VOL.. XXXIX.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 14, 1920
NO. 46
-German j3zS7&j?:
BY DE WITT HARRY.
POSTAGE: stamps reveal the .his
tory . of the world,. . the vari
. colored labels garnered from all
corners of the earth tell In milteJy
e-loquent Janguagre of th rise and ffcl
of nations, the development of em
pires, civilization's advance, the pros-'
ress of. science and great social .and
economic reforms. As a hobby the 'col
lecting of stamjb is possibly without
a peer, where it does not merely con
stitute a passing: craze to he superseded-by
. some other novel fancy.
While' many hoys are stamp collectors
during their schooldays most of them
abandon the idea later, or have done
so la the past, -for the reason that
they have lacked any great amount
of skilled guidance in their studies. 1
The indications are that in Portland
In the future there will be no lack of
interest for the reason that ' educa
tors of thee city .have begun to realize
the value of tha little adhesive token
as an aid to learning;. Already Jeffer
son higU school has a flourishing
stamp club of some 25 members that'
has been' in existence for two years
and It "Is understood that Washington
i I will fftrm Annthpr Rnnn. Thrpp
weeks ago a club for thet-younger
boys was started by Jessie ' Hodge
Millard at the publio library with the
result that they are taxed . with a
capacity enrollment.
- All of this goes to ih'ow that phil
ately seems destined for a new lease
on life locally. One of the main' causes
for this is the recent war that has
given birth to a legion of new stamps.
R. Meinhoff, a. collector of note in
Portland wh has recently opened a
stamp exchange- and is .now trading
and dealing in the novel commodity,
estimates that" fully 5000 new varie
ties have made their appearance since
1914. Collectors, botli"young and old,
are after these stamps and many hun
dreds of them are being bartered in
Portland every day.
Stories Told By Stamps.
Many persons, given the opportun
ity of inspecting a collector's album,
see' nothing but numbers of stamps
therein - of different colors and de
signs, they lack the ability to know
' that each of these specimens mask
some story. It may be an engrossing
of some tragedy, as is the case with
one of the Reproductions on this page
- that bears the likeness of the ill-fated
Serbian royal couple whose assas
sination caused the death of millions
of men in the recent war. It is only
those who are prepared to study
stamps so that they can read stories
in . them who will succeed as collec
tors. The ardent devotee of this pas-
timo is far from contented with the
. mere possession of a certain stamp.
but requires to know every detail
connected with its issue, the date.
name of designer and engraver, meth
od of manufacture, watermark, per'
foration, paper and the many -other
facta The masterpieces of the en
graver's art lit undoubtedly in stamp
collections.
While a stamp may have an histori
cal and geographical value - it will
likely also reveal other angles of lh
terest to the collector. Certainly they
will- tell of the language and cur
rency of foreign countries, the flora
and fauna, industries, habits and cus
' tarns of the Inhabitants, photographs
of their scenic wonders, art examples.
v architecture, botany, natural history
and their national heroes and hero
Ines. On many great historical events
special stamps are Issued that serve
thereafter to recall this happening
to posterity.
Postmasters Signed Envelopes.
Going' back Into the early ' history
of the past In the United States we
find that stamps are a comparatively
modern departure In their present
form. Prior to 80 years ago there
were many forms of stamps in vogue
In this country. As a whole the na
tion had no stamps of its own and
the postmasters in their cities issued
'.'bw , y . , ; . - -
J JTVt OUt ' '
varieties designed to suit their special 1
needs. In a Portland collection there 1
is one letter mailed years ago 'to J i
W. Sterling . in Madison, Wisconsin'
that bears a United States .postage
stamp for three cents and in- addition
has a delivery stamp, a jewel In the
collector's eyes, of the one 'cent de
nomination. The value of this speci
men Lsset at $50 and it Is the little
one cent stamp that makes it worth
while, this being a carriers' fee as
suring its delivery when it arrived
at vMadisoh by carrier- or otherwise.
Sterling would, have had ' to call at
the office and get it along with the
other mall. .
Another specimen, reproduced with
this: article,- was mailed in 1842, be
fore the days when, envelopes . were
usual, and 'the' letter consists merely
of the sheet ot paper containing the,
message folded and . held together
with glue wifU the postmaster's ini
tial on the face and the notation that
he. had received 10 cents postage. In
these days it was usual to mark the
letters eHher "postage paid" 6r "post
age due" in the dispatching office of
the postmaster. They were hazardous
days and.no one was certain that his
billet would safely reach itsT destina
tion. Mail traveled by ox-carts - in
those days, sometimes by' pony ex
press riders or by stage, and-toe pres
ent-day efficiency 'Of f as trains,
autos and even -airplanes was un
dreamed of. Tokens of postage fees
were Inst as. rare as quick deliveries,
and Europe first originated the Ad
hesive stamp. At "first the federal
government here did not'yield to the
demands 'of the service and issue any
adhesive stamps and .' the individual
postmasters made, their own Issues.
Private Posts Reap Harvest.
During this time numbers of pri
vate post were In operation and gov
ernment postmasters went into com
petition with a number of them. The
first national postal 'law authorising
the issuance of stamps was adopted
in 1817 and these stamps were then
in general use. while before the pri
vate issues held good for but a short
distance from their stations of sale.
In these times' the postmaster usually
wrote - his "name or initialed "every
stamp his office sold for postage. All
of this goes to show" just a segment
of the history of the United States
that is revealed by its stamps. The
great progress ot this republic can in
no way be better traced than through
its postage and every" impulse of bet
ter things is reflected in the stamps.
Practically every well-known city in
America in the days before 1840 has
impressed its mark on the stamp his
tory of the nation.
' Possibly one of the best of local
collections is that possessed by Rob
ert J. Dieck, who first started his
collection as a boy, of 13 and has car
ried it through as one of his hobbies
to this time, for more than 30 years.
Mr. Dieck is well traveled and in all
his journeyings has watched out for
new and novel stamps. Some of his
specimens are especially valuable and
carry a great interest for the reason
that he gathered them himself and can
readily recall the circumstances, and.
Local
:'Pf -Jrl ;
. " ' : ' I It-' ' -fv - ' , 1 ,- s- . S-S-- 1, '? Mill
J
therefore, each has some special story. I
Among the Bdeck collection are I
some exceedingly rare specimens of
"tamps issued by the republic- of Tai
nan, Formosa, in the period between
Chinese - and Japanese control af fer
the Chlno-Japanese ' war. These
stamps show the hard straits that the
government was placed in ' at that
time, for . they are merely rubber-
stamp impressions on the. flimsiest of
papers. r Another couple of little-
known stamps are from Japan, Issued
In 1906 in commemoration of their
victory over Russia. Mr. Dieck has
specialized in varieties from the Pa
cific ocean countries and his collec.
tion is especially complete in this
respect.
Banknotes i Used as Paper.
'Stamps are generally issued in su
perior grades of paper, watermarked
and of a certain texture, but it fre
quently come to pass that nations.
for some cause, will find their proper
supply exhausted . and have recourse
to some other makeshift material.
This was frequently the case during
the late war, when stamps were even
Issued on the back of banknotes, and
In. the. Dieck collection is an oddity
of this kind where a . frugal New
Zealander has managed to increase
the efficiency of his stamps by using
the reverse side , for t.a advertise
ment,' in t this case , a jiostrum for
curing asthma and croup. Druggists
in this, country might take note of
this", if they, could . get permission
from the government, and make some
little gain from their unprofitable
stamp sales by using the reverse side
for advertisements. Dieck was in
the Philippines and has a very com
plete collection of the revolutionary
government's stamps that were issued
when Emllto Aguinaldo headed the
insurrection. Another-Dieck oddity
Is the Japanese commemoration stamp
issued when the American fleet vis
ited ,that country in its .globe-girdling
trip in 1908. Even the cancella
tion bears a message of good will to
America. v . '.'
In the high schools Jefferson high
has what is 'undoubtedly the, most
active stamp collecting orzanization.
Robert Berry, one of the ieaders in
the. work,, has .been collecting for
nearly six years and has made excel
lent progress and has a selection that
would make . many an older expert
envious, for he has some E000 varie
ties left him by. his grandfather with
which to make a basis for his own
work. One of Berry's stamps is for
the reindeer post used in one of the
Scandinavian countries. Last year at
Jefferson Henry Mason was president
of the club of about 25 members and
, they came together principally to bar.
Philatelists Possess Xtollec-
tions of Rarities Worth Thousands
ter varieties. By this. means many of
the boys have been able to start very
good collections and they ase now
about to assist in. starting another
club at Washington high. In the Jef
ferson olub they have been in the
habit . of meeting every two weeks
and they expect to put on an exhibi
tion of their collections soon.
Globe Combed for Specimens.
While the general run of stamp
collectors go in for' almost any. va
riety that they can obtain, there are
certain ones who specialize, as dees
Dieck, In stamps from one section of
the globe. While Dieck gets the ma
jority of his from the Pacific another
collector in Portland, Robert Mein
hoff, .obtains the majority of his
from Europe. Meinhoff is an Im
porter and makes it his' business to
buy, sell and trade -stamps. He car
ries in stock as many as 10,000 va
rieties and the value of Ms speci
mens contained in one Bmall desk,
run into thousands .of dollars. Ac
cording to Meinhoff the late war has
resulted in originating same EOOO
stamps, Germany being the most fer
tile field for the collector.
Meinhoff also was another who be
gan his collecting when a youngster
and has 13 years' experience. He dis
plays some exceedingly interesting
designs fresh from Europe, from the
days when, the war was first started
to the present activity of the bolshe
vlsts. Stamps used for military posts
for the purpose of communicating
with soldiers at the front have a
prominent place In his collection.
Some of the ias-.es from Bosnia bear
the ill-fated date of June 28. 1914,
From Hungary come a collection of
"hobos," called such from the hairy
reproductions " of bolshevist heroes
that are engraved on the stamps.
Some of the Meinhoff specimens are
printed on banknotes. Novel In their
line are air-mail stamps, both from
Germany and Estland, used for the
dispatch of letters by plane post.
Some of these carry the picture of
planes, the Estland one being trian
gular in shape.
Letters Lark: Envelopes.
In the" European collection are some
Belgian letters of 1862 before enve
lopes were in common use in Europe
and cross-channel stamps used by
British postmasters for the collecting
of fees for- dispatch of letters to
France on the packets from Dover.
These '- last named have varying
amounts written on their faces in a
similar manner to the common cus
tom In this country about the same
time, and the postage bills are re
celpted'for by the . initials of the
, postmasters. . In the military, collec
X
tion are Bosnian stamps showing
wounded soldier, nurses aiding
blinded men, reproductions of for
tresses, famed generals and war ap
paratus. Echoes of changing boun
daries in Europe come from a selec
tion of b tamps from the newly formed
Slesvig republic issued at the time
the citizens of that section had their
plebiscite. Ukranian issues that have
appeared since the war' are also
found in Portland.
Another stamp collector of note in
Portland who is a trader is Edwin
Caswell. Caswell's collection Is said
to embrace some of the best , speci
mens in the city and numbers thou
sands.
But the main interest in stamp col
iecting in this city today seems cen
tered . about the . library building
where, each Saturday, comes trooping
a group of chaps that are getting
their, first initiation into the game.
They are the most enthusiastic and
as they gradually make their way
into the intricacies of the collector's
role, under the expert guidance of
Miss Millard .and. Miss Susan F. Tay
lor, they develop keen observance,
Stamps in their case have already
come to. mean more than just an in
animate collection of stickers for they
have come to real-lie that the romance
and history, of the, world is their very
own through the means of their col
Iecting and as a consequence they
are fervid advocates of their . new
game, - The first meeting was held
October 30 and at that time the fol
lowing officers were chosen: Susan
F. Taylor, honorary president; Robert
Wilkfcison. president; Kelson Mulr,
vice-president; Norman Burroughs,
secretary, and Eugene Towne, ser-
geant-at-arms.
Bojrn' Club In Action. '"
These boys have since that time al
most doubled their membership and
as. they get further and further into
their work, they will likely gain
greatly in numbers. Election of offi
cers will take place every six-weeks
and they have already interested the
aldvof most of the men in the city
who have collections to give the boys
an. opportunity of seeing the results
of their work and tell them of the in
teresting phases that may be devel
oped. This month they will discuss
the following subjects. "Some Very
Early Stamp Users,"- "Boy Life in
Early Egypt." "How-Postage Stamps
Are Made." and "Historic Places in
Rome." The membership of the club
is to be limited to 60 members and
they- will likely have a long waiting
list, judging from the applications
that are pouring in. The official
rooter of . a week ago showed the
if
1
1L- if 1
Jeff erjr?7? Jfr?A Ctrl-
following membership: Arnold Blits.
Victor Bloch, Norman Burroughs,
Robert Carlson, Robert Clark, Carl
Cline. Charles Cohn, Allan Hart, Fred
Homer, Daniel Baker, Jack Barrett,
George Mlttauer, Nelson Mulr, Rich
ard Romaln, Maurice Sugarman. Ed-
In Tippin, Eugene Tuley, Robert
Wilkinson and Gordon Winks.
It might be well In closing1 to tell
of some of the kindred stud'es that
stamp collectors take up in the course
of their hobby. First there is the
study of papers, the many kinds of
textures and colorings as well as tue
special Ingredients that go in the
making of the sheets. There are the
papers of all the glotie, woven, laid
and of native manufacture, all clear
ly having their relative valu. to the
collector as well as a well-developed
system of watermarks that basically
allow the thoroughly informe-. phi
latelist to know at once whether the
stamp he is Inspecting is authentic
or not. There are many forgeries
encountered in stamps as In every
thing else, and th's is especially true
In the case of specimens that are
known to be scarce.
Forgeries Are Detected.
, Then there are the perforations,
and for the guidance of the collector
in this respect there is Issued a card
that contains the many systems ot
different sized dyes used in this work,
all numbered and registered accord
ing to scale and characteristics so
that here will be found a further
check on the authenticity of va
rieties as their system of perfora
tion Is usually registered or well
known. In the making of papers
there are many physical character
istics that register on the sheet dur
ing the process with the result that
It is seldom that a full issue I
ab-
solutely uniform, and in
the case
r lmpos-
of duplication it is nearly impos
40 PLANES VIE FOR PULITZER
PRIZE THANKSGIVING DAY
Pilots Will Cover 160-Mile Triangular Course on Long Island Best
Airmen of United States Will Compete.
EW TOKK, Not. 13. An aerial
IX I -r ..to rrpater than any ever
- before assembled for a race will
compete for the Pulitzer t r o p n y
Thanksgiving day, starting and end
lag at Mitchell field, Mineola, N. T.
Forty or more airsh'ps with speeds
exceeding 100 miles an hour are to
participate In the 160-mile fl'ght
over a closed triangular cou.--r.
Eighteen army airplanes and eight
representing the navy have been en
tered, according to the Aero CJub.of
America, which will conduct the race.
Sadl Lecolnte. winner of the recent
Gordon-Bennett trophy contest at
Paris, may be a contestant, and each
of the American airplanes entered In
that international speed race is ex
pected to be in the starting line-up
iat Mineola.
Aviation organizations of foreign
countries have expressed interest in
the coming contest and an Inquiry
from the French aero club indicated
its' desire . to enter one or more
'ships.'r
The Pulltaer trophy, donated by
Ralph Pulitzer to the Aero Club of
America, is to be competed for an-
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sible to perpetuate a forgery that .
will pass all the tests. Prior to the
days of perforation the stamps were
cut apart with scissors.
Then there Is the engraving. Just
as in the making of banknotes the
government plates from which stamps
are printed are carefully guarded and
their forgery Is Beldom attempted
with success. Designs that are ac
cepted and that are well known have
so many methods by which they can
be verified that the work of the
duplicator Is nearly Impossible in
this respect. Printing processes have
a thorough application as it is com
paratively simple for those who have
assimilated the rudiments of surface
printing, lithogra.hIng and emboss
ing to trace the methods employed la
producing the finished product. Then
In the old designs before' process
work reached such a stage that me
chanical means were at hand to re
produce copies of designs it was
nearly humanly impossible for .the
artist to dra .v some 25 or more sam
ples all true in every respect to the
original.
But there is little use in going
into the many details of th- collec
tor's art in a constricted article of
this, type for the reason that many
volumes have been wr'tten on the
subject and it 's impossible to give
any real information 'hat will cover
the subject in a ' smattering . of the
many subjects that enter into phi
lately. Suffice to say that it is one
of the most educational hobbles in
existence and through its means the
histories of world peoples . and na
tions may easily be traced. Portland
Is waking up to the value of the art
and the movement row started to
encourage the etartlng of new col
lections is certain to bear irult In
an increased knowledge gathered
through this, source of subjects that
otherwise might prove
I dry and uninteresting.
exceedingly
I nually, the coming race beir the
first. Gold, silver and bronze plaques
have been hung up for winners of
first, second and third places, and
in addition nearly J4000 In liberty
bonds is to be awarded pilots of
each craft which performs best in
machines of various classes.
Free-for-all Is the type ot race it
will be, but each plane must have an
air speed greater than 100 miles an
hour as loaded for the start of the
race, and the factors of safety, vis
ibility and maneuverability are to
be considered by the judges before
entrants can start.
"The race ,wlll consist of four laps
around a 40-mile triangular course
starting and ending at Mitchell field
with turns at- Wantagh and Babylon.
Adventists to Meet Xext May,
SAN FRANCISCO. Ten thousand
Seventh Day Adventists are exptected
here for the world conference of that
church, to be held May 11 to SI. Cler
gymen and laymen from all parts of
the United States and Canada and
from many countries of Europe are to
atteni