The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-11-01

been promulgated after a series of
conferences by the Adjutant General
of the War Department, the Post Of
flee Department and the American
Red Cross:
Tine War Department authorizes
relatives of officers and soldiers in
france to send Christmas packages
which will be of standard size and
weight, one to each individual in the
American Expeditionary Force
I'm order to insure the limitation
OF one package per man, which in it.
self will consume a very large amount
of tonnage, a plan has been worked
out by which General Pershing is
distributing to members of his COM
mand coupons on which are fnscrib-
cd the correct names and addresses
of the members of the American Elk
peditionary Force. These labels will
serve as address labels for the pack
ages. The coupons or labels will be
mailed by the members of the Amer
1can Expeditionary Force direct to
the persons they wish to designate as
senders of packages and no package
will be forwarded without such a cou-
pom. 1t is expected that the labels
will be received in this country by
November 1.
3-On receiving a Christmas pack
age label the person to whom it has
been sent should present it at the
nearest chapter, branch or auxiliary
headquarters of the Red Cross where
he will receive a pasteboard carton
8 x 4 9 inches in size. The Red
Cross is to allOt boxes to it's chap
ters, based on the number of men in
service from each community. It is
expected that these will be ready for
distribution by November 1.
q. Boxes may be filled with any
combination Of articles except those
on the list barred by postal officials.
Prohibited articles are all intoxicat-
ing liquors, all inflammable material,
including friction matches and any
composition likely to ignite or ex-
plode, Cigarette lighters come under
this classification, liquids and FRA
gile articles improperly packed. I'm
der postal regulations no note or
message or written matter Of any kind
will be permitted to remain in the
boxes. In addition to the list of pro-
hibited articles, relatives and friends
of the soldiers are urged to bear
these facts in mind when preparing
Christmas parcels:
PerishabIe Goods Barred
Do not put anything in the pack
age which will not keep fresh until
Christmas.
Pack dried fruits and other food
products in small tin or wooden box
es. Give preference to hard candy
over chocolates unless the latter are
enclosed in heavy wrappers Soft
chocolates are easily crushed and may
spoil other contents.
Do not put articles packed in glass
in the package.
Gifts should be wrapped in KHAKI.
colored handkerchief 27 inche:
square.
5-The weight wrapped should no
exceed three pounds; unwrapped tho
weight may be approximately two
pounds fifteen ounces. Parcels may
bear inscriptions such as ."Please dc
not open until Christmas" Merry
Christmas" Happy New Year,
with Best Wishes" and the like.
6-When the box is packed il
should be taken unwranped and un'
sealed to the nearest collection cen
ter indicated by the Red Cross to.
gether with the address label and suf-
ficient stamps to carry it by parce
post to Hoboken, New Jersey. After
' the package has passed the inspec.
ton of Red Cross representatives a;
to contents and weight and has beer
wrapped in stout paper, the Christ
mas label bearing the address of the
i ,1ls,,
ed on it. The person sending the
package in the presence of the Rec
Cross worker is required to affiX the
stamps which will carry it to Hobok
en-! A label certifying that inspec
ton has been completed by the Rec
Cross is placed on the package which
is left in the custody Of the Red eros
until delivery to the postal authori
ties.
Nov. 20 Last Day
mo package will be accepted 70
transmittal after November goth
A question has been raised concern
ing the sending of Christmas pack
ages to men in the service who hav
no relatives or friends to whom the
wish to send these coupons. 1t wa
suggested that such men send thei
coupons to the Red Cross, which il
turn would give American. citizen
without relatives overseas an pppoT
tunity to contribute to Christina
boxes. In this matter the Red eros
has ruled as follows with the con
currence of the War Departments
This has been discussed with
member of the War Council ard yer
carefully considered from all point
of view and it is believed that
would be impracticable to undertake
the collection and distribution {
these parcels. In the first place, Their
is no way of estimating the numbe
of such parcels that would be requir
ed It has been suggested that tn
parcels contributed by the Red Cros
members for general distribute
might be sent only to those soldier
who would turn back their mailin
labels to the Red Cross, but tn
again would leave a number of me
without the Christmas package be
ca1se many of them would not car
to use their label in this way whel
in the first place, they had no fan
lily or friend to whom to send it. W
have also the feeling that a Chris
mas packet containing little of ir
trinsic value would lose much of Il
Significance If received from the Re
Cross or from some unknown perso
rather than from the family
friends.
There are some further compiled
lions introduced in organizing fc
the collection and distribution of tn
parcels which would tend to compl
cate what is already rather difficu
act Of operation to get accomplish
ed within the time available.
1.-THE Red Cross abroad Is prepal