The machine referred to is shown in Fig. 25. In operation, the mail is gathered and placed on the rack shown at the top of the machine, with the flap of each envelope overlapping the one next to it. The operator, taking a bunch of about twenty-five envelopes from the rack, holds them lightly against the feed rolls at the left of the machine. The automatic feed separates the envelopes, permitting only one at a time to pass its flap over a metal disc which revolves in water. As the envelope is advanced, the stamps are fed forward, cut off, moistened, and rolled upon the passing envelope. The stamps used in the machine are put up in continuous-ribbon form, wound on a reel, there being 3000 stamps on a reel. Until the government supplies stamps in this form, they are being supplied by the manufacturers, who have arranged with the government to make them to their order. =Letter-Printing Machines.= The present extensive use of circular or form letters is made possible by the use of letter-printing machines. To write all of the letters on a typewriter is out of the question, owing to the cost. Consequently, concerns doing any considerable circularizing have resorted to imitation typewritten letters. [Illustration: Fig. 26. The Multigraph Cylinder Printing Machine _American Multigraph Sales Co._] For many purposes letters bring better results than printed circulars, but without the personal touch--unless the recipient is made to feel that the letter was written to him--a letter loses its force. This fact makes the ordinary printed letter ineffective. An imitation typewritten letter makes the personal appeal possible; if it is printed from typewriter type in a color that matches the ribbon of the machine, the name and address can we filled in, and it will look like a typewritten letter. Many printers have learned to produce satisfactory letters of this character and, within the last few years, several printing machines, designed for office use, have been put on the market. These machines are adaptations of the printing-press idea. Letters are set up as they would be for a printing press, typewriter type being used; but instead of printing from ink applied directly to the type, the letters are printed through a large typewriter ribbon. Ribbons of the same kind are used on the typewriter for filling in names and addresses, which insures a perfect match. One of these machines will print from 1000 to 2500 letters an hour. [Illustration: Fig. 27. Multi-Copy Typewriter. _Multi-Copy Typewriter Co._]