The quantities of these special wrappers delivered to the Department are given in the stamp accounts as:—
| 1908. | 1909. | 1910. | |
| 1 cent | 1,501,000 | 353,000 | 884,000 |
| 2 cent | 367,000 | ... | ... |
| 3 cent | 54,000 | ... | ... |
Of the 2 cent wrapper the accounts give 300,300 as issued in 1908 and of the 3 cent wrapper 15,600. But during 1908 and 1909 213,546 of the former and 13,790 of the latter were returned "fit for use" by postmasters, and 4,574 2 cent and 790 3 cent "unfit for use" were destroyed. It would appear from this that the actual issue to the public of these two wrappers was 82,180 of the 2 cent and but 1,020 of the 3 cent! The 1909 tables, however, record the issue to postmasters of the total quantity of these wrappers then on hand, and the 1910 tables explain this by the statement:—"Withdrawn from issue and surcharged one cent, June 18, 1908." The quantities of the surcharged wrappers are therefore 280,246 of the 1 c. on 2 cents, and 52,190 of the 1c. on 3 cents. As these wrappers were not on sale to the general public but only to publishers, who were obliged to purchase in quantity, their use was considerably restricted; and as the wrappers often enclosed papers in quantity, addressed to any one post office, they were removed in the United States post offices before distributing the papers, and very many probably lost sight of there as waste paper.
While the usual newspaper wrappers are designated officially as "Post Bands," these we have been describing are called "Special Wrappers." They were of stout manila paper, cut to 15 × 6½ inches (378 × 165 mm.) in size for the 1 cent and 2 cent, and 13 × 8 inches (308 × 223 mm.) for the 3 cent, and ungummed. The stamp occupied the usual position, but at its left was the following two line legend in block letters, printed in the same color as the stamp, and occupying a length of 92 mm:—
THIS WRAPPER TO BE USED ONLY BY PUBLISHERS AND FOR THE SOLE
PURPOSE OF MAILING SECOND CLASS MATTER TO THE UNITED STATES.
The 1 cent value was printed in dark green, the 2 cent in carmine, and the 3 cent in a slate violet. The surcharges were first noted in Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News of 12th September, 1908, though they were probably issued soon after the date quoted above. The overprint in each case is in shiny black ink, the figure being 13 mm. high and the "c" 6 mm. high, with a period after it.
One curious circumstance has been noted in connection with the use of these wrappers—large numbers have been used without the Post Office authorities taking the trouble to cancel them, while in other cases they have been cancelled in the usual manner.
[219] See [page 270].
[220] Monthly Journal, III: 3.