The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-12-12

Take your choice between this version and the
one used above. In any event the good cheer Is
an elastic phrase and covers a multitude of lows
and a multitude of activities as well. Why, even
the few pictures used herewith suggest an almost
endless chain of Christmas cheer and Christmas
activities.
Now, there's our dear old Uncle Samuel Post
master, for example. He's a 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 24l"
SO Uncle Sam, as postmastes, began last Dc
tober to get ready for the Christmas rush. By
December l 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 lani
begin a 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.
I Also, no matter how fervently you may wish foi
a white Christmas don't let your Uncle know
about it. For the snow that gladdens your heart
means grief for Uncle Sam-the heavier the fall,
the greater the grief. Snow means delay in the
last-hour deliveries of mall and adds like every
thing to Uncle's Christmas bill. Two years ago a
snow in New York City cost him 100000 extra
for motor vehicle transport alone.
Yes; Uncle Sam has a Christmas bllI-the same
as Dad. Extra space on the trains for the mails
costs him a million or so. Extra motor trucks,
100000; extra clerks. S1.O00y000; additional car
riers, S350,000-thes 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 poorly-tied packages. thousands of
square feet of emergency warehouse space and
hundreds of other items. However, Uncle Sam
has the satisfaction of doing a whopping big mail
business; probably he takes in something like
$S,000,000 more in December than in any other
month. The American people-105, 0o0,O 600 of them
certainly do rush their postmaster hard at
Christmas time.
The boys with the Christmas trees live away I'D
in the northeast corner of the United States
Buckport Center, Me. They were helping to load
a car of trees and stopped a minute "to 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: It cost about q. cents each
to cut and haul and load those trees. The Texan
vino bought one of them probably paid all of SO,
and maybe "a. No wonder the experts have much
to say about the middleman 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 thinned out anyway In the practice of scien-
INC 1OfeStTH. Ahu lHiS Wuulu save the ueuuuiub
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 our woodlands. The Wild Flower
Preservation Society of America, the Garden Club
Of America and scores of affiliated organizations
unite In paraphrasing a familiar quotation by say
ing our woodlands are being "butchered to make a
Christmas holiday"
Just the same, the picture of the little Maine
boys with their Christmas trees sets the mind to