Evening star., 1936-05-17

Stamps Magazine. New York. for
many stamp conscious" Presidents,
but it remained for Mr.. Roosevelt
to bring philately to the front as the
favorite recreation of the American
people. Just as King George v made
is impossible for any one to refer to
stamp collecting as mere fad in
Great Britain, so he, philatelist for
many years before he ever dreamed
of being President, has emancipated
intelligent stamp collecting from in
vidious contumely in the United
States.
Mr.. Roosevelt arrived in the Ma
tion's Capital, March 4, 1888, with
certain definite philatelic plans in
mind. The earliest evidence of that
may be found in the Newburgh stamp.
1t was requested by Representative
Hamilton Fish and was approved be-
cause it appealed to the Imagination
of Mr.. Roosevelt as a lover of the
Hudson Valley and its history. The
Presidents home at Hyde Park is al
most within shooting distance of the
spot on which the Revolution was
concluded.
The N. r. A. stamp was Mr.. Roose-
velt's own idea. He wished to dram
atize the union of all classes of citi-
zens in a common determination to
end the depression. The design was
copied from a calendar provided by
William H. Seely and c. r. Churchill.
And the President himself, disguised
in a mustache, is the business man
in the picture!
Mr.. Roosevelt also was personally
responsible for the Byrd Expedition
issue. The thought came to him as
he talked with Rear Admiral r. E.
Byrd just prior to the explorers de-
parture for the frozen South. To
illustrate what he considered an ap-
propriate motif, the President made a
rough sketch of the globe-a drawing
which still is extant.
To Mr.. Roosevelt likewise ac-
Acknowledgement should be accorded for
the use of Whistler's portrait of My
Mother on the Mothers day stamp.
The Post Office Department originally
was opposed to the plan submitted by
the American War Mothers and it was
due to the Presidents intercession
that it finally agreed to the issuance
of the most popular stamp ever pro-
duced' in the United States.
Another design with which Mr..
Roosevelt was directly connected was
that of the 16-cent airmail special
delivery stamp. He sketched the
spread eagle for Postmaster General
James A. Farley to forward to the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
THE story of the national parks
series cannot be written in full at
the present time but there can be no
objection to saying that they were
first advocated by Franklin Adams of
the Pan American Union, campaigned
for by Gerard Ten Eyck Beeckman
of the National Parks Service and
certain newspaper friends, requested
by Secretary of the, Interior Harold
L. Ickes and eventually authorized
after as exciting struggle as ever
has disturbed official circles. The
President cast the deciding vote in
favor of the set. Otherwise, 1t never
would have been printed.
"NIr. Roosevelt finally has been the
father of the Army and Navy heroes
stamps. soon to be released. But in
them he gave credit to
Theodore Roosevelt. who suggested
such issues more than 20 years earlier.
"Yet the value of the New Deal
to philately is not completely stated
by citation of the Presidents record
as a sponsor of stamps. 1t should be
that Mr.. Roosevelt has
taken part in various philatelic con-
ventions and exhibitions since 1888.
he lent the weight of
his influence to the success of the
golden jubilee of the American Phila-
telic Society. Moreover. he accepted
honorary membership in the Washing
ton Philatelic Society at a moment
when it was exceedingly helpful to
philately in general for him to join
The collectors of the country are
advantaged by his example, and one
of the verdicts of posterity upon his
career will be that the President
personified the zeal, the ardent 10y
atty. the optimism and the hopeful
of the ideal philatelist."
Plate numbers for the Texas COM
are: 21537 to 21540, in
elusive.
The Arkansas stamp, announced by
Mr.. Farley some weeks ago, will be
released at Little Rock June Is; the
Oregon stamp about the middle of
July and the Army and Navy heroes
series beginning August /.