Show r fr 7 dav a s1 sa old ta W y R M 0 4 K 4 k N g in tan poe an 0 rom yale ent A 46 W 0 y I 1 i irme vo 1451 jl 5 rl alp by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HE recent announcement 1 from london that the worlds first postage k stamp had been placed on sale in that city attracted unusual attention not only from stamp collectors but from the public in general because it emphasized pha sized the fact that this present day common convenience millions of which are used everyday Is of comparatively recent adoption for this stamp an english one hearing bearing the likeness of queen victoria ts Is still attached to the envelope on which it was used and bears the postmark bath may this means that the postage stamp in its present form is less than a hundred years old the first f postage stamps in the united states were put on sale in new york on july 1 previous to that time postage stamps were issued by private companies doing a general express or local delivery service of letters on january 1 the city dispatch post otherwise known as grels grel s post was established in new york city el ty and it is said that tills this post issued the first adhesive stamp used in this country but the use of these private stamps proved such an annoyance anno vance to the government that it was suppressed and in its place the united states city dispatch post ws was established in the early days of the united states postal 1571 tem tile receiver of a letter paid for its delivery according to the number of sheets of paper which the letter contained in 1815 1845 this system was discarded and the weight system was adopted with a lower rate about the same urne time came the envelope to give secrecy to letters prepayment of postage and the use of gummed stamps were put into use in 1847 during the f imbt fiscal year of their use postmasters were supplied with postage stamps to be sold to the public NOW 83 years later the post office lee department Is supplying some stamps every year to the postmasters in the united states stales since the first gummed stamps were issued in 1841 there have hae been a dozen distinct series of regular postage stamps with additions to each after their issue only ag of our presidents have been honored by having their portraits appear on our stamps while 19 other persons prominent in american history have been thus remembered washington and have been honored in every rea nilar series of stamps from the b ginning beginning and jefferson and lincoln have seldom been omitted the other presidents pictured on various issues issue S tire are andison Mn dison monroe jackson taa ilor lor grant gant hares garfield cleveland Clevel tind 11 arilson arr lson mckinley Mc lUnley roosevelt and 1 wilson memorial stamps als also 0 have been issued for lincoln on his one hundredth birthday anniversary tn in 1009 for harding shortly after his death and for john ericsson the inventor on the occasion of 0 the unveiling of a statue to him in washington la in 1920 1926 the other men whose portraits have befu been selected tor for stamp issues are besides franklin henry clay daniel webster winfield scott alexander hamilton 0 0 H perry edwin M stanton william T sherman john marshall david G farragut robert B livingston william II 11 seward nathan hale capt john smith christopher columbus and vasco balboa only three women have had that distinction martha washington was the first as was befitting 0 the first I lady ady of the land and the other two are queen isabella of spain an and pocahontas the indian princess most interesting of all the stamps issued by the government perhaps are the special series issued frog from time to time known as commemorative stamps the first of these appeared in 1803 to commemorate col discovery of america there were sixteen of these stamps ranging 0 in denomination from one cent to 5 each one telling a little of the story columbus in sl sight t ht of land the landing of columbus the flagship of columbus the fleet of columbus columbus soliciting the aid of isabella columbus welcomed at barcelona columbus restored to favor columbus presenting natives columbus announcing his discovery columbus at la it abida recall of columbus isabella pledging her jewels columbus in chains columbus describing ills ilis third voyage isabella Isa isabella beila and columbus and colun columbus bus alone after five years another commemorative series followed known as omaha stamps issued during the and international exposition the nine denominations ranging ft from one cent to 2 were titled marquette on the mississippi farming in the west indian hunting buffalo fremont on rocky Mount mountains alris troops guarding train hardships of emigration western mining prospector western cattle in storm and mississippi river bridge the pan american exposition at buffalo in 1001 was marked by another series depleting depicting means of transportation por tation A take lake steamer was shown on the one cent stamp a railway train on the two cent a steel arch bridge on the five cent ship canal lock on the eight cent and an ocean steams steamship bil on the ten cent stamp the next special series celebrated the purchase of louisiana from france the stamps bore severally the portraits of tile the mn m n most responsible for accomplishing it robert it livingston minister to france at the time thomas jefferson president and jamos james monroe special ambassador to france the jamestown series of 1007 1907 followed depicting the landing of the colonists SOO years before and bearing the likenesses of capt john smith and pocahontas tile the first single commemorative stamp tant t Is to say one that belonged to no series was that of 1900 to mark the development of the alaska yukon pacific territory having for its design the por portrait of walliam H seward who as secretary of state negotiated the purchase of alaska from russia in the same year a two cent stamp showing henry hudsons Hud sons half moon sailing past the palisades and robert Ful tons clermont under full steam commemorated not only the discovery of the hudson river but also the centennial of its first navigation by steam the 1912 13 series marked the opening of the panama ca canal and the discovery dIsc oTery ot of the pacific ocean in 16 4 2 47 rl I 1 d hl ra ta J did ai box 1 1919 a special three cent stamp wits 1 issued to commemorate the successful outcome of the world war it depicted P feted a figure of liberty victorious against a background of the hags flags of the united states england france italy end and belgium in 1920 the pilgrim tercentenary was celebrated with three stamps illustrated lust hist rated by the mayflower the landing of the pilgrims rims and the signing of the mayflower compact aboard that historic ship the coming of the huguenot walloons balloons to america was celebrated in a tercentenary series in 1924 and the arrival of the first immigrants migra tits to the united states from norway in 1691 i was also the inspiration for another series own as the norse amerlean american series during the past five years the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of many of the stirring deeds of the revolutionary war has given the impetus to a large number of patriotic issues the first of these came out in 1925 with the issue of the three lexington concord stamps then came the sesquicentennial stamps with tile bell of liberty in 1026 closely followed hy by the white plains battle stamp in the same year tile the green mountain boys of vermont and tile the burgoyne surrender in 1927 1921 washington lugt at valley forge and moll pitcher in 1928 1923 and the george nog kog ers era clark and the general sullivan stamps in 1929 during 1930 0 other events of the revolution probably will be commemorated and a movement lias has already been started for a special series to celebrate the tercentenary of the massachusetts bay colony founding two special stamps honoring great americans have appeared in the last three years in 1927 LInd berghs epic flight across the atlantic was honored in a special airmail air mail mall stamp and during the past year thomas edison was honored with a stamp commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the incandescent lamp lo in connection with the latter two many persons wondered why portraits of 0 Lind lindbergh bergli and edison did not appear on the stamps which bore the message of their fame the reason was that the law of the land prohibits the use of the portrait of a living amerlean american on the postage stamps of our country and for a similar reason tills this article Is not illustrated with reproductions of any american stamp it Is agin the law to illustrate united states stamps the same as united states currency or coins so the lindbergh stamp showed his 1113 fa plane the spirit of st louis and the edison light golden jubilee stamp showed a picture of the first incandescent light another interesting fact about the lindbergh stamp Is that of this issue were printed virtually all of them have been bought up giving uncle sam a net profit of 1000 post office officials estimate since only a few of the stamps have been used the officials estimate that nt at least of them will be retained as souvenirs the fact that these stamps contain an error will make them more valuable in later years it Is predicted the error is 13 that newfoundland Is shown as several era islands instead of a large piece of land fringed with indentations about postage stamps are printed n ted tor for our post office department part ment each year by the bureau of engraving arid and printing at washington dies are made and st are printed in sheets of each after I 1 being printed and dried the sheets are taken to the gumming machines each machine Is surmounted by a taril tank from which a carefully regulated stream of special gum Is fed into a pan at one end of which it comes into contact with an adjustable revolving roller after being gummed tile the s sheets 11 ee ts pass into a funnel where the temperature is kept at degrees this tunnel is 72 feet long and the stamps take a minute arid and a half to traverse it although the postage stamp is a comparatively recent innovation in usage by mankind the idea of a postal service conducted by the government for the carry carrying caroyln ln and distributing of the written messages between its people goes buck back to ancient times the first postal systems were in baby ionia egypt aud and china but they were little more than more mere courier services to keep the kings and emperors and government officials in with their subordinates |