Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development
U.S. Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 4474 E
Washington, DC 20260-2437

Dear Sirs:

The year 2004 will mark the 150th anniversary of the development of self-governing American windmills--machines which subsequently were used throughout the United States and abroad to pump water, to assist with human work, and ultimately to generate electricity.

With this letter I would like to suggest that the U.S. Postal Service issue a commemorative stamp to mark this 150th anniversary. The date 1854 marks the year which Vermont-born Daniel Halladay invented and patented the first commercially successful self-governing American windmill. (Self-governing windmills controlled their own operation without constant human attention.) Halladay's invention and others based on similar principles came to be used by the tens of thousands. They constituted key elements of technology which permitted the settlement of the Midwest as well as the western two-thirds of the country, and they were used in all areas of the United States. During the twentieth century the idea of harnessing the wind expanded into the generation of electricity, showing the way to employing renewable sources of power into the 21st century.

The idea for a commemorative stamp marking the 150th anniversary of self-governing American wind machines satisfies all twelve of the criteria for CSAC stamp subject selection. The subject features an important American subject, well over ten years have passed since the last stamp related to the subject (1980), the anniversary is in the multiple of fifty years, and the event is of truly national appeal and significance. A stamp on the 150th anniversary of the development of the first successful self-governing American windmills will recognize a significant technological development which subsequently found application in countries around the world.

I earnestly request that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee consider approving a stamp in 2004 to recognize American windmills and their 150th anniversary.

Yours sincerely,