The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-12-04
CHRISTMAS MAIL
SHOULD co EARLY
Day Before Holiday is Sun
day and No Mail Is Deliv-
cred That Day
COMPLETE ADDRESS
ALSO is IMPORTANT
insufficient Postage Causes Unnecessary
Delay = Rule Prohibiting Seals on
Address Side of Domestic Matter Sus-
pended

Address Side of Domestic Matter sus-
pended
The postal authorities call attention
TO one very important thing in con
neetion with Christmas. 1t is that
Christmas comes this year on Monday
ana that there is no delivery of mail
| Sunday
In most families Christmas eve is
almost as important a date as Christ
mas day itself. Christmas trees are
trimmed and presents for the little folk
| are arranged on Christmas eve. Unless
| Christmas presents are sent a day or
| two earlier than usual this year many
! intended for little ones Christmas trees
viii be missing just after daylight
| Christmas morning.
Everyone knows that the mail ear
riers are loaded to the limit for a week
| before Christmas day; that teams and
! automobiles and extra men are pressed
| into service TO aid in the distribution
| dition to the regular mails.
| Packages and letters mailed so as to
| arrive in some town under ordinary
! circumstances a day or two before a
certain date in all probability will not
reach their destination on the Saturday
before Christmas because of the tre-
mendous increase in the mails at that
| time and the inability of the clerks to
| distribute them and the carriers to
| handle them
This means that the postoffices will
| be packed to the ceilings Friday and
Saturday and that the carriers will dis
tribute all they possibly can on those
| days and will then wait until Monday
christmas day-when they make only
one delivery. They will be unable to
| take out that morning all of the let
ters and parcels waiting distribution
and many little ones will be disappoint-
ed, for Christmas present that is not
on hand Christmas morning hardly
seems like a Christmas present
This all means that what presents
one has to send out through the mail
should be sent days ahead of the date
Of their probable receipt. Not only
should they be mailed early for the
| reason given but because of the fact
that true Christmas spirit will lend all
possible aid to the postal employees in
having 9 little Christmas holiday
themselves
Another very important matter is the
proper and eompleta addressing of ev-
ery piece of mail matter sent out and
the secure fastening of packages. In
the rush and hurry of trying to handle
several times the ordinary amount of
mail matter in given time improp-
ery addressed or ineompletely ad.
dressed packages and letters do not aid
the tired postal clerks and carriers.
Be sure that sufficient postage is on
each letter and package. insufficient
postage only holds up the progress OF
the article through the mails and causes
unnecessary trouble. Parcels may be
marked Not to be opened unit
Christmas" and thus insure their in
spection at the desired time only
For some time the order that stickerS
and adhesive seals other than Lawful
, postage stamps shall not be used on the
, address side of domestic mail matter
, has been in effect, but a recent ruling
of the postmaster general has sus
pended this order between December !
, 1916, and January l, 1917, in order tt
hold up as little as possible of the do
mestlc mali matter.
, Christmas seals should be placed OF
some other part of the package thar
the address side, to be on the safe side
Packages addressed to many of the for
1 eign countries are not acceptable unde1
the laws of those countries if they have
other than the address and Lawful
postage on the address side. It should
5 be remembered that packages and let
ters even for the domestic mails which
bear other than postage stamps on tht
address side are treated as unmailablC
except during the holiday season.
A recent circular to postmasters from
the office of the first assistant post
master geenral treats of improperly ad
dressed mail.
The delivery of letters, says the cir
cular, especially in the large cities, il
frequently delayed and often made i'm
possible by the omission of an impor
tant part of the address, such as thu
street number, or room number wher
addressed to an office building. Anothel
source of trouble is the practice of Civ
ing an address at the intersection o.
two streets without giving the location
OF the corner, for In some large cite
a large number of the carrier route
may terminate at the point designated
or it may be the dividing line between
the respective territories of the mair
postoffice and station or between tw,
stations, and in the absence of the no
tation I" \. E.. or n W. etc, tn,
distributors are unable to determine t,
which carrier the mail should b,
| thrown.