The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-12-14
AT Christmas play and make good cheer.
FOR Christmas comes but once a year

At Christmas play and make good cheer
For Christmas GENES but once year
rake your choice between this version and the
one used above. In any event the good cheer, IS
an elastic phrase and covers multitude of Joys
anu Hultltude OF activities as well. Why even
the few pictures used herewith suggest an almost
ehuiess chain OF Christmas cheer and Christmas
activities
Now, there's our dear old Uncle Samuel POST
master, for example. He's busy old gentleman
at all seasons of the year. for he runs the biggest
business In all the world. But at Christmas time!
You see, the dear old postmaster's official slogan
is, Deliver all Christmas mail by noon Deem
Der "a !"-
So Uncle SAM as postmaster, began last oc
tober TO get ready for the Christmas rush By
December he was all set and on his mark The
mail early campaigns of recent years have had
an appreciable effect upon the public and each sea.
son the professions to the post offices of the land
Degn little earlier. Possibly the campaigns
against careless wrapping have also had some eff
feet, but don't mention the subject, if you want
uncle postmaster to continue to look pleasant
Also, no matter how fervently you may wish for
white Christmas" don't let your Uncle know
about it. For the snow that gaddens your heart
means grief for Uncle Sam-the heavier the fall
the greater the grief Snow means delay in the
last-hour deliveries of mail and adds like every
thing to Uncles Christmas bill Two years ago
for motor vehicle transport alone
Yes Uncle Sam has Christmas bill-the same
as Dad. Extra space on the trains for the mails
costs him million Extra motor trucks
$5O0y000; extra clerks 81 100000; additional car
riers, S350000-these are some of the larger items
among the extras on his Christmas mail BILL Then
there are extra millions of money order blanks
extra millions Of stamps, miles of Irvine for re-
wrapping poory-ted packages, thousands of
square feet of emergency warehouse space and
hundreds of other kems However, Uncle Sam
has the satisfaction of doing a whopping big mail
business probably he takes in something like
$S000,000 more in December than in any other
month The American people-105, 100000 of them
certainly do rush their postmaster hard at
Christmas time
The boys with the Christmas trees live away ND
in the northeast of the United States
Buckport Center, Me. They were helping 10 load
car of trees and stopped minute ito have their
pictures took" And where do you suppose the
Christmas trees were going? Why all the way to
far-of Texas. And here's something to make one
do some thinking: 1t cost about 21a cents each
to cut and haul and lead those trees. The Texan
who bought one of them probably paid all of 49,
and maybe "a. No wonder the experts have much
to say about the middeman and the cost of dis
tribution. Maybe some day Uncle Sam will take
this Christmas tree business into his own hands
and furnish the trees for the whole country from
the national forests These national forests have
to be thnned out anyway in the practice of scien
tifc forestry. And this would save the denuding
of thousands Of acres Of private lands which need
the trees and the destruction of hundreds of thou
sands of young trees which should be saved for
the future needs of the people Our nationwide
use of Christmas trees and christmas green's" Is
fast despoiling woodlands The Wild Flower
Preservation Society of America, the Garden Club
of America and scores of affiliated organizations
unite in paraphrasng familiar quotation by say
ing our woodlands are being "butchered to make
Christmas holiday"
Just the same, the picture of the littl- Maine
boys with their Christmas trees sets the mind to