Class of 1924
If any of you wonder whether issuing new stamps is a racket, or a regular business heartily indulged in by laymen and the government together, read the following:
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGYDARTMOUTH COLLEGEHANOVER, N. H.
"To answer your question about theWebster I½ cent stamp, one of which Iam using on this letter, I had absolutelynothing to do with the design of that stamp.I was the active agent (catalytic almost) inprocuring the stamp, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving did the art work. Thestory, briefly, is as follows (it is going to bepublished in a stamp paper, but that won't,interest you):
"When the celebrations for Websterwere announced, the local postmasterchatted to me about the possibilities ofgetting a stamp to help celebrate andallowed that he had written Moses to thateffect. And there he dropped it. I followedit up later and pressed the matter withMoses—for you must have pull to get suchthings. He answered in optimistic note,and eventually told me the matter wassettled; we got the stamp on October 24,and the country got it a day later.
"The art work I did engineer (my dadis a retired teacher of drawing and an exarchitect), as illustrated by the sampleattached to this letter. It is known as acachet, and is applied to letters mailed onthe first day of sale of the new commemorativestamp, which was sold one dayearlier in three cities with which Websterwas intimately associated—Franklin (Salisbury then) for birth, Exeter for prep days,and Hanover for college. The cachet differsfor each city, and each was designed andsponsored by local groups. I should saythat these cacheted 'first day covers' have apremium over the stamp itself either on oroff envelope (cover) with any other datecancellation. But that is part of the collecting 'racket.'
"The design is a modification of a famousdrawing done in 1803 by a lad then a13-year-old sophomore (sic), who later became famous—George Ticknor. As Webstergraduated in 1801, this drawing showedthe College at a contemporary time, andhence was very appropriate. I merely putthe essential parts into an elliptical form,added the lettering, which told why Hanoover should have first day of sale privileges, and that Webster was a Dartmouthalumnus. Hence the purpose of a cachetis to tell the story of the stamp and itspremier use.
"I guess that tells the story. The onlyway I can account for the rumor that Idesigned the stamp is that I applied thecachet to 200 letters which Ford Whelden '25 sent to me. with a. letter re Webster tothe Detroit alumni. "CHINCE ALLEN."
The name of Bob Hall's youngster has been discovered, announced as missing in the last issue. Robert Barlow Hall Jr., and he was born last December 26.
Harry Stockwell, who recently returned to Chicago and who promptly attended the Dartmouth weekly luncheon, is with the Civic Federation and Bureau of Public Efficiency, 160 N. LaSalle St., Chicago. He classifies his work as governmental
research. El Dickinson is back in Boston with the National Shawmut Bank, and living at 53 Morseland Ave., Newton Center.
We hereby introduce what we hope will be the first of a series of pictures of offspring, wives, or the father himself. Ax says that the enclosed is a picture of a candidate for Dartmouth, but has been unable to ascertain whether he inherits his father's or mother's mental capacity as yet. He is eight months old and was born June 20, 1932.
Lyme Thompson with his wife looked in on Ax around Christmas time. He is now back in Minneapolis with E. B. Morint and Company, and according to Ax looks more virile than ever without any visible blight of the depression on his life. Ax further predicts that if they use bad checks for money in 1934, a few of the Chicago gang will be all set for the Tenth Reunion. In fact he personally doesn't intend to miss it at any cost.
If you would like to get a first-hand opinion of the Chinese-Japanese situation Red Newell gives it in the following letter:
"Hong Kong, China,"Jan. 16, 1933.
"My news efforts seem fated to deal onlywith 'l,' and here's another of them. Sofar as I've been able to determine thereare no other Dartmouth men in the locality, i.e., Hong Kong and Canton. Winterhas visited us here—it was 40 degrees abovezero last night—and it seems strange to beclimbing into dark clothes and a topcoatagain after two years of whites in Singapore. Wonder what a Hanover winterwould do to me now?
"Little to report from the activity side.The days are too short at this season topermit much outdoor stuff during theweek. Manage to fit in a few sets of tennisover week-ends arid have practically givenup golf, as it takes an hour and a half toreach the Fan Ling lay-outs. The variousshort courses on the island aren't muchfun, and play once a week isn't enoughfor my shaky game.
"Hong Kong has been one of the lastplaces to run into the depression in a bigway, but we're feeling it now. We're doingwith less officers (there are now ten of uson deck) and working plenty, with resultsbecoming more and more discouraging.Even at that, I guess we are pretty luckycomparatively, and there is little kick coming when we look about at the sorry messeselsewhere. The Manchurian War is thechief snag at the moment, as it has beenvirtually a stoppage in Japanese trade, thathas always been a big factor in Far Easternbusiness.
"It looks to us as though Japan is ridingfor a heavy fall, unless either she or Chinabacks down—which doesn't appear verylikely right now. The Japs are practicallysunk financially, and I can't see where theycan raise any more foreign loans. TheirShanghai stunt was a big mistake andlined up the rest of the world against them.I think they could have copped off Manchuria fairly easily, but for that. We havefour branches and substantial investmentsin Japan, so we're naturally hoping to seethis messing about cleaned up before something goes smash.
"All of which isn't much news, and Iapologize for this weak dispatch. I'd bewilling to take a chance on all varieties ofchills to be back for Carnival! Enjoyed thelast issue of the Notice.
RED."
John Hobbs Coffin Mental capacity not ascertained
Secretary, 7 Harvard St., Worcester, Mass.
1782-DANIEL WEDSTEA-1932 "OLD DARTMOUTH" IN "WEASTER'S TIMECLASS OF 120l DARTMOUTH COIU«E,KWWEFT,N.H.
