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THE CHICKEN STAMP CENTENNIALTHE CHICKEN STAMPOn September 9, 1948 a new postage stamp was released in New Haven, Connecticut honoring the 100th anniversary of the poultry industry. Generally referred to as %u201cthe chicken stamp,%u201d it could have been considered just another commemorative stamp%u2014although a rather quirky looking one. However, it turned out to be quite controversial, and was denounced by a number of vociferous critics THE SPONSORSA suggestion for a new postage stamp often comes from a member of the public who contacts the Post Office to promote their idea. And it isn%u2019t unusual for them to enlist the help of a Federal Representative or Senator. With the poultry stamp, this tried-and-true approach was followed, and letters were sent by poultry aficionados and their congressmen%u2014but without success. They were all politely rebuffed by the Post Office. That%u2019s when two individuals decided to bypass the standard approval process. They were Connecticut%u2019s Republican Congressman, Antonini N. Sadlak, who was a member of the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service; and Paul Ives, a poultry-industry representative, lobbyist, and editor of Cackle and Crow, a poultry-industry magazine.With his feathers duly ruffled, Ives maintained there was no reason not to honor Connecticut%u2019s $3.5 billion dollar poultry industry with a postage stamp. Toward that end, he enlisted the help of Sadlak, who made a proposal directly to Congress in mid-1947. Through their persistent efforts, Public Law 621 was drafted to compel the Post Office to create %u201ca special series of 3-cent postage stamps,%u201d which was signed into law by President Truman on June 12. In the end, only a single chicken stamp was produced, not a series.The new stamp was to honor 100 years of the poultry industry in America. But it was pointed out that chickens were brought to America by the earliest settlers. (Even Christopher Columbus had them on his ships, although he never actually landed on the Congressman Antonini Sadlak (left) and poultry-industry spokesman Paul Ives%u2014the two men who sponsored the postage stamp honoring the centennial of the poultry industry.