Evening star., 1954-01-15
The Other Side Of Stamp Controversy
To the Editor Of The Stor:

N URING recent weeks The Star has
IL carried protests in its Sunday
stamp feature, under authorship Of
James Waldo Fawcett, against propos-
ais of the Post Office Department to
have some part of its printing Of post
age stamps executed by private con-
tract outside Of the Bureau Of Engrav-
ing and Printing. Similar protests have
appeared on the editorial page.
The protests have been stated with
some feeling. and with reasonably
fine disregard for many Of the factors
entering into the matter. combined with
some further careless comments relative
to the printing Of postal adhesives
which do not accord with the facts,
either historic or philatelic.
During the past decade or two,
throughout the world. postage stamps
have come to be issued with more pur-
pose than their basic purpose Of use
for paying postal costs. Excluding those
examples of stamps issued merely to
sell to collectors, 1t is only necessary to
regard the emissions of our Post ONCE
Department Of the past few years to
realize that, in addition to those stamps
issued for bona f1de postal purposes.
there are others which readily fall into
one Of several categories:
/. The propaganda stamp, pure and
simple, such as the NATO issue.
2. The political pay-oh stamp. such
as the truckers stamp. and many
others, issued frequently In relation to
the effectiveness Of the pressure
brought to bear by the group sponsor
ing the stamp.
3. The famous American.
4. The commemorative, an increaS-
ingly rare quality in our stamps.
The United States is merely following
the worldwide trend in these matters.
1t has shown little initiative; its stamp
designs have fallen into an inglorious
monotony of hodge-podge. Stilted in
execution. and anything but tribute
to the engraverS who, to earn enough
money to have q new car every second
year. willingly permit the awkward
effigies of roosters and grinning gear
wheels to be stuffed down their humble
burins. Your editorialist has made him
self the champion of the poor bureau
engraver, whom he foresees reduced to
unnatural penury owing to competition
from without that archaic edifice. It
would be fine thing If one Of them
would show the spirit Of a Monsieur
Tacquin. who once wrote to the French
postmaster general:
THE orange, red and bistre printings
gave the greatest difficulties, because
the paper was downy and bady sur
faced. must therefore tell you I
don't think it possible to obtain good
results with this paper. If it were at
all possible have enough goodwill and
self-respect to want to do as well as
could be done etc.
During the week of January % to
90. 1849, no stamps were printed at the
French mint in Paris. This NJ. Tacquin
was the employe in charge Of printing
the stamps. When the bureau en-
graverS go on strike against the designs
given them, as did the eStimable M.
Tacquin against the poor paper. then
and then only will the humble stamp
collector back a movement to see each
and every one of them accorded a
brand-new car every year, with
power-driven mechanism to turn on
and of the radio. thrown in for good
measure.
The forging of postage stamps for
purpose of defrauding the Government
has, in the United States, a sorry record
for the forgers. There have been three
or more well-known cases, the Boston.
the Brooklyn and the Toronto forgeries.
not to mention a more recent one. the
Jersey dump-heap forgery, in which
the idiots jettisoned their product on
the most convenient dump, but not
quite quickly enough to stay out Of Jail.
It is difficult to believe that our Post
Office Department is really worried
about forgery. The department has
always been alert to the possibilities.
and has never made it easy for the
forger.
Irrespective of printing method en-
ployed, as long as the product is one
of the finest quality, it vial never be
faxed cheaply or easily. There Is
huge army of stamp collectors ready
to pick up the fake in short order
And suppose the idiot has ! million
neatly forged 3-cent stamps. face value
100000. weighing perhaps 200 pounds.
Who will buy them? A discount house.
of course. at say SO per cent of face;
yes a discount house which makes a
business of buying stamps and has seen
every genuine shade and will spot
faint difference in gum or weight Of
paper, or f1neness of perforation, and
have a telephone call in to the post
Office inspectors before the deal is half
consummated. Or one of the mail order
houses. whose stamp buyer has been
doing it for years. could even tell
book of fake sheets Of stamps by the
odor. Me, I've got much better idea
let's tunnel under Fort Knox. Yes sir.
flock of them sure few over that time!
AS to method Of printing. there is no
substitute tor care and patience in the
execution Of fine stamp. The behe-
moth rotary presses of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing limit sorely.
The printing plates run at high speed.
the steel must be hard, the engraved
line. in order to print out, may not be
too fine, and there's the rub. In Austria
during the 1930s there were issued some