Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-13
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.

AlOW dooONldIC Va AOoAAAPo 4sAesoo
zine, New York, is the author OF a
stamp program "for patriotic progress"
He advocates postal designs to adj
vance American culture"
The designs of postage stamps are
supposed to have educational signifl-
cance," he writes. In the United
States, anyway, that is true. Other
wise, why reproduce historic scenes
and famous personalities in stamp
designs?
1T happens that the very first ad
hesives ever issued by the Government
carried upon their face the portrait of
George Washington. The decision by
of genius. I do not know who the
men were who made the choice, but 1
salute them with gratitude. AS the
leader of the armies of the Revolution,
as chairman of the Constitutional
Convention and as first President,
selection, but those who had the wit
to recognize his distinguished claims
none the less are entitled to appre-
citation. They set the fashion which,
fortunately, has been followed ever
since.
And the designation of Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Jefferson for
early philatelic honors also was wise.
The Boston printer boy who became
the Nations first ambassador of good
will, publisher, Postmaster General,
inventor philosopher, philanthropist,
Signer of both of the basic charters
of American freedom, certainly was
destined to everlasting fame, but his
celebrity has been popularized by the
circulation of his portrait throughout
the world on the stamps of the country
he helped to found. The same may
be said for his contemporary, the Vir-
ginia lawyer who was part author
of the Declaration of independence,
third President and throughout his
career the living symbol of democratic
idealism. He, too. has been kept be-
fore the eyes and in the memory of
the masses he loved by the simple
device of stamps on which his counte-
nance is presented.
ITO illustrate the point, let me tell
the story of an American newspaper
man, sent to Russia at the outbreak OF
the instruction which dethroned En-
peror Nicholas II. This youngster SUI
fered unbelievable hardship in his
effort to reach ST. Petersburg. He
finally arrived in a village near the
metropolis famished and desperately
Ill. A stranger gave him shelter IN
his humble cottage. And in that
miserable hut the journalist found a
framed pencil sketch of Abraham Lin
coin. The picture was hung on the
wall with the family ikon. 1t had
been drawn-crudely but reverently
enlarged-from a stamp sent home by
a member of the family who had emf
grated to Chicago. He was the
Emancipator," the peasant said, land
he believed that everybody should be
free
lone such anecdote should suffice
to prove the value of stamp designs
TO civilization, but it could be dupli-
CdLcu d SCOIC Va "lI1l IC1C1CA
to each of the 43 Chief Executives
and other prominent persons who
have had philatelic tribute since July
/, 1847. Yet the question remains as
to whether the Government really has
made sufficient use of its opportunity
to serve the purposes of patriotism
and culture through its stamp pro-
auctions. Considering that 88 years
have passed and only 43 characters
have been accorded stamp homage,
the record is not superlatively ex-
travagant-it might be at least twice
as comprehensive.
ITO estimate the possibilities re-
course might be had to the eminent
Americans commemorated in the Hall
of Fame at New York University.
There have been 50 admitted. of which
number only IS have appeared on
stamps. The others, certainly. are
proper candidates, and the list in
cludes: President John Adams and
John Quincy Adams, for whom COM
memoratives have been asked this
year: Roger Williams, whose claim
surely is as valid as Gen. Ogle-
thorpe's; Patrick Henry, whose part
in the struggle for separation from
the British crown was unquestionably
as important as Gen. Kosciusko's; AL
exander Hamilton, who is ranked with
Nathan Hale in the memory of his
country; John Paul Jones, who de-
serves eternal commentator for his
services to the struggling Colonies and
the newborn Republic on the sea;
and Daniel Boone, pioneer trail-blaZer
in the West, whose biography has
been the inspiration of four genera
tons of youthful readers
But what of the other founders and
patriots? Ethan Allen and Paul Re-
we're, Israel Putnam, Stephen Decatur,
F. Maury, Kit Carson and
David Crockett-none of these noble
figures have been admitted to either
the N. Y. U. or the P. O.. gallery,
though of their merit there can be no
doubt in any mind A roster which
lists William T. Sherman and Win
field Scott cannot justly omit Philip
Henry Sheridan; and in the company
of Pulaski, Won Steuben, Rochambeau
ard de Grasse the name of La Fayette
should be embraced
THE soldiers who have preserved
are but little more worthy
of philatelic recognition than the
eminent scientists and inventors whose
genius has been an endowment of
society, but for whom neither the
State nor the populace ever have ar
ranged adequate reward. I think Of
Louis Agassiz, j. j. Audubon, Alex
ander Graham Bell, Luther Burbank,
James B. Eads, George Eastman,
Thomas A. Edison, Cyrus w. Field.
Charles Goodyear, Asa Gray, Joseph
Henry, Elias Howe, Cyrus H. McCor-
mick, Samuel F. B. Morse, William
Osler. Eli Whitney and Wilbur Wright;
and I wonder when philatelic laurels
will be granted them. Meanwhile. it
Is incomprehensible to me that such
acknowledgment of mankind's debt
should be begrudged by any one who
enjoys the fruit Of their labors and
sacrifices.