THE LETTER CARDS
[Illustration:
CANADA
LETTER CARD]
The Postmaster General's Report for 1892 contained the following
announcement:--"Letter cards, similar to those in use in Great Britain,
Austria, and other European countries, are being prepared, and will be
issued to the public in a short time." Only one value was issued, the 3
cents, and it appeared in company with the 20 and 50 cent adhesives and
large sized post card on the 17th February, 1893. Artistically it is a
pretty poor production, the stamp being apparently a rough wood-cut
imitation of the stock type used by Messrs. De La Rue & Co. at that time
for British Colonial stamps. The profile of the Queen is on a solid
ground within an octagonal frame, and the labels at top and bottom
contain the words POSTAGE and THREE CENTS respectively. At the left of
the stamp, in two lines, is CANADA--LETTER CARD, the first being in
Gothic, the second in Roman capitals. The entire impression is in
carmine. The size of the card, opened out, is 5-1/2 x 7 inches (138 x
175 mm.), the longer dimension being reduced one half by folding of
course. The perforation gauges 12 and is in Form A of Senf's catalogue
(both lines crossing at the corner intersections). The margin outside
the perforations measures 3/8 inch (10 mm.) and is gummed only around
the third face of the folded card. The stock is of fair quality and of a
light greenish-blue tint.
The Postmaster General's Report for 1894 says that "so far the demand
for these letter cards has not equalled the expectations of the
Department." On looking at the stamp accounts we find that from their
date of issue to the 30th June, 1893, 265,350 of the letter cards were
distributed; but during the whole of the next fiscal year but 104,650
were issued and for the third year the amount had dropped to 77,750. The
Postmaster General's plaint was therefore justified.
It is perhaps best to record here a curious semi-official issue of what
might be termed a "letter sheet" for the use of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. It was first noted in the _Monthly Journal_ for 31st January,
1894, as "a sheet stamped with the current 1 cent wrapper die, upon
which is printed the monthly statement of receipts and expenditure for
transmission to shareholders." Perhaps for the reason that the wrapper
stamp was impressed upon it, this variety has been listed under the
newspaper wrappers, but such it is not. The circular was printed upon a
stout gray-blue paper, and had the wrapper stamp of type 4 impressed
upon the back in black. Above the stamp appears the inscription "Printed
Matter Only," while in the lower left corner of the address side of the
folded sheet are two lines reading:--
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.
[238] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XVII: 149.
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 typographic
work. These three letter cards are known only with the perforation A.
The reduction in domestic postage to the 2 cent rate on the 1st January,
1899, rendered the 3 cent letter cards useless as well as the envelopes
of like denomination. We have already recounted the story of the
surcharged envelopes and the two types of the handstamp which were used
in doing the work.[239] Suffice it to say, therefore, that we have but
to add the letter cards to the same story to make it complete. Both the
3 cent letter cards of 1893 and 1898 were turned in for surcharging
purposes, and the former not only received both types of the rubber
hand-stamped surcharge in the usual blue-black or gray-black color, but
is found also with the second and common type in a violet color.[240]
The surcharging was begun and the letter cards so treated were issued as
early as February, 1899. The perforation, so far as known, is always A.
[239] See page 240.
[240] =Monthly Journal=, IX: 175.
In its issue for 27th January, 1900, the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ notes
the receipt of the 1 cent and 2 cent letter cards of the maple leaf type
in new colors, conforming with the requirements of the Postal Union, the
one cent in green instead of black and the 2 cent in carmine instead of
green. In all other respects these letter cards conformed to their
predecessors. They were doubtless issued early in January, 1900.
The letter cards had been used in considerable quantities each year,
particularly after 1895, when the 1 cent and 2 cent values were added to
the previous 3 cent; but in 1902 they were withdrawn without any
particular reason having been given that we have been able to discover.
The stamp accounts for the Report of 1902 give the numbers issued in
that fiscal year as 195,100 for the 1 cent and 352,000 for the 2 cent.
The only item of information we have to quote concerning their demise is
confined to the dates: the last issue of the 1 cent letter card is
recorded as the 4th April, 1902, and of the 2 cent letter card as the
28th June, 1902.