aeronautical expedition this com

ing Summer produce anything of tangible philatelic interest? Something in which the general stamp collector will be interested?

Unless the plans as at present announced are altered, only an airpost postal card which will be prized by specialists in aero-philately will be the result.

A recent newspaper headline, “To Sell Postage Stamps For Aerial North Pole Trip," conveyed the impression that special stamps would be printed for use on mail carried by the Amundsen expedition, but inquiry discloses that the plans do not call for issuing special stamps at all, but that a privatelyprinted lithographed postal card, which the Norwegian government would honor in lieu of one or more ordinary postage stamps, will be used.

It may be stated that the attention of the Norwegian Government has been called to the fact that the proposed postal card-which already has been printed in great quantities-will not have any general philatelic value, even though it may bear a cancellation made at the North Pole as evidence of the success of the expedition. The Norwegian Government has been informed that such a postal card would be of particular interest to airpost specialists only, and that a broader opportunity to raise funds with which to help finance the expedition lies in giving up the postal card plan and issuing a special airpost stamp in its stead. It is not impossible that the Norwegian Government will get the "point" of this argument and abandon the postal card.

The newspaper story which conveyed the idea that special stamps would be issued appeared in a New York newspaper recently and reads as follows:

"The first aerial mail service via the North Pole will be inaugurated as part of the proposed airplane polar expedition headed by Captain Roald Amund

nouncement in a cable message received yesterday by the Wanamaker store from the explorer, who is in Norway. The Norwegian Government, it was said, had agreed to accept at the post offices at Spitzbergen, where the expedition 'hops off', specially stamped mail which will be cancelled at the North Pole' for delivery in all parts of the world.

"Proceeds from the sale of special polar postcards will go to defray the expenses of the flight. The postcards will be on sale in the New York and Philadelphia Wanamaker stores. The cards will carry the postage stamps of Norway and the United States and bear the inscription 'Delivery Subject to Accidents Beyond Our Control'."

Scott's has seen one of these cards. Across the top of the obverse side, in green letters, is the line "North Pole Mail," with "Space Below For Address" beneath it in smaller letters. In the upper right hand corner is the postcard imprint, rectangularly oblong. The inscriptions are as follows:

In two lines at the top, "Trans-Polar Flight Expedition-Christiana, Norway." In two lines, in smaller letters, at the bottom, "In Commemoration of Amundsen's Trans-Polar Flight 1924."

The imprint is in green, with the lettering white, and there is no value expressed.

The central design is a map of the northern polar regions as geographers know them today.

The balance of the obverse side is left for the address of the person who will receive the card and the address of the sender, with "Delivery Subject to Accidents Beyond Our Control" in small letters across the bottom of the card, which is about three inches long and two high.

The reverse side of the card is actually the obverse side at the time the card is mailed in the country of its origin. At the top appears "Post Card" and the instruction (in the upper right

hand corner) "Affix 2c U. S. Postage Stamp Here." The card is addressed, already printed, "The Trans-Polar Flight Expedition Christiana Norway."

Thus the sender in the United States places an ordinary 2c stamp on one side of the card, prepaying postage to the Amundsen headquarters in Christiana. Presumably the stock of cards thus received from all parts of the world will be taken on by the expedition from Christiana to Spitzbergen and there receive a special cancellation, at the post offices, on the side which bears the green postal card imprint. The cards will then be taken on the flight, and at the North Pole, if the North Pole is reached, another special cancellation will be placed on them and they will be brought back

to civilization

and sent, through the ordinary postal channels, to the persons to whom they are addressed, the Norwegian Government having agreed to pass the cards through the mails without any postage stamps on them.

According to an advertisement in Aeronautical Digest these cards cost $1 each, and that airplane publication has arranged with Captain Amundsen to dispose of some of these lithographed cards, which, the Digest declares, "as souvenirs will have a great value as they will be the first to be carried by Air Mail over the North Pole."

The following is quoted from the January issue of one of the British stamp publications:

"Norway. In a recent interview, the explorer Amundsen is quoted as saying that he hopes to defray part of the expense of his trip by means of a special issue of Norwegian stamps. We hope Norway, hitherto a philatelically clean country, will allow him to do nothing of the kind."

Well, why not? If the expedition is successful it will go down in history as one of the most romantic and spectacular of scientific adventures. Even if it does not succeed, it will have been perhaps a superhuman effort. Why should it not be philatelically marked? Certainly such a stamp, legitimately used for prepaying postage and

can

celled at the North Pole by official sanction of a recognized member of the Universal Postal Union, would always be of historical interest, sought after by collectors everywhere, and would And possess a real philatelic value. certainly such a stamp would not fall in the same classification as the numerous wholly speculative adhesives which have been emanating from certain Euroean lands in recent years.

Collectors would rather see special stamps issued than to have the present plans, calling for a postal card only, go through. We do not recall that the British stamp journals condemned the issuing of special stamps, surcharged, for the flights from Newfoundland to England in 1919 and 1921! Why should Norway be chastised should it do exactly the same thing in connection with the Amundsen expedition?

As newspaper readers know, the purpose of the Amundsen expedition is strictly scientific; as Aeronautical Digest expresses it-"to solve the last great geographic problem by exploring the million square miles of unknown territory in the Arctic between the North Pole and Alaska." Secretary Denby of the United States Navy Department has designated Lieut. Ralph E. Davison, of the Navy, to represent this country on the Amundsen flight, and Lieut. Davison will have command of one of the three seaplanes used.

THE

"The Betrothed"

"certain European lands" mentioned in the foregoing as being sponsor for speculative issues includes Italy. And now Italy looms once more on the speculative horizon of philately

this time that a noted writer's books may be published with the world's collectors helping to pay the costs of publication.

There was born in Milan, on March 7, 1785, one Alessandro Mazoni. He came of a literary family and grew up to become poet, historian, playwright, novelist, until, in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, he had become one of Italy's most influential men of letters for all time,

It is said in American intellectual literary circles that "the great American novel" is yet to be written. Mazoni wrote Italy's. It is called "Promessi Sposi," or, translated, "The Betrothed." It is recognized everywhere as a classic in the Italian language.

Mazoni finished writing "The Betrothed" in September, 1823. The official censors of Italy were not so certain that it ought to be published, but they finally passed it in July, 1824, and it was published in its final form in three volumes in 1827.

July of 1824 was one hundred years What ago this coming July of 1924. better excuse could Italy think ofand she has recently thought of quite a few that are worse!-for announcing a projected issue of stamps commemorative of Mazoni? Mazoni will not have been dead a hundred years until 1973, and the two hundredth anniversary of his birth will not be until 1985. So if this proposed issue of stamps is a "centenary" series, as it has been described, it "centenaries" nothing whatever except the censors' affirmative action in allowing "The Betrothed" to be published.

The frankly avowed intention of the Italian Government is to use the funds raised through selling the stamps to finance the publishing of a popular edition of Mazoni's various works.

For a

limited time the stamps will be on sale at certain post offices. After that the unsold (to the letter-sending public) balance will be disposed of to a private syndicate, and in mint condition these remainders will be sold to dealers and collectors throughout the world-above their face value if philatelists bite.

The popular edition undoubtedly will include "The Betrothed." But it will be printed in Italian, not in English. What satisfaction, if any, is the Yankee collector going to get out of paying for an unused set of these stamps when he has to go to his village library if he wants to find a copy in English?

We haven't read "The Betrothed," but with that eleanorglynnish title, and from the circumstance that the censors delayed its publication for some months

back in 1823-24, it ought to be good! Ain't philately broadening!

THE

Back To Normal

pre-war level of postal rates is about to prevail again in Sweden. The Department of Commerce has been officially advised that "the DirectorGeneral of the Swedish Post Office Department has announced that in the latter half of the year Swedish postal rates will be reduced to a level about the same as that which existed before the war," and that "if this is done, Sweden will be the first country to return to the old schedule." Also it will mean the restoration of lö and 2ö stamps and the withdrawal of certain wartime and post-war values.

Olympic Commemoratives THE Chamber of Deputies," says a

the

recent Associated Press despatch from Paris, "today passed the bill providing for the issuance of postage stamps commemorative of Olympic Games to be held in Paris this year. The Senate has already voted favorably upon the measure."

And in Stamp Collecting, one of our British contemporaries, we read that the stamps already apparently have been printed; to quote:

"France. A striking adhesive quartette is to be issued in commemoration of the Olympic Games, which are to be held in Paris during the ensuing Spring and Summer. According to a French newspaper, these four stamps have already been printed, the designs being the work of two eminent artists, Messrs. Becker and Daussy. The four values projected are:-10c green, 25c blue and red, 30c brick-red, 50c blue."

Thus France follows precedent established by Greece in 1896 and strengthened by Belgium in 1920.

consideration. This information perhaps will be interpreted significantly by the aero-philatelists.

ΟΝ

New British Series

N January 1st the British stampprinting contract was taken over by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons, Limited. Naturally this will lead collectors to conjecture whether new designs, watermarks, etc., will be adopted. On this situation The London Times said recently: "When work is begun on the new British contract, surface printing will be the method employed, as heretofore, nor is any change of design contemplated. A new series of marginal control letters and numbers will come into force, however, and serve to distinguish the Waterlow printings, even in the unlikely event of their presenting no other difference to the philatelic eye. Some months must necessarily elapse before any of the stamps printed by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons are on sale at post offices, and, in all probability, they will not find their way into circulation until May or June next."

A Noted Collector Passes

DEATH

on January 9 removed George H. Worthington, who was for many years famous as the possessor of a stamp collection which was reputed to be the finest in America and one of the best in the world. The albums were sold several years ago for $1,000,000 and the collection has since been broken up and the stamps disposed of to various collectors.

Mr. Worthington, a well known business man and sportsman in the Central West, was 74 years old. He died suddenly in his room in a downtown hotel in Cleveland. He was a Canadian by birth and at the time of his death was president of the Underwriters Land Company of Missouri.

Hungary's Rate Increase

THOSE values appearing in

new

an

Hungary are due to further increase in postal rates. Postage on ordinary letter from Hungary to the United States is now 800 kronen, ac

cording to word received from Budapest by the Department of Commerce. The postal, telegraph and telephone rates have been jumped by from 50 to 100

per cent.

In The Days' News MANY recent cable despatches from foreign lands conceivably foreshadow the appearance of new postal adhesives in Tangier, Greece, Memel, France, Fiume and Mexico.

In Paris has been signed a Tangier agreement, the participating Powers being Great Britain, France and Spain, and the compact assuring permanent neutrality of the Tangier zone. Under this agreement, Tangier's governmental affairs, except in so far as the administration of the native population is concerned, will be under a committee of control and an International Legislative Assembly. And under the agreement the capitulations are abolished and replaced by a mixed tribunal of French, Spanish and British magistrates, which will apply the codes and rules of the French and Spanish zones in Morocco.

In Greece, George II, King of the Hellenes, who succeeded his father, King Constantine, on that monarch's abdication, has withdrawn from the country at the request of the government. And Venizelos has been returned to political power.

The Memel situation becomes of immediate interest through the announcement by Norman H. Davis, who was Under-Secretary of State in the Wilson administration, that he had accepted an invitation from the League of Nations to serve as Chairman of a new commission which will endeavor to solve the international problem growing out of the territory of Memel-a problem considered by European statesmen as a critical one in the economic progress, under peacetime conditions, of the various Baltic States. A statement which Mr. Davis issued is of interest to collectors because it explains the present status of Memel:

"Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced in favor of the Allies and Associated Powers all its rights and

claims to the territory of Me.nel, to whom was left its final allocation. Its definite status has not been established, but Lithuania is now in possession and has a vital interest in this question because Memel is its only outlet to the sea. Poland also has a lively interest, because Memel is at the mouth of the River Niemen, which is navigable and flows out of Eastern Poland. Poland therefore naturally wishes to have access to the sea for its upper Niemen territory.

"My understanding is that the commission will now endeavor by arbitration, conciliation or recommendation to bring about an equitable and impartial settlement of the questions relative to the status of this territory, which have become a source of international friction."

The commission on which Mr. Davis serves as chairman has been appointed by the League of Nations to study means of putting an end to the difficulties which have arisen between the Powers represented at the Conference of Ambassadors on the one hand, and, on the other, Lithuania. The dispute has been dragging for two years, during which the Conference of Ambassadors made several fruitless attempts to settle it, and they have now decided to turn the whole situation over to a neutral group of men whose countries are not interested directly in the points at is

sue.

In France, the franc has depreciated SO alarmingly that drastic measures were considered necessary, and it is not improbable that postal rates will be radically increased-perhaps have been by the time this issue of the Journal leaves the presses.

From Fiume comes the news that negotiations between Italy and Jugo-Slavia have been virtually concluded on a basis which gives the harbor and city of Fiume to Italy under annexation; the Delta and Porto Baras to Jugo-Slavia, also by annexation; and provides for the creation of an Italo-Jugo-Slavia consortium for administering the harbors of Fiume and Porto Baras as a single entity. Italy is already in nominal possession of Fi

ume, just as Jugo-Slavia has been adminstrating over the Delta and Porto Baras.

The Mexican situation needs little philatelic comment. There's another revolution going on. Past disturbances of this character have provided postage stamps, and it will not be surprising if the present one does likewise. Indeed, it will be surprising if it doesn't.

A

Chinese Bandit Issue PHILATELIC has mystery which been puzzling collectors in recent months," we read on the stamp page of the January issue of The American Boy, "is solved in a letter which has been received by The American Boy from Philip Kerby in far-off Peking. Mr. Kerby explains some of the Chinese 'bandit stamps' regarding which collectors the world over have known little-although philatelists in Peking paid good money for copies under the impression that the bits of paper had been officially issued by the Chinese government for postal use." The American Boy quotes from Mr. Kerby's letter as follows:

"I thought your philatelic department might be interested in these rather unusual 'stamps,' which have a bit of interesting history.

"Do you remember the newspaper story which appeared last May about some foreigners who were captured by Chinese bandits in Shan-tung and held captive in the mountain fortress of Pao Tze Ku for more than a month?

"After the first month, we (the relief party of Americans) who lived within the coal compound some fifteen miles away, were able to get supplies and letters through to them. But as the days passed, and hope of relief appeared more remote, their snatchy letters beca.ne gloomier and gloomier.

"We wracked our brains to think of something to amuse them, and accordingly sent up frivolous bits of reading matter, and lollypops, peppermint walking sticks, chocolate shotguns, etc., to make them laugh. However, it all soon palled.

"And so we instituted a 'bandit post office' and designed our own 'stamps.'