General James A. Farley
has received a request for stamp in
tribute to the Boy Scout movement.
No definite announcement has been
made with regard to the proposed
National Parks series of stamps, but
Mr.. Farley is said to have been in
conference with President Roosevelt
Thursday. and there may be state
ment in the course of the next few
days.
Mayor Charles Stanton has re-
queSted a stamp to commemorate the
centennial of Rochester, N. Y. He is
collector. and believes that philatelic
tribute to his own town would be am
ply justified.
The Maryland Tercentenary stamp
is disappearing from current use |
Many postmasters in the State report !
that their stocks are exhausted, and
it is not likely that there will be a
second printing.
The average collector probably would
say that the first United States stamp
to show an electric light bulb in its
design was the celebrated Edison is
sue of 1923. but Chester l. Lankford,
president. Franklin D. Roosevelt Stamp
T1t,1 lie 70
the one-cent pan-American issue of
1901, in which not one, but two bulbs !
are shown.
Mr.. Lankford is in receipt of a let
ter from Third Assistant Postmaster
General Clinton B. Eilenberger which
reads in part: mo detailed arrange
ments have yet been worked out for
the distribution of the new regular
series of stamps, but, were it practical
bic to do so. it would be altogether
appropriate to adopt the plan you
recommend of having each denomi- |
nation released on the birthday an !
niverSary of the former President |
whose portrait appears thereon.
You undoubtedly are correct in
your contention that the national |
parks stamps should be of larger size |
than the ordinary issue, in order to do |
justice to the subject matter de-
picteG."
An official release from the Wash |
ington Office of the Byrd Antarctic |
Expedition says: "A batch of $4,000 |
letters sent to Little America by |
stamp collectors almost cost the lives |
of several men and the loss of ship, |
1t has been revealed in dispatches |
from Capt. R. A. J. English, COM
mander of the Bear of Oakland, sup
ply ship of the expedition
The letters had been sent from all |
parts Of the world by stamp enthusi- |
aSts, who wanted them Cancelled at |
Little America.
Grave difficulties were encountered |
after the mail and equipment had |
been unloaded on the edge of the ice
in the Bay of Whales which threat |
ened the safety of the men, the equip |
ment and the sacks of mail
After the mail had been carried |
to the post Office at Little America by |
dog sled and Cancelled it was returned !
to the Bay of Whales. where steps
were taken to store it aboard the
Bear of Oakland
About one-third of the mail had
been stored aboard the ship when
word was flashed that with the in
creasing cold the ice fields were solid
ly reforming and the Bear of Oakland
must leave at once for New Zealand
or risk sinking.
THE balance of the mail was care
fully stored away at Little America.
1t will be brought North when the
expedition returns in 1885, when let