Evening star., 1937-02-14

appears to haze been attached t
by the black line. The strip is vi
is unknown. All the upper ro10
is partly so.
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.
An official announcement for pub
lication today says: In order to in
sure careful handling and proper
postmarking of the first-day covers
to be mailed by stamp collectors on
Monday, February is, and Thursday,
February 18, Postmaster Vincent c.
Burke is establishing special unit
for this service to be installed in the
main post Office. located at North
Capitol street and Massachusetts, ave-
nue. northwest. The unit will be OPP
Grated by employees who are expert
enced in this character of postal
work and will be located near the
west end of the main post Office
lobby.
ITO assure that the proper post
marking and dispatching of first-day
covers may have the required super
vision it has become necessary to
conflne such service to the main post
office. Consequently. some of this
work which has heretofore been con-
Quoted at the Benjamin Franklin
station will be transferred to the
main Office, and collectors should
call there for their covers. Collec.
tors who desire the Benjamin Frank
llin poStmark and who are unable
to reach the main Office may hand
their covers in at that station, and
they will be dispatched to the main
office. where the Benjamin Franklin
postmark will be supplied and proper
dispatch made
THE special unit will be open for
handling Of the covers having affixed
the new airmail stamps on February
Is from 9 am. to midnight. and for
handling the new Scent Army and
Navy covers on February 10 from
am. to midnight"
1t originally had been proposed to
place the trans-Pacific stamps on
sale exclusively in the philatelic
agency, but Acting Third Assistant
Postmaster General Roy M. North
late yesterday announced that they
also will be available throughout the
day tomorrow at the Benjamin Frank
lin Station and the main City Post
Office.
Mr.. North said: I'VE are making
this concession to the public in an
effort to be helpful, but we do not
wish to be misunderstood. It is not
part of our purpose to stimulate the
first-day sale of these stamps in any
way"
The beautiful design submitted by
Col. August Dietz of Richmond for
the 4-cent Army stamp has been re-
jected. Instead of the vignette show
ing Gems Lee and Jackson saying
farewell, view of Stratford, BIRTH
place Of the former, will appear.
According to Alvin w. Hall, director,
the new building of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing should be
ready for occupancy in March, 1888.
New plate numbers have been an
nounced as follows: Three-cent Army,
21634, 21636, 21637 and 1888; three
cent Navy, 21630, 1851, 1852 and
1883; twenty-cent trans Pacific, 1892,
21623, 21626 and 21627; fifty-cent
trans-Pacific, 21624, 21625, 21628 and
1888.
Plate 21635 was spoiled in process Of
manufacture and has been discarded.
Robert D. Byrnes, philatelic editor,
Hartford Courant, writes: Floods in
the Ohio and Mississippi River VAL
leys recall to collectors those floods
in Europe whose victims have been
aided by stamp collectors through gov
ernment issues of special semi-postals
of which the surtax has been used
for relief purposes. The first of these
issues seems to have been that OF
Austria, 1921, when 20 values of the
regular postage series on colored pa
per were overprinted 'Hochwasser,
1920, in two lines and sold at three
times face value. In 1926 Belgium
issued two stamps, each of franc
face and surtax of the same amount
to raise money for flood sufferers.
The design is the familiar st. Martin
and the Beggar, with panel at the
bottom setting forth the surtax and
its purpose. The Rhine went over
its banks in 1928, and the result was
a special charity set by the princi-
pality Of Liechtenstein, the four val
ues showing, respectively, a washed
out bridge, an inundated village, SOL
diers engaged in rescue work, and
salvage operations. In addition to
the flood stamps, there are number
of other issues which resulted from
disasters, including the hurricane is
sues Of the Dominican Republic and
British Honduras, the earthquake issue
Of Nicaragua and the 1928 Japanese
issue, which appeared imperforate be-
cause of difficulties in the wake of
the Toxic earthquake"
The postmaster general Of Hungary
announces series of stamps for an
international fair at Budapest. VAL
ues are 2, 6, 10, 20, 80 and 40 filler,
and the release date is February %.
Adam Gruenig, Ceres. Calf, writes
to the Smithsonian Institution con-
corning the broadcast Of Sunday,
January "a: This morning my family
listened to one Of the most interest,"
ing radio programs ever. 1t was full
of interest to the collector as well
as to the outsider, and think that
thousands Of listeners will be added
to the already vast army Of stamp
enthusiasts"
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin for
Saturay, January IS, contains a COM
prehensive and well-written feature
article on Frank c. Atherton's world