Populi Voluntas. "The Will of the People" A Review of the Plebiscite Issues REMEMBER the days when-some times you used a "pony" and sometimes you were scared to!-you studied that "dead language" which a live wire, Cæsar, spoke? Translated, the italicized words are equivalent to "the will of the people." And it is "the will of the people," honored as something sacred under the terms of what may go down into history as the world's most significant document - the Peace Treaty that has been responsible in recent weeks for the appearance of some of the most fascinating and interesting postage stamps which philately has known. These are the Plebiscite issues. Populi Voluntas is appropriately part of the inscription on one of these Plebiscite sets-stamps issued in the West Prussian Province of Marienwerder, which lies to the south of Danzig. We read in Stamp Collecting, a British jour nal: In accordance with the Protocol of January 9, 1920, the Plebiscite Commission, with Von Simpson as German representative, decided that this town and Province should vote as to whether it is to remain German or become part of Poland. The German stamps will cease to be used during the actual plebiscite, and the Commission have given instructions to an Italian firm for the preparation of suitable postage stamps during the period specified. The work has been entrusted to the Officine Grafiche Coen, of Milan, who have submitted a striking design, showing a female figure standing on stool inscribed Populi Voluntas, and holding the flags of the principal Allies. At the top of the stamp is the inscription Commission Interalliee, and at the bottom the name Marienwerder, numerals of value being in a circle in the upper left and lower right hand corners, and "Pf." (pfennig) or "M" (mark) in the upper right and lower left. a The first Plebiscite issue was that used in Schleswig while "the will of the people" was being expressed as to whether the population desired union with Denmark or with Germany. The northern zone favored Denmark; the southern, where German sympathies predominated, preferred the rule of the Hun. At this writing, the Inter-Allied Commission has not fixed Schleswig's political future. Eastern Silesia and Upper Silesia has each had Plebiscite stamps issued for the people to use during their balloting to designate their choice between Poland and Czecho-Slovakia in the first instance, and apparently between Poland and Germany in the second. The overprint S.O. which has appeared both upon Polish and Czecho-Slovakian adhesives stands for Silésie Orientale, meaning Oriental or Eastern Silesia. At this writing only one "people's vote" series has appeared for Upper Silesia-understood to have been circulated by the Poles. These stamps have a simple design of a figure of value in color on white within an oval, and with inscriptions in French, German and Polish. Summarized, the Plebiscite sets thus far issued are (based upon information available late in April): SCHLESWIG 14 varieties of regular and 14 varieties of official. EASTERN SILESIA (Czecho-Slovakian) 19 varieties of regular, 2 varieties of special delivery and 11 varieties of postage due. EASTERN SILESIA-(Polish) -K. B. S. I Stamps as Government Propaganda DESIGNS By F. G. Huntington THE editors interpret Mr. Huntington's article as in effect a plea to philatelists to pay more attention to the study and significance of designs and less to inquiry regarding perforations, paper and other fundamentals so dear to specialists. Articles of this character are the kind which Scott's Monthly Journal is looking for. This is one man's viewpoint but it is interestingly told and it gives collectors something to think about besides new issues and rising values. A life subscription goes to you in return for a manuscript that is worth while. See our announcement on inside of front cover. N the American Philatelist for December there is a sympathetic article by Mr. Brewer Corcoran on the stamps of Czecho-Slovakia, and on page 74 he deplores the fact that the artist puts kinks in the lion's tail as he is breaking his shackles. This suggests This suggests Austrian tortures, but mars the beauty, etc. You might suggest to Mr. Corcoran that the artist did not get his lion from the Zoo; this is another kind of lion, and probably well understood by the people for whom the stamps were made. The same kinks were in the tail when the lion floated on the banner of free Bohemia in A.D. 1350. True, he has lost his crown, but this, I think, even paper specialists and perforation counters can grasp. It is also deplorable but true that the neighboring country of Bohemia has two lions with unusual tails and it is a pity that their tails were never fixed, as think what fun collectors would have had in collecting the different tails instead of different kinds of papers. I imagine that, as in the case of Bohemia, the Government thought the people who used the stamps might prefer to have them correct. When one eminent New York dealer described the recent Newfoundland stamps as commemorating the battle of "Ubique," among others, and announced the war tax stamp of St. Helena as the last of the British West Indies series to appear, is it not time to think whether dealers and specialists are entirely forgetting what a stamp is and why it is interesting? I am not poking fun at lack of knowledge of Latin, as I doubt if I could have translated ubique without help; but here is a crackerjack stamp man, and he is all of that, who does not seem to know that every government chooses its stamp of widest circulation for its story of propaganda. In the Columbian series we have "the landing"; in the Panama Canal series, "the canal"; Spain uses "fighting windmills" in the Cervantes series; Russia her great Czars, not the unpopular existing ruler; Austria her very popular existing ruler, not former ones; etc., etc., etc. A design student would instantly have concentrated on the important two-cent Caribou stamps, and if ubique was a battle or event, it was by far the most important; so the design collector is on inquiry as to why he never heard of it. Then the editor of a juvenile magazine's stamp page teaches his young readers to understand the Italian stamps for Fiume as: "Goddess of Liberty, meaning of the lion not understood"; "sailor nailing flag to staff", etc. Since when did a Kingdom use the Goddess of Liberty for an emblem? As for the lion-would not your flag for Austrian Italy, if posted in a collection, at least suggest Venice or Italy calling to her sister city and people across the Adriatic? The other picture, my sharp-eyed little American girl said, meant a sailor on an Italian warship cheering a merchant boat: "The sailor must be on a war boat, as the flag is an Italian ensign." When an Italian collectorfriend instantly interpreted the picture the same way, it might seem that the Italian Government said to its people: "Your Navy is there and your Commerce is following." This same editor in a later issue of his magazine told about what trouble he had to find out why designs of the New Zealand peace stamps had unusual ornaments to some of the letters; so he is commencing to get beyond perforations and paper, and might like to have his attention called to your type A-51 of the series. We are all familiar with the picture of the soldier saluting the sky, pictured to suggest our flag. So in the sky of the New Zealand stamp we see another emblem, neither theirs nor ours but important to both; between is a lion, and that lion is the Trafalgar lion. The sky apparently does not suggest Trafalgar Square to emphasize the lion, but something else that caused the issue of stamps for Nauru and Raratonga. If one reads the article on Australia in the March North American Review, one can easily grasp what the stamp says in Australasia. Or take your type A-43 of the Japan peace series. We will all agree the dove is trying to alight on rather an unstable branch for his weight. Now if no other meaning than alighting was intended, we could add to the beauty by adding flowers, which a Japanese artist would certainly do as evidenced by Japan's other stamps. These flowers would be cherry blossoms, but no dove would choose a perch like that for repose, so we leave off the flowers and add the fruit. The stamp circulates among the Japanese and says: "The dove is going to alight to enjoy the fruit of victory." -Q. E. D. Your firm or its predecessor told me as a kid to collect stamps and learn history and geography; but how am I to do this by testing perforations and looking for stitch watermarks? The United States specialists are the funniest of all. How many can tell what flag their country's flag was adopted from, or why the Roman X instead of 10 was used on our first ten-cent values? This latter I will admit is a question for an advanced stamp student who has solved some, but has been defeated by many, problems of some of the really difficult foreign stamps. However, if you ask a real United States expert what the stars on the same stamp signify, I think you will be surprised how many will promptly "The stars on the flag." answer: It seems to me that you should not send your catalogue to an eminent writer who pretended to know nothing about stamps but chose stamp collecting for the theme of a story; but your maps and emblems to specialists who don't know what a stamp is. With some, I am afraid, you would have to begin with the proposition that our Government did not and does not cancel stamps "Buy War Savings Stamps," "Learn While You Earn," etc., with the idea of adding interest, or for foreign circulation, but for what is said. Austria Has Stamp Famine Dealers Buy Up All Recent Issues, VIENNA, April 25.-Among its other troubles Austria is undergoing a stamp famine. Not only is suitable paper very scarce, but stamp dealers have bought up all the recent issues, many printed on cardboard, and nearly all unperforated. As a first corrective measure all higher value stamps have been abandoned and parcels must now be taken to the postoffice and prepaid in money. It is understood that unless the situation is remedied the government will resort to the postal measures of early days, requiring all mail to be prepaid and then forwarding it unstamped. Of Topical Interest by Kent B. Stiles Are You A Prospective Jail Bird ? WR E CANNOT comprehend why any person should want to go to Hayti-but if one does, one should leave one's collection of Hayti stamps behind unless one has first put one's collection through a process of censorship and eliminated labels identified as Scott's Nos. 219, 221, 223, 224, 225, 227, 234, 243 and 244. That is the inference, at least, to be SPEAKING of Hayti, the Interchurch drawn from a letter received from a collector residing in Brookline, Mass. He writes in part: "Now it is a well-known fact that all these stamps that are on the market were stolen, as none of them was ever issued by the Haytian postal authorities. . . Calling attention to the circumstance that Scott's prices the stamps both used and unused, the writer demands: "How then can they exist used?" And he continues: "It is also a fact-although perhaps not generally known-that the possession of the stamps in question by an individual in the island of Hayti constitutes a penal offence. The latter throws sufficient light upon the status of the stamps. They were prepared for use, but never issued." Scott's has none of these stamps today in used condition. Once upon a time we had some cancelled copies, but they have been scattered to the philatelic winds. If we had some now we should examine them as to the genuineness of cancellation. As we haven't, we would welcome receiving some from our readers so that we may examine them-meaning the stamps. Have you any? If so, and will send them to us, we will guarantee not to send your name and address to the Haytian postal inspectors. Maybe they don't have postal inspectors on that island, but they have jails. If the stamps are not legitimate, and if you have any, and if you are careful World Movement has been making a survey of the religious, social and economic situation there. It has found that until the most recent Administration came into power the postal service was demoralized-what a familiar ring those last four words have! In Hayti, the survey showed, many postmasters could neither read nor write, and it was the practice to allow literate persons to enter the post offices and make their own selections from the mail. (We'd like that privilege, for one day only, in the Wall Street postal district in New York!) If letters were to be delivered from door to door, a twelve-year-old was selected for the job, and we wonder if he was a collector! The new director of the postal service fired 50 per cent. of the employes. We hope the 50 per cent. fired are the persons responsible for the superfluity of issues that have been emanating from Hayti in recent years. We always were optimistic beyond reason! Danzig's Finances and Philately DANZIG is all excited as to what kind of currency to use-and the situation is of interest to philatelists for the reason that the decision made will determine the monetary inscriptions upon Danzig's stamps of the future. The argument is fourfold, being briefly this: 1. Those who favor German money point out that the mark of the Hun (a familiar wartime phrase, that) is already in use and that it would be confusing to effect a change. 2. Advocates of Polish coinage allude to the Peace Treaty, under the terms of which the free city of Danzig is in the Polish customs territory; they declare that inasmuch as Danzig's trade affairs are to be intimately identified with those of Poland, complications will arise unless a common currency is in circulation. 3. The citizens of Danzig want money of a distinctive character. The population is approximately 350,000 and proponents of Danzig coinage assert that this is big enough to support a monetary system of its own. They declare further that the trade of Danzig should not be subjected to the disadvantages of depreciated and fluctuating currency, including German and Polish. 4. As a solution to the controversy, it has been suggested that the currency of one of the great Powers be introduced, a thus assuring Danzig's merchants stable medium of exchange recognized in the world markets. This is reported to have been discussed officially at Paris, with the thought that British money might be used. Meanwhile, German currency prevails. We Got This Officially THE issue of postage stamps for Georgia brought that new Republic to collectors' attention for the first time, and something about the economic and commercial importance of this former bit of Russian land is timely for the information of persons who like to know something about a country besides its stamps alone. Well, then, Georgia imports chiefly agricultural produce and food products. It exports tobacco, products of tobacco, wine, spirits and brandy, the American public being to-day only theoretically interested in these last-named three items. Georgia's imports were worth 366,897,167 rubles, and its exports 257,599,000 rubles, from June 1, 1918, to June 1, 1919. With this great amount of trade annually—although we can not recall offhand how much a ruble is worth to-day -the need for postage stamps should be sufficiently great to supply large volumes of stamps for the albums. Excelsior! THIS item is stolen from a Mexico City newspaper. The item announces to the breathless philatelic world that the Republics of Central America have formed plans to unite themselves under one Government, effective September 15, 1921, which is the centennial of the independence of a bunch of those countries. The name of the newspaper is-Excelsior. More Flying Machine Stamps ? WORD reaches us through the De partment of Commerce at Washington that an American citizen in Honduras has applied to the Congress in that Republic for a concession to establish a mail and passenger airplane service between Tegucigalpa and the northern coast. From the same source comes information that an airpost will be inaugurated soon between Trinidad, Tobago, St. Vincent, Granada, Barbados, Venezuela and British Guiana, with business men of Trinidad and a noted airplane-manufacturing company behind the movement. After preliminary flights, it is planned to establish weekly flights, not alone for mail, but for passengers and freight. Meanwhile we read in Whitfield King's Monthly List that Esthonia has issued airplane stamps; and in the Australian Philatelist that Australia circulated a special adhesive to commemorate the delivery of the first mail carried through the air on the trip from England to Australia. The inscription on this reads: "First aerial post, November 12-December 10, 1919, England-Australia." The authenticity of this stamp is questioned. |