CHAPTER XII

THE "MAPLE LEAF" ISSUE OF 1897

Rumors of a new issue, as we know, had been "in the air" ever since the change in the contractors for supplying stamps had been announced. Of course the Jubilee issue was a special affair, and for a time sidetracked other considerations. A new permanent series was not forgotten, however, and under "Ottawa Notes" in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ for October 9, 1897, we find the following advance information concerning it:--

A new general issue of Canadian postage stamps is imminent, being necessitated by the fact that the present Liberal government has entered into a new contract for engraving and printing Dominion treasury notes, postage and revenue stamps, and in short, all government matter. The previous contractors were the British American Bank Note Co. of Montreal.... When the bids for a renewal of the engraving contract were opened last winter, it was found that the American Bank Note Company of New York were the lowest bidders, and that they bound themselves in the event of the acceptance of their tender to build and equip a printing establishment in Ottawa, in compliance with the conditions of the bids. Their tender was accepted and they have carried out their undertaking by building a commodious and fully equipped establishment near that of their rivals on Wellington Street. Of the new presses the Jubilee issue of postage stamps were the first fruits. The impending general issue will be required as soon as the existing stock of the current issue is exhausted, and it is rumored that the supply of some values is running low.

This much is announced,--that the design for the new issue has been decided upon; that the center of the stamp will contain a portrait of the Queen taken at the time of the Jubilee, approved and signed by the Queen as the best existing likeness of her, and that our national emblem, the maple leaf, will appear in the corners--not the unnatural and misshapen leaf that appears on the Jubilee issue, but the real article, copied from actual leaves gathered on Parliament hill. This would indicate that there will be only one die for all the values, but I have as yet no information as to size, colours, or details.

A couple of weeks later a circular was sent to postmasters announcing the new stamps, etc., of which the following is a copy:[141]--

Circular to Postmaster.

NEW ISSUE OF POSTAGE STAMPS, ETC.

The Postmaster-General has made arrangements for a new issue of postage stamps, letter cards, stamped envelopes, post cards and post bands. These will be supplied to postmasters in the usual way.

Postmasters are, however, instructed not to sell the stamps of any denomination of the new issue until the stamps of the corresponding denomination of the present issue are disposed of. The filling of requisitions by the Postage Stamp Branch will be regulated by the same principle--that is to say, no item of the proposed issue will be sent out until the corresponding item of the present issue has been exhausted.

To conform to the requirements of the International Postal Union, the color of the new 1c. stamp will be green and that of the 5c. stamp a deep blue.

R. M. COULTER, Deputy Postmaster-General. Post-Office Department, Canada. Ottawa, 25th October, 1897.

[141] =American Journal of Philately=, 2nd Series, X: 502.

These instructions were followed out, and the issue of the new series was thus stretched over a considerable length of time. The first to appear was the 1/2 cent, two weeks after the date of the above circular. The circumstances of its début are told under "Ottawa Notes" in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_:[142]--

The half cent stamp of the new issue was placed on sale today [9th November, 1897], its appearance having been precipitated by events over which the postal authorities had no control.... The philatelists, anticipating an early exhaustion of the old half cent stamp, helped the thing along by quietly but assiduously buying in every copy in sight. As a consequence the stock ran down much faster than that of other values, and a few weeks ago orders were issued that no more were to be sold to the public, but that publishers entitled to the half cent rate should take their papers to the post-offices and there have the stamps affixed by the staff. Even that did not save the distance [_sic_]. I hear that in Montreal it was found necessary to use cent stamps to prepay the half cent rate.[143] Fortunately for the reputation of Canadian stamps, these stamps were not over-printed with new value, and we have been spared a surcharge. However, the postal authorities hurried forward the printing and circulation of the new issue, in that value at least, and it is an accomplished fact.

[142] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XII: 86.

[143] See page 156.

The next value to appear was the 6 cent, which was announced in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ under date of 4th December, 1897 as having been put in circulation. Following closely upon this came the 1, 2, 5 and 8 cent stamps, and in January, 1898 the 3 and 10 cent.

The new stamps were very simple in design, the central oval containing a portrait of Queen Victoria copied from a photograph by W. & D. Downey of London, taken at the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. CANADA POSTAGE and the value in words only appear in Egyptian capitals on the oval frame to the portrait, and each spandrel is occupied by a maple leaf. Much criticism was engendered by the fact that the portrait was too large for its frame, making the design appear cramped and thus giving a disappointing effect to what otherwise might have proved a most neat and effective stamp. [Illustration No. 36 on Plate II].

The stamps were as usual line engraved on steel, and printed on the same stout white wove paper that was employed for the Jubilee issue, as well as on a thinner and more brittle quality. The 5 cent, for the first time in Canadian philatelic history, appeared on a colored paper, the stock having a decidedly bluish tint. The perforation was the regulation gauge 12. But one irregularity seems to be known, and that is the 5 cents imperforate, a block of four of which we are able to illustrate as No. 112 on Plate X.

The sheet arrangement was intended to be the usual block of 100 impressions, ten by ten, but the Ottawa correspondent of the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ tells us that in the case of the 1/2 cent stamp the first plate was twice this size.

By some misunderstanding the contractors, the American Bank Note Co., set the sheet up with 200 stamps, and the first five hundred sheets were so printed. The sheets were afterwards cut in two through the imprint, and we have these half sheets with a close imperforated margin on either the left or right edge. Afterwards sheets of 100 stamps were issued, all the stamps perforated on all four sides. Plate number collectors will find the earliest sheets difficult to obtain. Both sheets bear the plate number 1.[144]

[144] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XII: 132.

The imprint on the sheets was the same as that on the Jubilee sheets, OTTAWA--No--1, etc., but instead of numbering the plates all consecutively, each denomination began its own series with "No 1." The imprint is placed in the top margin only, over the middle two stamps (5 and 6) of the top row. In the case of the 14 cent stamps each style of the first two plates was numbered "1". The plate of 200 impressions was arranged in ten horizontal rows of twenty stamps each, thus bringing the imprint over stamps 10 and 11 of the top row, and as it was between these that the large sheets were severed, the imprint was cut in two in the process. All the other values were made up in sheets of 100 only.

For the information of plate number collectors we give a list of such numbers as we have been able to ascertain.

1/2 cent, No. 1 (2 plates). 1 " Nos. 1, 2. 2 " Nos. 1, 2, 3. 3 " Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 5 " No. 1,. 6 " No. 1. 8 " No. 1. 10 " No. 1.

The quantity of each value issued before they were replaced by the stamps with numerals is stated to have been as follows:[145]--

1/2 cent 2,000,000 1 " 34,000,000 2 " 12,000,000 3 " 44,000,000 5 " 3,500,000 6 " 500,000 8 " 1,400,000 10 " 500,000

[145] =Metropolitan Philatelist=, X: 117.

A similar variation is found in the dimensions of these stamps to that occurring in the 7-1/2 d. and 10d. stamps and the issue of 1868, and has caused quite a little comment from those unfamiliar with this phenomenon. As much as 1/2 mm. in the vertical measurements can be found between many stamps. The cause is of course the uneven shrinking of the dampened paper when drying after being printed upon. This was fully discussed in an earlier chapter.[146] As the paper in the present instance is very similar in quality to that used for printing the United States stamps, in which the same peculiarity occurs, we will quote Mr. Melville's comment on the subject:[147]--

As we have said, the paper is impressed when damp.... This wetting-down business has another effect which has always puzzled philatelists. The wet paper is taken into a hot room to dry, and in drying it contracts. The contraction is not uniform and the philatelist in trying to prove the existence of more than one original die will pin his faith to the idea that if the varieties noticeable were due to contraction of the paper the contraction would be proportionate on all sides of the stamp. This is not the case however.

Paper, when absorbing moisture, expands more in one direction than the other. The direction of greater expansion is what is technically known as the "cross direction", and is the direction _across_ the flow of pulp in the paper making machine. During the flow of the pulp the bulk of the fibres lie parallel with the movement of the wire gauze, and it is a scientific fact that the diameter of a fibre is increased by absorption of water much more than is the length. The subsequent shrinking on drying also is uneven.

[146] See page 53 =et seq.=

[147] =United States Postage Stamps=, 1894-1910, page 16.

* * * * *

The Postmaster General's Report for 1897 says:--

The contract with the British American Bank Note Company expired on the 22nd April, 1897, and a contract was entered into with the American Bank Note Company for the manufacture and supply of postage stamps &c. An estimate of the probable ordinary requirements for the next fiscal year and the comparison based thereon between the old and the present rates show that, under the new contract, stamp supplies will cost the department, say, $10,000 per annum less than under the old contract, a reduction in outlay of about 20%.

It is also noted that during 1896-7 electric cancelling ("mail marking") machines were introduced, six of which were rented and installed in the Montreal Post Office and one at Ottawa.

The reduction in the domestic letter rate from 3 cents to 2 cents per ounce is forecasted, as well as a proposed reduction from 5 cents to 2 cents per 1/2 ounce on letters between Great Britain and many of her colonial possessions. This will be more thoroughly discussed later.

Concerning the postal changes we have been considering the report says:--

Owing to the change of contract for the manufacture and supply of postage stamps, a new series of stamps became necessary at the beginning of the present fiscal year. New stamps ranging in value from the 1/2 cent to the 10 cent denomination (inclusive) were printed, and the first supplies thereof sent out to postmasters as the corresponding denominations of the old stamps became exhausted. A considerable quantity of the higher values of that series (15 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents) remaining over from the late contract, these three stamps continued to be issued, so that the department, previous to the introduction of the same denominations in the new series, might, in accordance with the universal practice, dispose of the old stamps in each case before issuing any of the new. The design of the new stamps is of a uniform character, and consists of an engraved copy (reduced) of an authorized photograph of Her Majesty taken during the Diamond Jubilee year. This, placed within an oval bearing the usual inscriptions, is enclosed in a rectangular frame, a maple leaf on a lined ground occupying each of the triangular spaces between the two frames. To conform to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union, the colour of the new 1 cent stamp is green, and that of the 5 cents a deep blue. This necessitated corresponding changes in the colours of the other stamps of the new series; for example, purple, instead of green, being selected for the 2 cent denomination, and orange instead of slate for the 8 cent.

The special delivery system was also introduced, and will be treated of later.