Evening star., 1945-04-15
Stamps
Bv James Waldo Fawcen.

By James Waldo Faivcen.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
was one of the most notably emf
nent stamp collectors who ever
has lived. He excelled King George
v in his consistent devotion to the
worlds most popular hobby. HIS
influence upon philately perhaps
will outlast his influence upon pol
itics. He set an example for not
rulers merely, but for governments.
Of course, he made mistakes like
the Sc Byrd stamp Of 1888 which
he personally sponsored and de-
signed and which originally was
intended to be sold exclusively at
Little America, but on the whole
his contribution was constructive.
The story of how he first became
interested in stamps has been told
on many occasions and is repeated
now only that the record of his
career may be complete.
His mother, Mrs. James Roose-
welt, it seems, started to collect
stamps when she was girl. A
few early issues were part of the
childhood possessions which she
carried with her from her fathers
house when she was married. In
cluded were some Hong Kong
stamps Of 1856 to 1870, which had
done postal duty carrying her
fathers letters from China to
America.
When the future President was
g years old, the entire collec-
tion was turned over to him by his
mother. Naturally, an acquisition
so interesting stimulated the boy
to further enterprise. He became
systematic collector and student of
stamps of every sort. His tastes
were general, he barred nothing in
the line of postal paper from his
albums. BY the date of his en-
trance to Harvard in 1900, he had
good representative amateur col
lection.
/ The mere possession of stamps,
however, never satisfied Mr.. Roose-
welt completely. He loved to ar
range and re-arrange his accessions,
annotating them in his own hand
with a hard-lead pencil When he
came to the White House he had
total collection of approximately
10000 items. These were "set up
in 80 different albums Whole books
were devoted to Santo Domingo and
the Danish West Indies, Hayti,
Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico and
other Latin American and Carib-
bean countries. Twelve albums con-
sisted of what the President called
general material Four albums
were, in his judgment, scrap"
But from the moment of his at
tainment of the highest Office in the
gift of his countrymen, he acceler-
ated the pace of his collecting activ-
ity. 1t was inevitable that it should
be so. Hundreds of friends and
still larger number of strangers gave
him stamps and covers. The school
children of the Netherlands pre-
sented him with volume of Dutch
and Dutch East Indies issues. An
other book came from the Post Of
flee Department of China. The
government of Turkey sent him an
album of its productions, Bulgaria.
Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala,
Greece, Russia, even Germany and
/ Japan offered him whole exhibits
ready to be shown. Some, indeed.
were exhibited at the National
Museum during the American Phil
atelic Society Convention of 1885.
i Meanwhile, Mr.. Roosevelt was
guiding the stamp-issuing policies
Of the Government of the United
States. He was the father of
many different adhesives. The Ma
tional Parks set, for instance, never
would have been authorized had it
) not been for his agreement with
Secretary of the Interior Harold L..
Ickes-a veteran philatelist like
himself-that such a series would
be helpful in advertising the play
grounds of the Nation.
When the whole chronicle of the
! period becomes available, it will be
plain that he was the architect of
practically every enterprise of the
stamp division of the Post Office
Department. Especially during the
term of Postmaster General James
A. Farley. he was busy with ideas
for new issues, Nothing was done
without consulting him. His word
was law, 1t remained so up to the
last The only exception was that
: of the Red Cross blood plasma is
sue which he approved but which
nevertheless has been abandoned
: despite wide public interest in its
appearance.
Mr. Roosevelt, naturally enough,
: added the Postage Stamp Centennial
productions of Cuba, Brazil, Mexico
. and other countries to his collec-
ton. He also preserved all the Cen
: tenary covers sent to him by scores
of admirers. They are mounted
in q volumes CT covers at Hyde
Park, organized for him by Gerard
Ten Eyck Beeckman cousin and
fellow enthusiast.
The eventual fate of the Presi-
dents philatelic material long was
in doubt At the moment of his
death, however it was believed that
it will be maintained as part of the
Hyde Park Library tablishment
What market value the stamps
and covers accumulated by Mr.
Roosevelt may have is a question
which often is asked. The answer
is: If the collection were sold as
the Presidents collection within the
next few months, it would bring
perhaps 100000. but If 1t were sold
anonymously and at later period
when present conditions have beer
stabilized, it probably would bring
not more than $4,000 or $4,000
The President did not save
stamps and covers as an investment
He was not much concerned about
what his material was worth to
somebody else. Rather, he was in
terested mainly in what it was worth
to him-as a recreation from his
labors, the troubles and the trials
of the tumultuous world.
l,s -