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Future U.S. Stamp Sought for Mayor, Miners

For more than a year, there has been a steady campaign to honor the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington with a postage stamp - possibly a future installment in the Black Heritage series.

Last year, the Illinois legislature voted to declare April 15 'Harold Washington United States Commemorative Stamp Day, and urge all citizens of Illinois . . . to write to the United States Postal Service Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee urging them to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of Mayor Harold Washington.'

Also, since 1986, the United Mine Workers of America has been campaigning for a stamp honoring the nation's coal miners.

Last year the 240,000-member union's campaign got a boost when Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao added her support to that of members of Congress from coal-producing states - Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Penn.) - to call for such a commemorative stamp.

>From the 1898 50¢ Trans-Mississippi commemorative to a 1999 33¢ California Gold Rush commemorative, a number of U.S. commemoratives have hailed the various historic rushes for precious metals, which had limited lasting impact beyond the lives of those who took part in them.

By contrast, few American lives are not directly affected by the coal industry and the electricity and byproducts created from coal, but the only coal-related U.S. stamp to date is the 1988 13.2¢ Coal Car coil.