Milford chronicle., 1923-11-23
Uncle Sam Santa Claus Aide


81 want to be sure he gets my letter.
I know lots Of things 1 want. Anyhow,
if l wait 100 long he might not get the
letter, then he wouldn't know what
want"
81 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.
"All right, I'll tell you secret. Who
Santa Claus 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 various gov
eminent branches in Washington or
wherever they may be. One of his big
gest Jobs is to run the largest single
business in the world, the Postal Sys-
TEN that handles 100000 art1-
cles of mail matter every year oil
which $4,000, 0O0,0 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 Postmas-
ter General, whose job it is to see that
this great big business is run proper
ly. .-
Already Mr.. New and his assistants
are getting in touch with st. Nicholas
so that they will have a direct line to
him home in the ice bound regions OF
the North. This is necessary so that
YOUR letters and the hundreds OF let
ters from all the other little 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 thaI
the Jolly fat man will arrive with
smile and none of his presents Will be
delayed. The work of getting all Jnese
letters to Santa Claus in time so mat
when his prancing reindeer are reauy
to start for our hOusetops, his Dags
will carry the right presents, is only
a small part of the work Mr.. New
must direct. When 1 talked with him
not long ago he showed me several
letters from little boys and girls ask
ing him to get in touch with Santa and
he said that he 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 Post Office Department
is as large as the Christmas mail was
only three years ago! What is the
longest distance you can think OF,
Jack?" asked Uncle Ted.
81 guess I'd say clear around the
world would be the longest way
could think Of" answered Jack.
"Well. Jack, the letters handled by
Mr.. News big Department under IN
Gle Sam, received and delivered in one
year, if laid end to end would extend
for 5000, 100000 feet or more than l.
1890 miles or about fOrty-hVe ana
one half times around the EARTH!
'WheW." exclaimed Ruth, that's
big bunch of letters"
6'Then think of the weight OF that
mail. estimated at 133,350 tons. why
every second of each "a hours Of every
dav people throughout the land pre-
sided over by Uncle Sam, drop 3S9 let
ters in letter boxes. That means z5'5o4
every minute or 1 ,400,000 every hour.
"To handle this big job, Mr.. New mas
$4,000 men called postmen just ike
our postman who comes TO the uOoI III
his neat blue uniform and sack on MS
back. And besides, the farmer Iar
from the postof1ces gets his mail De-
cause of the fact that 44,l86 rural
routes have been established deliver
ing to nearly 30,000,000 people. Besides
the 100000 postmen there are 56,OOO
clerks in the offices, $4,000 rural route
carriers and 10000 men riding cach
dav in mail cars on the trains, sorting
the letters so that they will be tossed
off at the right stations to again be
sorted by the clerks in the post otlces
and delivered to the people by the
postmen.
'Then there is the air mail, another
branch of Mr.. News big business that
has grown to such an extent that on
August "a Of this year letters mailed
in San Francisco, California, at a.
m. were received at the main post
office in New York City, August 20 at
2 D. m. That was the result OF the hrsI
coast-to-coast air mail delivery. Last
wear the air mail planes flying 2,OO0,-
600 miles without a fatal accident,
carried more than 100000 pounds OF
mail.
Handling mail isn't all Mr.. New
has to report to Uncle Sam about; lie
also manages the biggest savings
bank in the world, making it possible
for everyone to have safe place TO
keep his money. In 1922 the amount of
money deposited in these banks was
S14O, 490, 1878. And through the mon
ey order system which makes it pos
sible to send money safely through the
mails, more than $1,2OO,OOO,OOO was
carried last year. This does not in
clude the money sent abroad by inter-
national money orders totaling 500
$4,000. You can insure packages ana
register your letters so you will know
they are safe and during the past year
81, 100000 articles were registered ana
1865 900 were insured.
$50 you see kiddies, with as sue
cessful a business as this headed by
a manager like Mr.. New who served
his State, Indiana, in the Senate be-
fore accepting his present post, 1
guess you will be safe in believing
that he will see to it that Santa Claus
gets your letters"