Evening star., 1935-02-03

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and favoritism manifested in the
exclusive release of philatelic news
to arbitrarily selected publications.
1t has been suggested that Mr..
Farley's principal aides be invited to
appear before the Post Offices and
Post Roads Committee of the House.
During the Postmaster Generals fire.
have been in charge OF department
procedure and are supposed to be
familiar with developments.
Representatives Millard and Fish
already have received thousands of
letters of commendation from COL
lectors, and further expressions of ap-
proval and appreciation are being re-
ceived hourly.
Mr. Ickes, a member of the Amer
ican Philatelic Society and of the
Washington Philatelic Society, has
asked Mr.. Farley to call a meeting
of all those to whom irregular sheets
were given or sold and to request
each individual to produce the stamps
transferred to him. The identity Of
any person suspected of having dis
posed Of his sheets then would be
discovered, and ways and means for
the recovery of the stamps could be
devised.
Al Burns, editor, Weekly Philatelic
Gossip, Holton, Kans., writes in his
issue for February 2: 1.-THE action of
the Norfolk, Va, Philatelic Society in
sending a letter to the President con-
demning the issuance of imperforate
whole sheets of commemorative stamps
in condition not available to the
general public might well have been
just another tempest in a teapot had
not they, used their ingenuity to obtain
the publicity afforded by the long arm
of the Associated Press Postmaster
General Farley does not tremble when
something gets into the local papers
about stamp irregularities, for he
knows that such news does not go far
Perhaps he would not care overmuch
about a letter Of protest sent to the
President, for they are old friends and
political helpmateS and one cannot
we'll do without the other, and there
would seem little chance that it would
become public But he knows that the
power of the Associated Press is an
other matter. News that goes through
the A. P. service is widespread and
seeps into every corner and Granny of
the United States. He knows how
harmful it can be to his political
aspirations and those whom he is
helping on the road to political pros
perity."
Strangers to the mysteries of the
stamp collecting art" says the New
York Times editorially, will be puz-
zled by the charges against Postmaster
General Farley. = Yet the remedy
would seem to be in the hands of
the critics. All the stamp-collecting
market has to do is to stigmatize the
Farley gift stamps as not genuinely
unperforated; morally, they are not
The real article fetches such high
prices, presumably, because 1t is the
result of accident and therefore ex-
ceedingly rare. When unpe-forates
are manufactured deliberately and
wholesale, they lose their character.
It is only necessary to note this fact
in the stamp pedigree books, and the
Farley stamps are Immediately de-
f1ated to their face value as postage"
George B. Sloane, stamp expert,
American Philatelic Society, writes:
1T gratifles me no end to observe
the rumpus stamp collectors are STIR
ring up was beginning to believe
that philatelists, collectively, were
willing to sit back passively the while
their hobby was being undermined"
A new drive to persuade President
Roosevelt to order a general printing
Of the imperforate sheets for sale to
collectors is forecast by the New York
Sun. The plan would have the effect
of making the Nations philatelic pub
lie pay for Mr.. Farley's mistakes and
it should be opposed for that reason,
if for no other
Michael l.. Eidsness, jr., writing in
Stamps Magazine for February 2,
says: Under normal conditions the
Philatelic Agency has admirable facili-
ties for its legitimate work as well as
a sufficient number of trained clerks
to perform the ordinary routine la
Dor. The 'old-timers' on the staff