Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1921-12-09
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
FROM POST OFFICE DEPT.
OFFICE OF THE
POSTMASTER GENERAL

A'O'cAAh0l i . q
To the Boys and Girls of the United
States:
Christmas is almost here.
Your great post office department
has a big job ahead and needs your
help.
Think what it means to be Santa
Claus to our 1oO,0OO,OOO people and
to deliver Christmas parcels to every
family in this great country within
the short space of a few days and
without disappointment.
1t can be done, and we're going to
do it if we may have your help. l
want to enlist the active assistance of
every boy and girl in the schools Of
our country in getting parcels mailed
THIS WEEK to relieve the rush that
comes directly before Christmas.
viii you so home today and take
this message to your parents and
friends:
Our postmaster has asked us to
mail our Christmas parcels THIS
WEEK, for, unless we do, Uncle
Sam $ load may be so heavy the last
few days before Christmas that he
won't be able to deliver all the pres
ents by Christmas eve"
The parcels must be well wrapped
and tied and addressed plainly in
order that they may arrive in good
condition with their Christmasy ap-
pearance unspoiled. You can put on
your packages, do not open until
Christmas"
And, there must be a number on
your house and mail receptacle,
too, for, if there isn't, Santa Claus
messenger, your letter carrier, may
not be able to find the house where
the present belongs.
There are some other things, too,
in which you can all assist in improv-
ing the mail service and in saving our
great government millions of dollars
a year that's now wasted because of
our carelessness-yours and mine.
Every day you drop letter in the
mail box 100000 other letters are
already pushing and tanning
through the postal machinery. One
letter a day for each family of five
persons in the United States is given
to Uncle Sam to deliver.
When you send parcel to the post
office for mailing any day there are
about 100000 other parcels ahead
of yours passing through the postal
hopper. This is in ordinary days;
at Christmas time it is multiplied
many times.
One family i'll about every 10 puts
badly addressed letter in the mail
every day. This mixes up over q
100000 half addressed letters with
100000 fully addressed letters.
That means that the fully addressed
letters must wait on the slow moving
poorly addressed letters just like the
larger boys and girls are delayed by
bunch of bad kids" tagging along.
You boys and girls can help the
postal service and save your fathers
some money, because he has to help
pay the cost of searching addresses
on letters and parcels sent out by
this one careless and thoughless fam
lily in every 10.
First find out if your family is the
careless one, then bear in mind that
your letters must be handled by
skilled mail distributors standing in
post offices and on swaying postal
cars of a mile-a-minute mail trains,
often under poor light.
The address ON every letter, card,
or package must be correct, complete
and legible, including the house num-
Der and name of street, and the
From" address should be in the up
per left-hand corner SO that the mail
will be returned to you in case it is
not delivered. Do not abbreyiate
names of states, because so many
look alike when abbreviated.
Put the proper amount of postage
on your letters and wrap the parcels
carefully. Avoid fancy writing,
which causes post office clerks and
letter carriers to stop and study, and
thus lose time Make the address
plain and easily read, and always use
pen and ink or typewriter and light
colored envelopes, so as to save the
eyes of the post office clerks. DO
not use envelopes of unusual size.
The little ones that are so frequently
used for cards and notes at Christ
mas and other holiday times cause
an untold amount of trouble and la
Dor, as they win not fit our cancel
ling machines and must therefore be
cancelled by hand. Because OF their
/ size and tendency to slip out OF