The Glenwood post., 1923-10-25
Uncle Ted'S Bed Time Stories
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-ups, Too
UNCLE SAM SANTA c1AUs's AIDE

"You sure are in hurry to start
talking about what you want Santa
Claus to bring you,' said Jack.
81 don It see why" answered Ruth.
81 want to be sure he gets my letter.
l know lots of things I want Any
how, if l wait too long he might not
get the letter, then he wouldn't know
what 1 want"
''I never did understand how he gets
our letters anyway said Jack.
"Do you really want to know?"
spoke up Uncle Ted from behind his
evening paper.
''You bet we do,' said Jack.
"An right, III tell you secret.
Who Santa Claus s right-hand man
really is. He is none other than our
old friend Uncle Sam, that big fellow
with the Red, White and Blue suit and
high hat who looks after all our vari-
Gus government branches in Washing
ton or wherever they may be. One of
his biggest Jobs is to run the largest
single business in the world, the postal
system that handles $4,000, 100000 ar
ticles of mail matter every year, of
which 12,000,000,000 pieces are letters
like the ones you send to Santa Claus.
Uncle Sam has several big men as as
sistants in his work and one of the
biggest is Harry S. New, the postmaster
general, whose job it is to see that this
great big business is run properly.
"Already Mr.. New and his assist
ants are getting in touch with st.
Nicholas so that they will have a di-
rect line to his home in the ice-bound
regions of the north. This is neces-
sary so that your letters and the hun
dreds of letters from all the other lit
tie boys and girls will reach him by
train, boat, airplane and dog train,
long before he leaves his home of snow
and ice. Mr.. New is giving orders
now to set all the postal machinery in
motion so that the jolly fat man will
arrive with n smie and none of his
presents will be delayed The work of
getting all these lettrs to Santa Claus
in time so that when his prancing rein.
deer are ready to start for our house
tops, his bags will carry the right pres
ents, is only a small part of the work
Mr.. New must direct. When I talked
with him not long ago he showed me
several letters from little boys and
girls asking him to get in touch with
Santa, and he said that would do all
in his power to see that each and
every one is delivered in plenty of
time.
1.-TWO or three years ago the Christ
mas mail was SO large that it was
something to talk and wonder about.
But today, kiddies, the daily mail
handled by the postoffice department
is as large as the Christmas mail was
only three years ago What is the
longest distance You can think of,
JACKIE acked Uncle Ted.
81 guess I'd say clear around the
world would be the longest way I
could think off, answered Jack.
wen, Jack, tne letters handled by
Mr. News big department under I'm
Gle Sam, received and delivered in one
year, # laid end to end would extend
G.O00,000,O0O feet, or more than 1,136,-
$50 miles, or about forty-five and one
half times around the earth''
Whew!' exclaimed Ruth, "that s
n big bunch of letters.'
"Then think of the weight of that
mail estimated at 133,35O tons. Why,
every second of each "a hours of every
day people throughout the land presided
over by Uncle Sam drop $50 letters
in letter boxes. That means 1884
every minute, or 100000 every hour.
"To handle this big job, Mr.. New
has $4,000 men called postmen Just
like our postman who comes to the door
in his neat blue uniform and sack on
his back. And besides, the farmer far
from the postoffices gets his mail be
cause of the fact that 44,1SG rural
routes have been established, deliver.
ing to nearly 3o,OOO,OOO people Be
sides the 10000 postmen there are So
600 clerks in the offices, $4,000 rural
route carriers and 10000 men riding
each day in mail cars on the trains,
sorting the letters so that they will be