M., when the answers were submitted to me.
These I read, corrected and signed. They were then referred to the
respective divisions for future guidance. Thereafter all inquiries
which had been so answered, were treated as routine business, and the
letters in reply were signed without inquiry by clerks or by myself.
Thus it happened that we were not often compelled to reverse our
rulings, and generally they were sustained by the courts.
Mr. S. M. Clark, then superintendent of the Bureau of Printing, was
greatly disappointed when I decided to reject all his designs for
stamps, and required him to introduce the likeness of Washington after
Stuart into each stamp. As far as I know, the internal revenue stamps
were never approved or criticized by the critics nor by the public.
After advertisement a contract was made with Messrs. Butler and
Carpenter, of Philadelphia, to furnish the stamps of all sizes, and
to meet the expense of the engraving, at the rate of thirteen cents
per thousand. In the year 1873 I received from Mr. Carpenter an album
which contained proof specimens of every internal revenue adhesive
stamp, public and private, engraved and printed, previous to March,
1873. This volume may contain the only complete collection of stamps
issued from the Internal Revenue Office previous to that year.
When we were about to make appointments of assessors, and of collectors
of internal revenue, Mr.
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