Evening star., 1942-12-13
Among the Stamp Collectors
Neus of the PhlaeHc World, Its Interests and PEOPLE
By James Waldo Fawcen.

BY lanes waldo Farceff,
Very few foreign stamps of current
vintage are coming into the Amer
ican market. Even the most elemen-
tary data about recent issues is
difficult to obtain. This means that
collectors for the time being are
obliged to concentrate on old and
familiar emissions and that a whole
new phase of modern scientific phil
ately must be developing behind the
veil of censorship and propaganda.
According to Kent B. Stiles, phila-
telic editor of the New York Times,
British censors in Bermuda are
holding many thousands of dollar
worth of unused and used stamps
for which American collectors are
clamoring."
One reason for the delay. Mr.
Stiles announces, is that "all stamps
must be examined to make certain
that concealed messages, in code or
otherwise, are not contained in the
shipments"
The utter ridiculosity Of such a
notion is evident the moment it is
remembered that enemy agents have
much easier and more convenient
ways and means of communicating
with their friends-if any - in
America.
Reading too much pulp" fiction,
seeing too many propaganda movies
and listening to more than enough
affected the intelligence of the CEN
sors disastrously. If there were any
concealed messages" in stamps from
friendly countries overseas, the
philatelic public would find and re-
port them. 1t usually is collector
not an offlcial-who finds such
things when-very, very rarely in
deed-they actually do exist.
Referring to rumors that the
Philatelic Agency may be closed for
lack of new stamps, Richard Mop.
Cabeen. stamp editor of the Chicago
Tribune, observes: LAS far as col
lectors are concerned, there is little
difference between a closed agency
and an agency with empty cases.
Mr.. Cabeen explains: unless
something new in the postage stamp
line is issued soon. the agency will
have nothing to SELL
That is obvious to most persons,
but there is none so blind as he
who will not see
One of the great mysteries of
modern history is that of the COL
lapse of France before the onrush
of German attack in 1910. But
clue to the explanation perhaps
might be found in the personalities
chosen by the French postal author
tiles to be represented in regular
postage stamp designs - Pasteur,
Ronsard, Berthelot, BRAND, Doumer,
Hugo, Jacquard, Jacques Cartier,
Callot, Ampere, de Rozier. Rouget
de Lisle. Jaures. Pierre Corneille,
Jean Mermoz, Descartes, Gambetta,
Clement Alder, Fontaine, Cezanne,
Clemenceau. ST. Gregory of Tours,
Richelieu, Guynemer, Mistral and
Petain: all estimable characters,
we'll worthy of honor But what of
Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis XIV,
Henry " Charles VII, Chevalier
Bayard, st. Louis, Charlemagne?
They are conspicuous for their alb
sence from the philatelic gallery of
France, yet it was they, above all
others, who made France nation,
Even Joan of Arc appears only once
on poor little daub of stamp
SOC. dull blue, issued in 1929 for
the 500th anniversary of the relief
of Orleans.
Great Britain might show Well
ington and Nelson on her stamps
but does not, so stolid is official ma
ture once it has settled into
confirmed tradition.
Harry L, Lindquist editor and
publisher of Stamps Magazine,
writes: According to recent news
paper reports. officials of the Treas
ury Department and the Office Of
Economic Sterilization are study
ing plan of forced savings as we'll
as a plan to ration spending money.
According to this latter plan,
every person would receive a GER
tain amount of free ration cou-
pons with their wage, salary or
investment income. Up to about
$500 year. these coupons would
be given tax free, and for every
dollar spent an equivalent num-
Der of coupons would be required.
After this initial allotment of
coupons had been expended, how
ever, each individual would have
to obtain more by paying a tax on
them. This tax would go up sharp
ly until it reached prohibitive lev
els, so that after $4,000 or $4,000
had been spent coupons would cost,
say. ST each, so that to make a 81
purchase you would have to give
the actual dollar plus a coupon
that would cost a dollar, so that
each dollars worth of merchandise
would cost 81 Whether or not this
plan will succeed in passing is of
course problematical, but it empha-
sizes the fact that it is we'll to
purchase the things you want and
need now while there are no such
restrictions and which may even
prove of barter value if cash be-
comes scarce.
There is no commodity better
adapted to exchange than stamps.
and we pass on the thought that it
might be well to fill up as many of
those vacant spaces as possible while
there are so few other drains on your
income
'Philatelists are not noisy says
Chaplin Hall, but there are millions
of them. They are born traders,
and stamps have more or less
standardized value. Like great es-
tates and large fortunes, collections
are being broken up so that thou
sands of the middle income group
rcnlorirC tho fouy hiC colleptnrc