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Show USES 27,000,000 STAMPS IN fl DAY New Contract Let by Uncle Sam Calls for Enormous Product; Government Is Underbid. 4 - NEW YOEK, Not. 1 An output of 27,000,000 postage stamps per day one stamp for every third person in the United Statesis called for by the contract con-tract just awarded to the American Bank Note company. This company printed Uncle 8am 's stamps from 184 to 1804; then the Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing was given the work, and every year since then Congress has had to come to its rescue with an extra appropriation to meet the deficiency incurred in the work of turning turn-ing out the stamps in Washington. For the last three years, previous to 1906, tenders were asked, but the bid. of the Government bureau was purely formal, and was far below what a private pri-vate concern could take the work for. The last Congress, however, under the poetoffice appropriation -bill, compelled the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to put in a bid at not less than actual cost. The result was that the Bank Note company underbid the Government bureau bu-reau by five and one-half cents on the large size stamps and by a smaller margin mar-gin on the ordinary sites. But so small a difference as one-one-hundredth of a cent per thousand will result in a big saving, especially in view of the fact that the Government's bid included no item such as general salaries of administration, admin-istration, interest on investment of real estate,' and such similar factors. The American Bank Note company had built up an extensive plant, employing employ-ing thousands of workmen when the stamp contract was taken away from it in 194. This plant is now engaged in turning out hundreds of millions of stamps and bank notes for Italy, Greece and many other European and South American countries. It is, therefore, thoroughly prepared to take up the immense im-mense orde from the United States Government, the execution of which begins be-gins February 1, 1907. |