Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-11-28
VA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2S
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
Office of the Postmaster General,
Washington, Nov. %, 1921.

! Washington, NOV. Y, 1S2 l.
To the Boys and Girls of the United
/ States:
(Postmasters should deliver this
message OF have it presented to the
school authorities so that it may. be
read in the public schools Monday
December 5, and published, without
cost, in local newspapers, if posslble)
/! Christmas is almost here.
| Your great postoffice department
has a big Job ahead and needs your
help.
Think what it means to be Santa
Claus to our 100,000,0O0 people and
to deliver Christmas parcels to every
| family in this great country within
/ the short space of few days ana
without disappointment.
It 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 III getting parcels
mailed this week to relieve the rush
, that comes directly before Christmas.
Will you go home today and take
this message to your parents and
friends:
"Our postmaster has asked us to
mail our Christmas parvels this week.
for, unless 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."
The parvels must be we'll 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 number on
YOUR house and a mail receptacle, too,
for, if there isn't, Santa Claus's
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 i'm
proving the mail service and IN say.
ing our great government millions OF
dollars year that is now wasted be-
cause of our carelessness-yours and
mine.
Every day that you drop a letter
in the mail box 40,000,000 letters are
already pushing and jamming through
the postal machinery. One letter
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 in about every ten puts
a badly addressed letter in the mail
every day. This mixes up over 2
100000 half addressed letters with the
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 father
some money, because he has to help
pav the cost of searching addresses on
letters and parcels sent out by this
one careless and thoughtless 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 skill
ed mail distributors standing in post
offices and on swaying postal cars Of
a mile-a-minute mail trains, often un-
der 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 upper left
hand corner SO that the mail will be
returned to you in case it is not de-
livered. Do not abbreviate 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 postoffice clerks and
letter carriers to stop ann study. and
thus lose time. Make the address
pen and ink or typewriter and light
plain and easily read, and always use
colored envelopes. so as to save the
eyes of the postoffice clerks. Do not
use envelopes of unusual size. The
little ones that are so frequently used