Evening star., 1945-03-18

Army in the crossing of the Rhine.
An Associated Press photograph Of
the bridge at Remagen, reproduced
in The Star for Thursday, has been
submitted to Postmaster General
Frank C. Walker by him as a sug-
gestion for the central feature Of
the design.
Senator O'Mahoney, in his letter
to Mr. Walker, called attention to
the fact that never before since
die Wacht am Rhein" was written
in 1910 had any military force in
vaded Germany against resistance.
The Remagen Bridge, taken in
tact, is being used for the trans
portation of men and supplies to
the fighting front on the east bank
of the river Photographed from an
artillery spotter plane, it would be
an attractive subject for a stamp
composition of high symbolic sig
nificance.
Senator O'Mahoney, meanwhile,
is making search for an outstand-
ing picture appropriate for repro
duction in stamp form for the Navy.
He favors whole series of postal
issues dramatizing the war and the
valor which the armed forces Of
the United States have demon
Strated in it.
A writer in Mekeels Weekly
Stamp News refers to the Philippine
Philatelic Agency as having ordered
reprints of "a few stamps" for sale
to collectors.
How few however, is not dis
closed. In order to get that informa-
ton, it is necessary to turn to Stamps
Magazine for March II, wherein the
quantities of the unwanted and un-
desired stickers are listed by Sec
retary of the Interior Harold L.
Ickes as follows: DC, $500, 900; 4c,
4,971 600: &c, 1852 ,240; &c. 800:
l0c, 1,062.600; 12c, 3,204 200; 16c.
.068, 900: 20c, 9.263 200; 3oc, $4,000:
1P, 100000; l0P $500; 20P. 10000;
special delivery, zoe, 567,l00; postal
cards, &c, 657,600-the face value Of
the whole batch being approximate
ly s2,l0o,o0O.
Some of the reprints, admittedly,
have been sent to Manila for dis
tribution in the areas liberated by
American troops. How many were
scheduled to be sold over the coun-
ter in Washington is anybody's
guess.
The one certain fact in the cir
cumstances is that any collector who
bought the adhesives made-to-order
for his exploitation would be buy
ing against supply so large as to
destroy any possible chance Of
speculative profit.
Mr.. Ickes is quoted by Stamps as
saying: mo plans have been made
up to this time for engraving plates
for new series. Therefore, it is
quite possible that additional stamps
(reprints) of any or all Of these
denominations may be ordered from
time to time by the Commonwealth
Government"
The same contributor to Mekeel's
suggests that it is inconsistent to
object to Philippine reprints while
advocating second editions of United
States stamps beginning with the Sc
Korean and working backward to
December, 1941. In reply, let it be
pointed out that the reprints of the
Philippine issues were not requested
nor desired by any responsible group
except the sellers-the merchants
who, through an official agency,
On the other hand, legitimate de-
mand for second editions of United
States stamps which were with
drawn from sale too soon has been
proved to exist Veterans home
from overseas will not want to pay
premiums on issues of which the
Post ONCE Department ordered too
few. 1t is no solution of their prob
lem to tell them to apply to the
dealers. Very few of the dealers
have any stocks adequate to their
need. Not even the Spectators
have any vast number of the Over
run Countries stamps.
Among those who favor the re-
printing of the Korean stamp are:
Miss Joy Saalfrank, Wilson Teach
ers College; Miss Faye Curry, Rob-
ert j. Cubstetter, W. M. Adler, Ar
lington, Va; Wilson s. Hong, Butte,
Mont; M. j. Devine, Youngstown,
Ohio; G. c. Goodwin, Front Royal,
Va.
Several correspondents have asked
why the Philippine Commonwealth
government is permitted to issue
stamps of any kind in any quantity,
large or small. 1t has been suggested
that the United States Government
has no more right to concede an in
dependent postal system to the
Philippines than it has to grant the
same concession to the Hawaiian
Islands, Puerto Rico or Alaska.
Post Office Department officers say
that the Red Gross blood plasma
campaign stamp has been "bogged
down by officials of the Red Cross
organization who, they allege, are
not satisfied with the design which
President Roosevelt approved
Unclaimed coins, stamps and
covers from the United States mails
are to be sold at auction at the
Thomson School, Twelfth and l.
streets NV, Tuesday evening,
March ~. Readers who desire cata-
logs are invited to address the Dead
Letter and Dead Parcel Post Branch,
City Post Office, Massachusetts, ave-
nue. and North Capitol street NV.
1 STAMPS AND COINS