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Show I Modern Business Has Its Romances and the Big gti'M WMro rj:i I fl S TirnfTiPr A fWsRJiintff nn Ts flip TTprn off a T.afpRf '' ,. , ,. . , r Tfte SnArs rxcnrd hoc t 1 I One Keeping the Blush In Our Most Precious 1 Product Another War Sequel. ', By Waldon Fawcett, I 'I 10T tne stars nnd Stripes, but ft P W otcr national colors that wo r jw see even oftener have lately HB Li been "saved" by Undo Sam. But tho 'authorities at Washington had ; to "corner" a market to do it, Just ' as "bulls" havo tried now and then to corner tho wheat market. Have you complained, theso past few months, that the two-cont stamps m on your lottors seemed to bo a pale sickly pink Instead of tho virile crlm-: crlm-: son to which you havo beon accus-tomod? accus-tomod? Like as not you havo grum-, grum-, bled in this wise, but If you only knew , It you should have been thanking your ( lucky stars that theso self-same postage stamps had any color loft in their faces. It Is a wonder, In theso troublous times that tho famous inon , who aro Immortalized on our postage stamps have any comploxlono whatever. what-ever. And what Is more, it Is only oqH by a narrow squeak that tho groen-gM groen-gM ' backs which wo work so hard to col-99 col-99 i loct aro not blackbacka, nowadays. 9B Thero you havo it tho nation was M hit In a most unexpected quarter by H the shortago of dyestuffs that ensued from tho day that tho war put a crlrnp H ' In Gorman commerce. It speedily jjB dawned upon the American public that M If that sort of thing wont on they would miss many a dash of color In H . their wearing apparel and tho man on 'H the street remarked It when tho most flfl staid and conservative newspapers be- JHI Ban to turn "yellow," but to not ono I' person in a thousand did it occur that this cutting off of tho colors might strike every Tankeo pockotbook to tho extent of bleaching out our paper money and leaving only weak and watery tints for our crstwhllo vivid postago and revenue stamps. Concerning tho color mnrket When tho guns began to boom a year ago last August most peoplo had something else to think of than rosy tints and delicate shades of blue and greon to match nature's own. but there was one man In the United States who realized Instantly thnt his duty lay "right thoro." This Individual Individ-ual was then as now the head of tho U. S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Print-ing. Director Joseph E. Ralph, with foresight worthy such a cause and with ample funds to drawupon, hied himself to Now York and then and thoro "cornered tho market" for certain cer-tain colors. Ho spent moro than $G0,-000 $G0,-000 within a fow days but as events turned out ho not only saved tho day for Uncle Sam but ho saved the government gov-ernment around $100,000 In cold cash ovor tho prices the Federal printers would havo been called upon to pay a fow weeks later. Tho supply of colors obtained by this prompt raid upon thomarkot was. to bo suro, sufficient to keep tho big stamp and currency factory running for only six months, but It gavo tho officials tlmo to turn around, as It woro. Long before tho six months had elapsed they had tried overy expedient ex-pedient to obtain coloring matter. They had to put up with what they could get and what they could got was not always what they would havo preferred pre-ferred but for all tho difficulties, tho standard shades of postago stamps and currency havo boon pretty well maintained from that day to this. Hard and fast rules ns to color. "But why," I fancy I hear some rcador protest, "all this fuss about tho rainbow colors; why not print the stamps In black?" Ah, there's tho rub. As matters stand, Uncle Sam has simply got to find certain dross for stamps of certain denominations. It all comes about bocauso of tho conventions con-ventions of tho Universal Postal Union tho international alliance which enables tho various countries of tho world to exchange mall and roc-ognlzo roc-ognlzo each other's stickers as valid foos for carriage. Under tho agroo-monts agroo-monts governing tho lntcrchango of mall tho one-cent (or equivalent denomination) de-nomination) stamps of all countries must bo green In color; tho two-cent stamps all around tho world must be red; and bluo la the universal fashion for five-cent Ktamps. To keep up with tho postal procession, then. Undo Sam simply must subscribe to this color scheme. Tho "bases" of all of theso colors aro materials made only in Gormany. Ever slnco tho outbreak of tho war Undo Sam's chemists havo been hard at work endeavoring to find eatlsfao-tory eatlsfao-tory substitutes of domestic origin, but they havo not yet been as successful as ono might wish and so Undo Sam's task of saving the colors resolved Itself In to a job of gottlng tho coveted materials out of Gormany. blockade or no blockado. Incidentally, be It confessed, con-fessed, that whereas kid-glove diplomacy diplom-acy has dono much, business diplomacy diplom-acy has dono even more. When the dye cornered by Director Ralph was gono other small consignments consign-ments wcro picked up hero and thero shipments that had dribbled through from Germany to private dealers. Gradually, however, as the blockado tightened tho outlook for future supply became darker and darker. Then it was that tho Treasury Treas-ury Department called for aid from tho State Department, tho "diplomatic "diplo-matic annex." .For nearly a year tho State Department De-partment worked to got tho colors through tho blockade. First Gormany Gor-many had to bo porsuaded to let tho Colors depart and then tho Allies had to bo Induced to permit tho shipments to proceed without Interference. Finally, Final-ly, however, everything was arranged and a shipment of 20,000 pounds wont through. Uncle Sara's full ordor was for 145,000 pounds or moro than seven shipments of this slzo. tho on-Uro on-Uro order bolng restrlctod to tho three colors that aro needed for stamps issued is-sued in accordanco with tho international interna-tional agreoment Vegetable dyes no help. But why not uso vcgotablo dyes? has ventured moro than ono citizen who remembers that dyes from vegetable products wcro usod extensively until tho icheapor coal-tar dyc3 virtually drovo them from tho market Unfortunately Unfor-tunately vegetnblo dyos aro not sult-ablo sult-ablo for uso In tho manufacture of printing ink. Especially docs Undo Sam's stamp and money factory need t H In Its business "fast colors." When j j jM you bear In mind that Uncle Sam H makes a practlco nowadays of laun- i ) jH dcring his dirty money and that post- H ago stamps arc treated to repeated H soaklngs sometimes you will appreel- , , H ato that the Government requires col- iH ors that aro not only fast as to light I H but that are not affected by water, oil J jH or even varnish. j Uncle Sun, Ink Maker. j H It will, of course, bo understood JH that Undo Sara's quest is for 'dry col- i MM ors rathor than for ink, becauso I -H Undo Sam makes all his own print- IH lng Inks at tho money and stamp , ( H manufactory. Only tho vory largest ' iM printing establishments can afford to ( M Install ink-making machinery but tho : I iM Ink required for "plato printing" tho M process whereby our currency is lm- M pressed Is of a special character and t qB requires great caro in tho mixing. jH That Uncle Sam Is a mighty busy i SM httlo Ink mixer will bo appreciated I M whon it Is explained that ho turns out MJfl about two million pounds of Ink per - fH yenr more than six thousand pounds LH evory working day. Fourteen buck- ftH ets of red Ink (weighing ST pounds to tho bucket) aro Bent overy day from H the ink factory to the press room, P whore our postago stamps are reeled Ll off. Fifty buckets of greon ink are ' rM portioned out to tho pressmen who E work this color and an equal number K of buckets full of black Ink aro spread (iH every day upon papor that becomes K suddenly Invested with high value In flH consequenco. Generally speaking, ' H Undo Sam puts ton pounds of ink on H ovory ono thousand sheets of stamps M or currency. , 'H -n t fl |