The Postmaster-General. I do not know how it is worded there; "Unfit for use" is not a proper description. There was not one stamp in excess of the limit stated in Parliament that got into the hands of the public. There was that little error I speak of, but it was detected at once and corrected, and of course the extra amount was at once destroyed—I suppose by the Auditor-General and by Mr. Stanton of the stamp department.
Well, perhaps the excess did not reach the public, but the stamp accounts exhibit a peculiar coincidence in connection therewith. The tables of receipt and issue of stamp supplies for 1897, as already stated, contain the memos of the return of 40,000 8 cent stamps, by postmasters, and their destruction. The
tables for 1898 contain two columns, one of stamps returned by postmasters, "unfit for use", and the other "fit for use". The former were supposed to be destroyed, the latter placed in stock again. Now note: the values from ½ cent to 50 cents inclusive, "fit for use", were returned in quantities varying from 200 to 250 copies, with two exceptions; the dollar values in quantities from 400 to 675. The two exceptions were the 6 cent at 1,148 copies, and the 8 cent at 42,300 copies!! This last figure looks so familiar that we cannot help wondering whether a second call had been sent out for the return of 40,000 more of the 8 cent, subsequent to the closing of the 1897 accounts, or if (which seems more probable) the first return had not been slipped into stock instead of being actually destroyed, and reappeared thus in the 1898 accounts! Quien sabe?
All the other values to and including the 2 dollars, were received in their proper amounts and were all issued to postmasters, the last record of the series from ½ cent to 1 dollar, inclusive, appearing in the 1900 Report. The figures for the dollar values prove rather interesting so we give them here:—
| 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | 1901. | Total. | 1905 On hand. | Ret'd and Destroyed. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | received | 7,500 | 15,000 | 2,400 | 100 | ... | 25,000 | ... | 94 |
| issued | 5,830 | 16,771 | 3,599 | 500 | ... | 26,700 | |||
| $2.00 | received | 7,500 | 5,000 | ... | 6,000 | 6,500 | 25,000 | ... | 66 |
| issued | 5,830 | 4,334 | 888 | 7,225 | 8,775 | 27,052 | |||
| $3.00 | received | 7,500 | 5,000 | ... | 500 | 1,000 | 14,000 | 2,650 | 1,835 |
| issued | 5,830 | 4,044 | 591 | 1,700 | 1,250 | 13,415 | |||
| $4.00 | received | 7,500 | 5,000 | ... | 500 | 2,000 | 15,000 | 3,050 | 2,013 |
| issued | 5,830 | 3,945 | 640 | 1,675 | 1,775 | 13,865 | |||
| $5.00 | received | 7,500 | 5,000 | ... | 500 | 3,000 | 16,000 | 2,100 | 1,240 |
| issued | 5,830 | 3,844 | 689 | 2,075 | 3,325 | 15,763 | |||
Comment:—The three highest dollar values were apparently never delivered to their full requisition—25,000 each. All but the 1 dollar were issued in goodly numbers in 1901,—four years after their first appearance! The 1 and 2 dollar stamps were both issued to an amount of about 2,000 more than were received from the manufacturers, but this excess is easily explained by the reissue of stamps returned by postmasters and placed again in stock.
The entire issue drops out of sight with the 1901 Report, but the 1905 Report suddenly presents the figures given for the three high values still on hand, and records 30 of the 5 dollar stamps turned in for destruction. Once more, in the 1909 Report, we find 1,783 of the 3 dollar, 1,954 of the 4 dollar and 1,151 of the 5 dollar stamps returned for destruction, so that allowing for the total number destroyed and the amount on hand (which may be) we have for the actual issue of the three high values, instead of 25,000 each, but 9,515 of the 3 dollar, 9,937 of the 4 dollar and 12,660 of the 5 dollar stamps.
[121] Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, IX: 25.
[122] Monthly Journal, VIII. 177.
[123] Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, X: 54.