Before the days of e-mail, brief messages were sent by post cards, and the Post Office Department loved them.
An October 16, 1907, Dallas Morning News article stated "Every souvenir post card mailed in the United States is helping to wipe out the deficit in the Post Office Department. The average cost to the Government to handle and transport mail is about 8¢ a pound. It requires 120 post cards to weigh a pound. As each card requires 1¢ postage, the Government receives $1.20 a pound for carrying the cards, a profit of $1.12 a pound. On letter mail the Government makes a profit of about 70¢ a pound, while on books it loses 4¢ a pound, and on newspapers and magazines it loses 7¢ a pound. The book and newspaper mail causes the deficit. The postcards are pulling the department out of the hole.
No count of the souvenir cards mailed in the United States in one day has ever been made, but the total is estimated to be about 2,000,000 a day, which means $20,000 a day for 1¢ stamps added to the receipts of the postoffice. Technically, there is a difference between postal cards and post cards. The former are the cards prepared by the Government with the stamp engraved on the card. The post cards are the cards prepared by private persons, and to which an ordinary stamp must be affixed. While the post card is of much later origin, it has become a fad and has driven the postal almost into oblivion."
With the advent of the camera, a new business was spawned in making and selling post cards. The ubiquitous camera was responsible for spreading the post card fad into rural areas. The sale of blank photo post cards that were cut to the required size and had the necessary printing on the face to insure acceptance by mail at the one cent rate were enormous. The other side was sensitized and ready to receive any photograph. Local photographers in every town had a stock of pictures of local churches, the court house, the local soldiers monument and other local landmarks. He sold them at his studio and left a supply for sale at the drug store or post office.
In addition to picture post cards that contained an actual photo on one side, others were mass-printed on presses. The difference is obvious when you see one. The true photo post card contains a photo that looks like any other you have seen. In order to be printed and retain their gray scale, lithographed photographs had to first be screened. Screening breaks the photograph into tiny dots with white space between them. If you look closely, you can see the dots.
Later, as color photography and four color offset color printing was developed, full color post cards came into being. Using the four color process, full color photographs containing thousands of shades of colors could be obtained. Improvements in presses allowed for the use of finer screens, so while the dots were still there, they were much smaller and the finished product very closely resembled an actual photograph.
Photo post cards were used both as souveniers to say "I was there" and as business advertisements. The Alps Cafe used to have a rack of several designs with their photo or a drawing of the building on the front. You can still find them occasionally on e-Bay for $5-$10.
On the following pages we will show post cards featuring Titus County scenes and businesses.
Please contact us if you have others. We would like to scan them so we can eventually show all of the cards that once featured Titus County.
Click a blue link below or on the menu above to see more Titus County Post Cards:
