Evening star., 1940-08-11

lars. The bank declined to make
the loan, but the story got into print
and it aroused much unfavorable
comment from philatelic journals
and from the press generally"
Mr.. Farley in his endeavor to ex-
plain the result goes on to show that
he does not understand the problem
at all. "The business of determining
stamp values is complicated to a
high degree" he says, "and the
public got the impression that the
department had commenced the
doubtful practice of giving away
stamps Of unusual value instead of
selling them" Philatelists, he does
not seem to comprehend, cared
nothing about the irregular sheets
being bought and paid for. What
incensed them was the knowledge
that unfinished stamps had been
taken from the Bureau of Engraving
aand Printing for distribution to
few favored "chiselers" who had
access to the Postmaster General
and his associates. The reaction
might have been less violent If the
specimen" had been proofs. Since
they were stamps, President Roose-
welt should have known that they
would be resented.
But the Nations No. / stamp COL
1ector kept silent while Mr.. Farley,
aas he insists, "acted quickly to
clear up the situation and disabuse
the public of the idea that an
individual had been placed in a
position to profit handsomely at the
expense of the Government" Again,
the Postmaster General betrays his
innocence. 1t was his fellow phi
latelists and not the Government
whose interest had been sacrificed.
Mr.. Farley continues: THE de-
partment was directed to run off
an adequate supply of specimen
sheets of the Mothers Day issue,
similar to the one which had gotten
into the possession of the gentle
man from Virginia. At the same
time, specimen sheets of 19 other
special issues, including the national
park series. were run off, and these
specimen sheets were sold over the
counter to every collector who want
ed one. The sales continued for
three months from March IS to
June Is, 1885, and during that pc
riod these sheets to a total value
of 81 ,467 ,972.70 were disposed of for
cash. In other words, the wide
spread publicity given to an honest
error on my part finally resulted in
a net profit to Uncle Sam of at
least S1,400,000. From a business
standpoint. at least, the outcome
was highly satisfactory . - Presi-
dent Roosevelt now buys his stamps
over the counter like other collec-
| tors"
| The end of the story, however,
cannot be written with Mr.. Farley's
resignation from Office. The gift
stamps still are unique. their market
value Is certain to be high. Col
lectors, however, do not blame the
retiring Postmaster General. They
known that ne was not intentionally
"out of step" and are grateful to
him for many kindnesses and cour-
tesies which during more than
seven years he cheerfully granted to
/ them.
The American Export Lines have
announced that their two new boats,
the s. S. Exemplar and the S. S.
Exhibitor, will commence their
maiden voyages in the New York
India service via Cape of Good Hope
on September and September 20.
respectively. These round-trip
maiden voyages will take something
under one hundred days and are
among the longest maiden voyages
in point of time and mileage made
by any cargo steamer service.
To commemorate these voyages,
the company has prepared a special
cover reproduced herewith which
will carry in addition to the regular
| SeapOSt cancellation. a man of the