The San Francisco call. [volume], September 29, 1912, Image 4

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
The WHOLE COUNTRY WILL LICK
US NOW!
By Carolyn Cross
WASHIXGTON, D. C, Saturday.—
Whenever a great spectacle in
which the world at large is in
terested is staged in this coun
try. Uncle Sam shows his approval of
the project in many ways. But in none
more effectively, from the popular
standpoint, perhaps, than that of order
ing a special issue of postage stamps
struck off at his bureau of engraving
and printing in honor of the occasion
and as an advertisement of it. He did
this prior to the world's fair at Chicago,
again before the one at St. Douis, and,
more recently, preceding the Jamestown
exposition. And now. through Post
master General Hitchcock, he has set
his seal of approval upon a similar
honor for the Panama-Pacific exposi
tion, to be held at San Francisco in
1915. So, by the first of the new year
you'll be sticking the new Panama
stamps on your letters and admiring
their handsome designs.
To strike off a special issue of post
age stamps is no light matter. In the
first place, rolls and rolls of red tape
must be officially unwound at Wash
ington, for the grand old gentleman in
the high silk hat and the star spangled
homespun is quite partial to his own
selection in the stamp line. And, sec
ondly, such a proceeding entails no end
of additional labor at his "print shop"
|*l Washington, where he strikes off his
stamps and his paper money. Hence,
such an act is undeniably one of en
couragement on his part.
Some time ago the directors of the
exposition approached Postmaster Gen
eral Hitchcock regarding a special is
sue of stamps. He agreed to grant their
request if suitable designs were sub
mitted to him. The directors then con
sulted Joseph E. Ralph, director of the
bureau of and printing, who
passes upon proposed designs for n e »-
Issues before forwarding them to the
postmaster general for final action. Of
course, the designs are made in the
bureau, but those interested in a pro
ject of this sort are naturally con
sulted. After due consideration on the
part of the director, the commission
ers, Assistant Director Frank E. Fer
guson and E. J. Hill, head of the de
signing department of the bureau, se
lections were made for the now stamps
In four denominations—one cent, two
cents, five cents and ten cents.
The postal union law requires that
all one cent stamps shall be green, all
two cent ones red and all five cent ones
blue, but makes no provision as to the
color of ten cent stamps. Though a
choice of color might have been ex
ercised regarding this latter denomina
tion, it was deemed wiser to conform
to usage and make them orange, as
are the ten cent stamps now in use. In
design the .border will be the same on
each of the four denominations except
as to color with the lettering "U. S.
Tostage San Francisco 1915" at the top
and the word "cent" or "cents" at the
bottom and bearing in both lower cor
ners the denomination of the stamp in
numerals. Superimposed on the right
side of the border is a palm branch and
on the left a spray of laurel.
A tiny photograph of each of the
four stamps, the exact size of the fin
ished product, has been carefully
mounted on dark gray cardboard. At
the bottom of each is written "Ap
proved, Frank H. Hitchcock, postmas
ter general." These are the designs that
were submitted to him for his ap
proval and are the official patterns, by
which the new issue must be made.
The design for the one cent stamp
was selected almost as soon as pre
sented and without discussion. It was
made by the designing department of
the bureau under the direction of Hill.
In the center of the stamp, in a circle,
is a picture of Balboa, discoverer of the
Pacific ocean, while the background
which covers the rest of the stamp to
the edges of the border Is a vista of
palm trees and ferns with the ocean
beyond. This design may be seen at
the bureau in its various stages of com
pletion; there is the border alone, the
border with the background filled in
and {he complete, reduced photograph.
The two cent stamp shows two mer
chant vessels in the Gatun locks of the
Panama canal, with the words "Gatun
locks" in a panel below the engraving.
The picture is an accurate reproduction
of a model of these famous locks kept
at the war department. This model is
truly a working one, for it contains
water and miniature vessels and has
locks that work as will the ones on the
real canal. So clear and perfect Is the
workmanship on the stamp design that,
minute though it is, one can plainly see
the two ships headed in opposite direc
tions and the outline of the lock that
raises a vessel to a higher level while
the other lock lowers another boat to
the lesser level. Sand and trees, true
to life, are depicted as the background
for this exquisite triumph of the en
graver's art.
The five cent stamp shows a view of
the Golden gate from Alcatraz island. '
In the panel beneath It are the words
"Golden Gate." The idea for this de
sign was obtained from two wood cuts
In an old magazine. Hill took them,
and. by combining, changing and em
bellishing, fashioned the accepted de
sign, which, by the way, is considered
by some of the officials of the bureau
the most artistic of the four. At the
extreme right and left of the picture
are mountains, with the setting sun In
the background. In the center a tiny
sailboat and a modern steamer float
upon the waters of the Golden gate.
The discovery of San Francisco bay
by Gaspar de Portola Is depleted in a
10 cent stamp. Tt is a direct copy of a
painting by Arthur F. Mathews, and
was brought to the attention of the
bureau through a reproduction of that
artist's painting in Sunset magazine.
Permission was readily obtained to
copy the painting for the new stamp.
I
The design shows a number of explor
ers congregated on the brow of a high
hill overlooking the bay; there are
more than a dozen of them, but so
skillfully has the reproduction been
made that each individual figure Is
clear and distinct. The panel below
the engraving bears the inscription
"Discovery of San Francisco Bay."
The various designs are perfected in
a size much larger than that of the
stamps themselves, being from four to
six square inches in size. They are
reduced to the desired dimensions by
photography, first on glass, then on
metal by skilled workmen. The same
effort to secure absolute accuracy! that
characterizes the making of the de
signs attend the making of these plates
Were It not forbidden by law, a repro
duction of the original designs and the
•finished stamps on this page would
-convey a convincing description of the
masterful work accomplished by Uncle
Sam's print shop.
It is expected at the bureau that the
stamps will be ready for sale to the
public in all postoffices in the country
by the first of January, but the task of
printing and distributing them is a gi
gantic one, indeed, and there may bo
some delay. They will not, of course,.
entirely supplant the ones now in uset
A certain number only of the machines
Panama Pacific Ex
position Postage
Stamps Will Soon
Cling to Every Let
ter That Goes Into
Uncle Sam's Mail Bag
in the bureau will be fitted up for
printing the new stamps, according to
Assistant Director Ferguson, while the
remainder will continue to turn out
their usual assortment.
Officials of the bureau say they will
strike off enough of these new stamps
to supply the demand, but they will
not hazard even a guess as to the total
output. All government postage stamps
are sent out from the bureau to the
various postoffices only on order from
the postofflce department, the orders
being approved In the office of the
third assistant postmaster general.
Some time in December, probably, he
will order that a certain number of
the new Panama stamps be sent to
each postofflce in the country in pro
portion to its size. After that they
will be sent to postmasters upon re
quest.
The bureau will continue to print
the new issue until the close of the
exposition In 1915, then if Postmaster
General Hitchcock follows the policy
adopted regarding "the last two issues
of special stamps, no more will be sold
at the stamp windows and the unsold
ones returned to the department for
redemption. But the stamps them
selves, of course, will be honored
at any time. And it is remarkable
how tjpOig these special issue stamps
are sometimes kept tosfore being used.
An official In Washington says that
even now the Jamestown exposition
stamps are repeatedly passing through
the mails. From a carefully compiled
table of the sales of the last -three
special issues, it is deduced that the
popularity of the special stamp is on
the wane.* Only about one-seventh as
many Louisiana Purchase stamps were
sold as of the Columbian issue of
1893-4. At that, though, nearly three
hundred million of them were affixed
to the country's mail.
The difference in size of the new
stamps will attract immediate atten
tion. The ones now In use are taller
than they are broad; the new ones will
be broader than they are tall. They
are 10 be fifteen-sixteenths of an inch
in height by one and three-sixteenths
in width. Postage stamps are not
printed separately, but in large sheets.
As these regulation sheets will be used
for the new issue, there will be a dif
ference In the number of stamps en
graved on each sheet. Four hundred
of the current issues are now struck
off on each sheet, but with the
"Panamas," as they are popularly call
ed, there will be room for only two
hundred and eighty. These sheets are
too large to be conveniently handled,
so they will be cut into quarter squares,
each containing 70 stamps.
This Increase In size means a corre
sponding increase in the govern
ment's paper bill. Since only 280 of
the new Issue can be printed on a sheet
of paper that could contain 400 of the
current ones, a desired number of the
new stamps (the daily numerical out
put, for example) will require nearly
a fourth more paper sheets. And this—
when the enormous number to be
printed is considered—will be no
slight expense. In addition the cost of
the new plates and the time spenl in
working on them by th e designers and
engravers must be figured In as extra
cost. Uncle Sam, however, Is willing
to stsnd this extra demand on his
pocketbook because of the nature of
the project he so honors.
The actual printing of the new
stamps will in no way differ from that
now in use at the bureau of engraving
and printing. Certain of the regular
stamp machines will be fitted with the
new plates and the work will proceed
as before. An expert printer polishes
and inks the moving plate as it glides
past him. then his assistant (usually a
woman) places upon it the blank sheet
of paper; pressure is put upon it and
presently the sheet comes off bearing
the imprint of the stamps.
The sheets are then counted and as
sorted and sent to the gumming de
partment. There they are fed into
monster machines, which automati
cally spread the sticky gum over the
reverse side of the sheets and then
pass them through a heated dryer
which extends the length of the long
room. A sheet is fed to the machine
and a moment later it comes out at the
other end nicely gummed and per
fectly dry.
Again the sheets are counted, then
perforated by machine, recounted, cut
into half and quarter sections and
counted still again. In fact this count
ing follows every separate operation
upon the sheet. If one is missing the
person who should have turned it In Is
charged with the value of the stamps
that would have been printed upon it.
If a sheet Is spoiled In the printing it
Is turned In along with the good ones
In order to make the count tally. The
finished stamps are wrapped in pack
ages and sealed, with their number and
denomination marked on the outside.
The packages are then placed in re
serve vaults in which a supply of
The San Francisco Sunday Call
1,600,000,000 stamps is always kept on
hand. From these vaults they are sent
out to the various postoffices as needed.
Not very long ago a new machine,
called a "coiler," was Installed In the
stamp department of the bureau. As
its name implies, it rolls single strips
of stamps into coils for the mechanical
vending machines that register the
number of stamps taken out and for
the nlckel-in-the-slot ones that relin
quish two two-cent stamps and one
one-cent for a five cent piece. A num
ber of the Panama stamps will be pre
pared for sale in this way.
At the bureau the sheets of stamps
to be colled are flrsX cut In half and
the half sheets are pasted together,
end to end, in long strips, which are
ten stamps wide and from five hundred
to a thousand stamps In length. The
machine separates the half-sheets into
strips of single stamps attached end
to end. It is manipulated by a woman
who takes off and seals the rolls of
stamps as the required number is rolled
up. Before the installation of this new
machine the half sheets that had been
pasted into strips were cut by hand Into
the narrow strips to be colled. Now,
with these machines three women can
do the work that formerly required
twenty-two.
"While a postage stamp is small In
deed," said Mr. E. J. Hill, chief of
the art and designing department of
the bureau, "it requires an amazing
amount of time and effort to secure the
requisite degree of accuracy. The de
signing department was at work for
several months before perfecting the
four Panama stamp designs that were
finally approved by the postmaster
general. These, for example," pointing
to the two old wood cuts that were
used as a basis for the new five cent
stamps, "had to be changed a great
deal.
"As you see, they're pretty dead
looking pictures. Some life and in
terest had to be put Into them. These
mountains are reproduced almost with
out change, but this flat, discouraged
looking sailboat was made over Into
the trim, Jaunty little one you
see on the stamp. The battleship, of
course. Is a simon pure addition, for
they didn't have battleships of this
type when those woodcuts were made.
In making the sunset we followed copy
pretty closely, contenting ourselves
with brightening it up a bit.
"The 10 cent stamp is an exact re
production of Mathew's painting. It
was redt/ed from this excellent photo
graph, 6 inches square, which the Sun
set magazine so kindly loaned us. The
Balboa stamp" (referring to the 1 cent
design) "was fashioned here in the
bureau and was the first completed."
Director Ralph, with pardonable
pride and backed up in his opinion by
many who are considered experts in
such matters, believes the stamps of
the United States government are more
artistic in design than are those of any
other country. The quality of the en
graving and printing, too, he claims,
is superior to that of any other stamp
made. Despite higher wages paid the
workmen, Uncle Sam's stamps cost him
less per thousand than any other gov
ernment pays for Its stamps. It costs
Japan, for example, 7 cents per thou
sand to print her stamps, while we pay
but 5. And this, too, despite the fact
that Japan pays her printers but from
10 to 40 cents per day, while Uncle Sam
hands over from $1.50 to $10 for similar
work. This economy Is , effected, the
director believes, by the Improved ma
chinery installed and by a system under
which every expense is cut to Its lowest
possible figure.
(Copyright, 1912. by Carolyn Cross.)