Evening star., 1935-02-24
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

Such, in any case, is the opinion of
Roy M. North, Deputy Third Assistant
Postmaster General. who told meet
ing of the Collectors Club Tuesday
evening, "the Department desires as
much criticism as it can get in con-
sxtructive way. We have had a mil
lion dollars worth of free publicity
lately, and we like it. This advertising
will result in larger revenues for the
philatelic agency
Postmaster General Farley, Mr..
North insisted, wishes to cooperate
with collectors and it was for that
reason that he ordered a collectors
edition" Of the imperforate sheets of
stamps he distributed to favored
friends"
Mr.. North admitted that he knows
more about tomatoes than about
philately." But he pledged his help
to collectors and expressed a willing
ness to serve them as well as possible,
though We must devote most Of our
time to regular business"
The so-called neglected" Presidents
SERIES Mr.. North confessed, never has
been authorized and no definite plans
for it have been formulated. we
should have a new regular set," he
said, but whether it will be of por-
trait designs or public buildings, or
both, we have not decided"
In the future, Mr.. North promised
''only stamps of national Importance
will be issued-stamps that philatelists
will be proud Of.
An audience OF 81 collectors heard
the deputy third assistants address
i0iy ;v, ~ of l,o. lie
for his courtesy.
Those present included Mrs North,
Mr.. and Mrs. Robert E. FelleTs, Mr.
and Mrs. Frederick r. Rice. James F.
Duhamel. Alden H. Whitney. David H.
Davenport. Claude w Parker and DR..
George w. Field.
A complete set of the collectors
reprints" of Mr.. Farley's 'favors" will
cost the ordinary purchaser Sl9O30
plus rs cents postage and 40 cents
registration fee-a total of $191 As
Blocks of of the IS varieties avail
able in that condition will gross 1892,
to which also must be added return
postage and registration expense.
Similar amounts of money invested in
foreign stamps would afford a general
collector very nice showing of Speci-
mems equally interesting and probably
Of greater ultimate value.
The official department list of re-
prints is: Scent, Newburgh, perfo-
rated; Scent, Byrd, perforated type;
3-cent, Mothers day, flat-bed; Scent.
Wisconsin; 16-cent, airmail-special
delivery; 1-cent, Yosemite: 2-cent,
Grand Canyon: 3-cent, Mount Rainier
Accent, Mesa Verde; scent, Yellow
stone; Scent. Crater Lake; 7-cent,
Acadia; 9-cent, Glacier; 10-cent,
Smoky Mountain; 1-cent, Century of
Progress, souvenir; 3-cent, Century of
Progress, souvenir; Scent, Byrd,
souvenir; 1-cent, Yosemite, souvenir
(Omaha), and Scent, Mount Rainier,
souvenir (Atlantic City.
But the last five items in the list
will be sold in complete sheet form
exclusively-not in blocks of four.
H. F. Hartwell suggests a mourning
stamp for the unfortunates who had
received imperforate sheets and failed
! to cash in on them"
Representative Charles D. Millards
request for a list of the persons to
whom imperforate sheets were dis
tributed has not yet been granted.
Third Assistant Postmaster General
Clinton B. Eilenberger, in a letter TO
Representative James M Mead. ad-
mitted that SO sheets had been given
! away or sold, but he did not specify
to whom.
The imperforate sheet of Mothers
day stamps which caused all the
trouble at Norfolk. Va, originally was
presented or sold to Gen. W. w. At
terbury, railroad king. A story in
News-Week for February l6, says it
was given by its first owner to "a
family retainer"
Al Burns. editor. Weekly Philatelic
Gossip, writes: Our guess is as good
as yours, but-we would say that
President Roosevelt and Secretary of
the Interior Ickes must have tipped
the balance in the favor of the stamp
collectors, or it might well have been
that the Postmaster General feared
further investigation into the affairs
of his official family"
Collectors should understand that |
attempts to place the blame for the
imperforate sheet scandal on the |
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
are both unjust and useless. The
bureau did not circulate any of the
contraband material. On the con-
trary, it merely obeyed the commands
of the Post Office Department, honor
ing acquisitions from the Third As |
sistant's office in the regular way.
The following special dispatch is
quoted from the New York Herald
Tribune: White Plains, N. Y, Feb
ruary 15.-Speakers at the West
chester County Philatehc Society din
ner here tonight at the Roger Smith
Hotel condemned Postmaster General
James A. Farley for his gifts of i'm
perforate. ungummed sheets of stamps
OF certain issues to President Roose-
welt and other philatelist friends high
in the Government. The society
adopted resolution extending thanks
to the press in general and the
New York Herald Tribune. The
Washington Star, the Associated |
Press and Stamps Magazine In
particular for their work in correcting
a practlce recently started in the
Post Office Department which would |
have been inimical to the best inter-
ests of the stamp collectors of the
world
Representative Charles D. Millard
OF Tarrytown, Republican, who intro
duced resolution calling for an in
vestigation of Mr.. Farley's stamp gifts,
was guest speaker at the dinner.
What I did was not politics. he said.
You people were in my district; SO I
took up your burden. I charged Jim
Farley with bad ethics, and I am
pretty sure that we won't have this
situation again.
1.-The President of the United !
States has stamps in his possession |
today worth 100000. I notice that of |
all those who were given these stamps