History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of America Part 6

"INTERESTING TO CITIZENS AND SOJOURNERS IN WAs.h.i.+NGTON. Upon inquiring at the city post office, we learn that Col. Gardiner has had franked (or rather prepaid) envelopes prepared, which do away with the necessity of personal application at the delivery window when one wishes to pay postage on sending off a letter.

They are for sale at the post office, at the following rates; which barely pay the cost, after deducting the sum chargeable on each for postage, viz:

18 envelopes to enclose letters charged at 5 cents for $1.00 9 " " " " 50 1 " " " " 6 9 " " " 10 cents 1.00 4 " " " 10 " } 50 1 " " " 5 " }

This plan, it will be recollected has been adopted in the northern cities to the great advantage of the public, and its introduction here will save our fellow citizens many a long and hitherto, indispensable trudge, in this metropolis of magnificent distances."

The latter paper, however quotes the price of the 5 cent envelopes at 6 cents, instead of 6. These are evidently the envelopes mentioned in the article of the Express, of July 8th, quoted in the chapter on the stamps of the New York postmaster. Up to the present time none of them have been reported to have been found.

[A] The newspaper articles concerning these envelopes were found by Mr. C. F. Rothfuchs who, at the suggestion of the author, kindly searched the files of the Was.h.i.+ngton papers.

XIII.

STAMPS OF THE PHILADELPHIA POSTMASTER.

From 1845 to 1849, Dr. Geo. F. Lehman was postmaster of Philadelphia. It is a.s.serted that he adopted for use in the post office at Philadelphia, a number of peculiar devices of his own, which appear to have been a subst.i.tute for postage stamps. They are described as bands with the names of the persons who mailed the letters upon them, which were fastened around the letters, and upon receipt at the post office, were removed by the clerks and kept as vouchers, the amount of postage due being charged to the account of the sender, and collected with the quarterly bill. There are also said to have been in use several other designs in the form of stamps, printed and sold by the post office, which when fastened upon the letter indicated that the office had received postage, and such letters were then forwarded and marked as paid.

Although several varieties of these are said to have been in use, none of them have yet been found.

XIV.

STAMPS OF THE WORCESTER POSTMASTER.

In the National Aegis, published at Worcester, Ma.s.s., September 2nd, 1846, may be found the following item:

"POST OFFICE STAMPS. The postmaster has issued postage stamps of the denomination of five cents and ten cents. They are very convenient, and will save the trouble of making change at the post office, and will enable people to send prepaid letters at times when the office is closed. To cover the expense of engraving and printing, these stamps are sold at five per cent advance upon the regular rates of postage."

Maturin L. Fisher was postmaster at Worcester, from 1839 to 1849, and Andrew A. Williams was his chief clerk in 1846. The above item was recently found by the present author in searching old files of newspapers, for information about the various postmaster's stamps. No other Worcester paper seems to have noticed the matter, and no further information has so far rewarded the limited inquiry and search possible since the discovery. Both of the gentlemen in the office at the time are now deceased.

XV.

STAMPS OF THE PITTSFIELD POSTMASTER.

A short notice published in one of the Springfield, Ma.s.s., papers, in the summer of 1874, a.s.serts that in overhauling the vaults of the Berks.h.i.+re Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Pittsfield, a number of stamps were found that were issued by the Pittsfield postmaster, in 1846-7. Phineas Allen was postmaster of Pittsfield at the time. No further information concerning these stamps, has rewarded inquiry.

XVI.

OBSERVATIONS.

It is by no means improbable that other similar devices were in use in other towns and cities at this period, by which prepayment of postage was secured. The salaries of many of the smaller offices depended on the amount of postage collected, and the importance of all offices was estimated by the revenue collected. It was natural, therefore, as the public demand for such accommodation grew, that the postmaster should adopt a device tending to their own benefit. There are in the possession of the present author a number of hand stamps, apparently cut from letters and envelopes, inscribed such and such a "Post Office," "5 Cents Paid," which would seem to be stamps of this kind, but in the absence of further information, are not here chronicled. The wide spread use of such stamps would appear from the following caution, published in the Courier, of New York, July 18th, 1845.

"The postmaster of this city has given notice that he has prepared stamps for the use of merchants, and requests them to provide themselves with these stamps to facilitate the business of the post office, and for their own convenience. It will be observed that the postmaster warns the public that any stamps offered for sale at any place other than the post office of this city are spurious. That the use of proper stamps by merchants will be a great convenience is admitted; but these stamps, thus offered, should be considered in no other light than the personal obligations of the postmaster, unauthorized as far as the public know, by any proper authority, and if issued by the postmaster of one city, may also be issued by the postmaster of any town or city in the United States; and if this practice becomes general, the amount in these stamps held by the public will be very considerable, and will evidently lead to great abuses and probably losses.

In case of the death or removal of a postmaster, we know of no legal obligation of his successor to consider these stamps of any value whatever.

Post office stamps to be of general utility, should be issued by the General Post Office at Was.h.i.+ngton, sanctioned by law, and with suitable penalties in case of forgery: they would be of great advantage to the Post Office Department, and would much facilitate business in various ways, but if issued by any or all postmasters, will in some cases be used "to raise the wind," and may raise it pretty effectually in cases of death or default, as the amount held by the public in any of the large cities would be a very considerable sum."

(Signed) CAVEAT.

This article was reprinted by numerous journals, among them the Express, of New York, July 18th, 1845.

XVII.

THE ISSUE OF 1847.

Notwithstanding these manifest dangers, noticed by the Courier and Express, the public continued to demand and use, and the postmasters to issue, as we have seen, these unauthorized stamps, without action on the part of Congress, or interference by the Department, until the beginning of 1847 when, apparently in response to the necessities of the case the following law was pa.s.sed:

STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES, XXIX Congress, Session II, Chapter LXIII, Section 1, approved March 3rd, 1847. An Act to establish certain Post Roads and for other purposes.

"And be it further enacted, that to facilitate the transportation of letters by mail, the Postmaster General be authorized to prepare postage stamps, which, when attached to any letter or packet, shall be evidence of the prepayment of the postage chargeable on such letter, which said stamps the Postmaster General may deliver to any deputy postmaster who may apply for the same, the deputy postmaster paying or becoming accountable for the amount of the stamps so received by him, and if any of said stamps shall not be used, but be returned to the General Post Office, the amount so returned shall be credited to such deputy postmaster, and such deputy postmaster may sell or dispose of any stamps so received by him to any person who may wish to use the same, but it shall not be lawful for any deputy postmaster, to prepare, use, or dispose of any postage stamps not authorized by and received from the Postmaster General. And any person who shall falsely and fraudulently make, alter or forge any postage stamp with intent to defraud the Post Office Department, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction shall be subject to the same punishment as provided in the 21 Section of the Act approved March 3rd, 1825, ent.i.tled an Act,"

etc.

This is the first authorization of postage stamps in the United States, and it will be well to observe that the use of any stamps other than _those authorized and received from_ the Postmaster General is strictly prohibited. The use of the stamps of the postmasters herein before treated of, must therefore have ceased from and after the 1st of July, 1847, when the law went into effect, or as soon thereafter as supplies were received from the Department. This effectually determines the character of such locals, as the so-called "Horseman," and "U. S. Mail Prepaid," before referred to.

According to the law and custom in the United States, a contract for the engraving and printing of stamps, under the authority of this Act, was made by the Postmaster General with Messrs. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson, for four years. During this time they furnished 4,400,000, five cent stamps, and 1,050,000, ten cent stamps, of which 3,712,000 five cent, and 891,000 ten cent stamps are officially reported to have been distributed by the Department to deputy postmasters for sale. A portion of these, valued at $12,038.55, were however afterwards returned to the Department and exchanged for those of the subsequent issue, and credited to the deputies who returned them.

ISSUE OF JULY 1ST, 1847.

The issue consisted of two values only, five and ten cents.

FIVE CENTS. Portrait of Benjamin Franklin, Continental Postmaster General, facing three quarters to the left, on an oval disk with hatched ground, 14 by 17 mm., bounded by a broad colorless line with a fine colored line outside, in a rectangular frame, also bordered by a broad colorless line with a fine colored line outside. The ground work of this frame is composed of fine horizontal colored lines, and is ornamented by foliations, and inscribed in outlined colorless capitals, "_U._" and "_S._," in the upper corners, with "_Post Office_," between, following the form of the oval, large numeral "5," and "5," in the lower corners, with "_Five Cents_" between, following the form of the oval.

Between the lines of the outer border, exactly in the centre, are the initials of the engravers, "R. W. H. & E.," in small colored capitals.

Plate impression, 18 by 23 mm., in color, on faintly bluish paper.

5 cents, bronze.