Canadian Pacific Ry.
Monthly Statement of Earnings and Expenses.
Three guide lines are printed for the address, as upon the old post cards. The sheet must have been issued in 1893 subsequent to the appearance of the large post card with the stamp of type 4 in black. It is stated to have been issued as an experiment and was in use but a short time. A second variety is known, however, on white laid paper, which was probably issued subsequently to the blue variety, but at what date is not known. Both sheets are rare so the experiment evidently was not carried on for long.
Returning to the regular letter cards we find again in the Postmaster General's Report for 1895 that "arrangements have been made for the issue of letter cards of the denominations of 1, 2 and 3c. for the use of banks in transmitting certain notices to their customers, as well as for ordinary letters within those postal limits to which their denominations respectively apply." The next year's Report explains their use a little more fully:—
During the year the 1 and 2 cent letter cards were introduced—the former to serve the purpose of the "drop letter" (i. e., a letter posted at, and delivered from, the same office) in places where there is no free delivery by letter carrier; the latter to meet a similar object in
cities where there is such a delivery. Already this extension of postal facilities appears to be appreciated—more especially by banks, which largely use these cards in transmitting notices to their customers.
The 2 cent letter card is chronicled in the Monthly Journal for 31st October, 1895, and the 1 cent in the same paper for the 30th November, 1895. Both were doubtless issued the early part of October. They conformed in all respects to the 3 cent letter card issued two years and a half previously, except for the stamp. If the 3 cent was wretched, the two new ones were hideous. They were not only more poorly engraved, which was needless, but the label at the bottom was enlarged by extending it at either side. The 1 cent was printed in black and the 2 cent in green—inscription and stamp in the same color in each case.
In 1903 the Weekly Philatelic Era published the following:[238]—
A correspondent in Vermont sends Mr. Lohmeyer a 1c. letter card of the first issue, which he discovered in a Canadian post office recently, it being the only copy there and damaged at that, the perforated margin on the right hand side being torn off. In the lower left corner the bottom perforation runs to the left side perforation only, instead of crossing it, as on all Canadian letter cards previously seen.
This is the style of perforation designated as C in Senf's catalogue—in which the horizontal line does not project beyond the vertical lines at either side. We have seen a perfect copy of the above described 1 cent letter card, which seems to be unlisted; but the 3 cent card with this perforation, listed and priced in Senf, we have not ourselves seen. It is possible that if two of these cards exist with perforation C, the third one—the 2 cent—will some day come to light.
The change in the stamp contractors in 1897 and the use of a new design naturally brought changes in the letter cards as well as the other postal requisites. The new 2 cent letter card was chronicled in the Monthly Journal for 31st January, 1898, so it is safe to assume that it appeared in December, 1897. The 1 cent and 3 cents are chronicled in the same paper for 28th February, 1898, and must therefore have been issued as early as January, 1898. The new letter cards were in all respects the counterparts of the previous ones save the stamp, which was now the same as that used for the new post cards and wrappers, viz., a copy of the "maple leaf" Queen's head type engraved for