The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1921-12-02
Postmaster Generals Christmas Mes
sas to the Boys and Girls

sas to the Boys and Girls
All school teachers are requested to
read this message to their pupils on
M day, December 5th.
To the boys and girls of the United
States:
Your great Post Office Department
has big job ahead and needs your help.
Think what it means to be Santa Claus
to our 100, 100000 people and to deliver
Christmas parcels to every family in
this great country within the short
space of few days and without dis
appointment.
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 ibthe schools of our
country in getting parcels mailed this
week to relieve the rush that comes
directly before Christmas.
Will you go home to-day and take
this message to your parents and
friends:
"Our postmaster has asked US to
mail our Christmas parcels This Week,
forunless we do, Uncle Sans load may
be so heavy the last few days before
Christmas that he won't be able to
deliver all the presents by Christmas
eve"
l>o
and tied and addressed plainly in order
that they may arrive in good condition
with their Christmasy appearance I'm
spoiled. You can put on your pack
ages, EDO not open until Chris tmas. +"
And. there must be a number On
your house and mail receptacle, too.
for, if there isn't Santa Claus's mes
senger, your letter carrier, may not be
able to find the house where the pres
ent belongs.
There are some other things, too, in
which you can all assist IN improving
the mail service and in saving our
great Government millions of dollars
year that is now wasted because of
our carelessness-yours and mine.
Every day that you drop letter in
the mail box 10000, 900 other letters
are already pushing and jamming
through the postal machinery. One
letter day for each family of five per-
sons 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 s, 100000 other parcels ahead of
yours passing through the postal hop
per. This is in ordinary dave; al Christ
mas time it is multiplied ny times.
You boys and girls ca p the Pos
tai Service aid save yor. father some
money, e he has to help pay the
cost Of ng addresses on letters
and pa, out by this one care
less AM 4ghtless family in every
ten.
First find out if your family is the
careless one, then bear in mind that
your letters must be handled by skilled
mail dis tributors standing in postoffices
and on swaying postal cars of mile-a-
minute mail trains, often under poor
light.
The address on very letter. card, or
package must be correct, complete,
and legible, including the house num-
: Der and name of street, and the ''F'rom'
address should be in the upper left
hand corner so that the mail will be re-
turned to you in case it is not delivered.
Do not abbreviate names of States, be-
cause so many look alike when abbrev-
lated.
Put the proper amount of postage on
your letter and wrap the parcels care
fully Avoid fancy writing, which
ccauses post-ofiee clerks and letter
arriers 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 en-
velopes, so as to save the eyes of the
post office clerks. Do not use envel =
opes of unusual size The little ones
that are so frequently used for cards
and notes at Christmas and other holl-
day times cause an untold amount of
trouble and labor, as they will not fit
our canceling machines and must there
fore be cancelled by hand. Because of
their size and tendency to slip out of a
package. these small envelopes are
more likely TO be overlooked or lost.
Your local postmaster and your
teachers will tell you more about about
the Postal Service.
Do those things. and you will win the
grateful appreciation of the people in
in your post office and especially of
Your Postmaster General.