Evening star., 1947-12-07

Britain, under the prevailing Labor
Party regime, require more than
three months to get out" a stamp.
Such, in any event, is the excuse
which they have given for not pro-
ducing a royal wedding commem-
orative for Princess Elizabeth. The
time between the announcement of
her engagement and her marriage,
they say, was mot sufficient"
Elbert Baldwin, 3042 @ street
NV, writes in criticism Of COM
memorative stamps as follows:
Certainly, when I was a boy and
early learned to look with contempt
on those gaudy issues Of certain
Latin American countries-pro-
duced not to meet any postal need
but only as highly colored bait for
boobs-never did I expect that my
own country one day would debauch
its postage In the same way and
even with the tacit consent of a
President who rated himself a col
lector. But what with our diversified,
labellike commemorative, what
with our artificial first-day covers
cacheted not for any postal use but
only to be placed in the albums OF
boobs without having even passed
through the mails, ETC., we now lead
the world in fictitious postal prac-
tices! Who is to blame for this?
I don't so much blame Jim Farley
for seeing the chance and starting
an easy, legalized racket when he
was Postmaster General and facing
the usual Post Office deficit. I
blame those American collectors
who failed, and fail, to distinguish
between legitimate postal issues and
issues made for suckers. No col
lector had to buy these sucker
stamps. Had he not bought them,
the racket never could have gotten
started"
The Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps
of Guatemala are not sold at the
post offices of that country. Gordon
Harmer of Scott Publications mean
while has let it be known that the
mourning issues for the late Presi-
dent produced by Abyssinia, Hun
gary and San Marino will be grant,
ed only tentative listing in SCOTS
catalogs.
A stamp in remembrance Of Will
Rogers, cowboy philosopher, may be
authorized shortly. Requests for such
a commemorative have been received
by the Post Office Department at
intervals since his death in a plane
crash with Wiley Post at Point Bar
row, Alaska, August Is, 1885.
Collectors of the stamps and
covers of Jamaica, British colony
in the West Indies, are asked to
communicate to Judge j. M. Neither
sole, St. AIMS Bay, Jamaica, B. w.
l., any information they may have
which would be helpful in the edit
ing of a revision of Jamaica: Its
Postage History, Postage Stamps
and Postmarks," originally publish
ed in 1928.
Back in 1882 a civilian employe
OF the Bureau Of Supplies and Ac-
counts, Navy Department, on leave
of absence, took trip to the Medi-
terranean and Black Seas. From
such distant ports as Malta, Sa-
lonika, Smyrna, Naples, 1stanbul,
Genoa and Casablanca she sent
post cards to the stamp-collecting
l0-year-old son of a Supply Corps
officer friend.
Last month a newly commissioned
Supply Corps ensign reported to the
Bureau of Supplies and Accounts on
temporary duty prior to going to
the Navy Supply Corps School,
Bayonne, N. ]. He was assigned to
the Naval Reserve Administration
branch OF the Division Of Naval
Personnel and Training. Here he
met Miss Hazel Kugler Of 1880 M
street NV, Washington, D. c., ad-
assistant Of the section.
whose first words to him were, do
you still have your stamp collec-
tion?"
After Is years, circumstances had
brought together, once more, the
young philatelist and the traveller
who had contributed so much to
his collection.
The ensign is Joseph A. Reben-
tisch, jr.. S. c., U. S. N, of 209 Clin-