Charity or welfare stamps

Abstract

It is unfortunately not known who was the first person to come out with the idea to use stamps not only for the franking of letters and other postal articles but also, at the same time, to afford a measure of social help. It is indeed a pity that the name of this person has remained unknown. The inventor of this splendid idea would have certainly deserved a monument to his memory, although he himself would have surely had no notion of the immense usefulness his charitably-motivated idea would have later been to social help, especially after it had gathered momentum and become so widely diffused throughout the world as we see it today. [excerpt]