The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-04
THAT EARLY SHOPPING
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
TNFORMATIOE BUREAU
BY Frederic }. Haskin. Director.
Washington. d. C.

your morning mail and your evening
newspaper that ancient, oft-repeated
slogan, DO your Christmas shopping
early"
1t will then be too late. If you
really want to select your gifts instead
of just buying them, and If you want
them to arrive on time Instead OF
some time, begin laying your plans
now. This great annual American eX-
change of greetings, good will ana
general merchandise has grown TO
such gigantic proportions that the re-
tail stores and the post office depart
ment bump their heads against the
limitations of time, space and human
endurance in the effort to handle It.
If you go in for giving on a large
scale you must start while the Weath-
er is still warm to put them all across
before next year.
Mr.. NJ. o. Chance, the postmaster
of the city of Washington, is fully
aware OF these facts. He is probably
the only man in America who is lay
ing his plans for Christmas now. And
he is not planning any holiday either.
He is planning to handle multlpil-'
cation of his regular routine work by
nine or ten,
The amount of time and energy ex-
pended by the American people in
celebrating CHRISTMAS is something
stupendous They spend enough
money to float another liberty loan,
and enough energy to push the west
ern front back ten miles. The worst
of it is that a good deal of this money
and energy is wasted. A gift is fine
thing if it is carefully selected; II 1t
contains thought as we'll as money,
and is an expression of individuality.
But when you start out on the Satur-
day afternoon before Christmas to buy
your whole list Of presents, and find
long before you are done that the
stock, the salespeople and your own
patience and wind are exhausted CIV
ing becomes a bore and a diSappoint-
ment. Furthermore, unless the gift
is packed right and mailed early, the
chances are against its arriving on
time and in good shape if at all.
Christmas Preparedness Needs.
What Christmas preparedness needs
is what we are trying to give it right
now-namely, publicity. Mr.. Chance
has proved that. By a carefully pre-
pared publicity campaign last year,
which he will repeat with improve
ments this year. he actually advanced
the average mailing date for Christ
mas mail originating in Washington
by three days. This enabled him to
get his outgoing Christmas mail out of
the way before the incoming tons and
legionS of gifts and greetings arrived.
1t is fairly obvious that the federal
postoffice department should conduct
a publicity campaign for Christmas
preparedness. But it has never done
more than send out a few suggestions
for postmasters, and those last year
arrived too late to do much good. The
postoffice department has no appro-
priation for a nationwide campaign of
publicity, and that is one all-sufficient
reason why it has never made one.
Mr. Chance has sent outlines of his
| own publicity campaign to the fifty
largest postoffices in the country, and
last year many of them followed his
lead This year he expects more of
| them to do so, and he has also OBJ
tanned the right to use ten thousand
biilboards in all parts of the United
States for advertising Christmas pre-
I paredness.
One of the most effective of Mr..
Chances publicity methods was to
persuade the public, school officials to
| let the boys in Washington high
schools write essays on how the
Christmas mail difficulty might be
met. This gave the boys a chance to
exercise their ingenuity and executive
ability. and some of them made sug-
| geStionS of which the postoffice was
able to make use. Then boys who
| had written essays were given first
call on the several hundred positions
as assistants for the Christmas work.
Many of them took the jobs and they
proved to be the most intelligent and
willing of the emergency employees.
Sending Christmas Mail.
| Another feature of the publicity
| campaign was a series of cards which
were mailed to every house in Wash
| ington,- wishing the inmates a happy
| Christmas, and telling them how and
| when to post their Christmas mail.
The first of these cards, mailed De-
| cember 2, simply urged the citizen to
do his shopping and mail early, allow
| ing the parcel at least three or four
| days more to reach its destination
|
card, mailed on the ninth, gave the
| household a schedule of dates, show
| ing when to mail parcels for differ
! ent sections of the country. Thus
parcels for California and the far
| west had to be mailed not later than
the sixteenth, while those for local
distribution could be mailed as late
as the twenty-first. The last card, on
the sixteenth, again urged early mail
ing, and advised marking packages
| Don't open till Christmas"
AS stated above, the efficacy of this
campaign was proved by the fact that
the average mailing date was adj
| vanced about three days. The pack
| ages began to come in early in the
month, and by the middle of the
month were received in considerable
| volume. A large part of Washington
Christmas outgoing mail was out OF
| the way before Christmas day, and the
! employees were able on that day to
cream up lliS last VI the lhCOliiHS
OF course they had to work hard to
do it. But Christmas always means
hard work for postal employees. They
regularly work from twelve to four
teen hours a day for several days
and altho they are paid overtime for
the extra work, that is no compensa-
ton for a Christmas spent away from
home at bacR>breaking toll OF
course extra employees are called in
by the hundred, but there is a limit tc
what an unframed man can do in a
postoffice.
Christmas in Camps
The Christmas situation this year il
going to be complicated by the num-
Der of soldiers and near-soldiers ir
training camps, environments and
abroad, who are sure to be heavily
showcred with Christmas gifts Ev.