Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-25
POST OFFICE SETS
YULET|DE RECORD
Santa's Assistants Enjoy
Rest After Strenuous
Weeks Work.

Santa Claus ftrst-strins assistant in
Washington-the United States postal
employe-today reclineS in his easy
chair, his tired and swollen feet clad
in a pair of house slippers, his mouth
filled with an OdoriferouS Christmas
cigar, and between the pulfS he muses.:
Ten and half million post cards,
\ hundred and twenty-five thousand
parcel post packages. And | collected
Cancelled, distributed and delivered
every one of them in eight days. Yes.
| guess I'm entitled to a day off
We'll, chalk up another Christmas
mailing record for Washington. !
beat last years records for cards be
You'd a doubt Wednesday. when the
machines registered 10.379.964. or
1853. 400 greater than the period be
tween the 18th and 23d last year. And
I'm sure | licked the parcel post fig
ures. They were 3,777 behind on
Wednesday. but those late trains from
the West began to pile in loaded to
the cunwales with packages. 80 I'll
say without figuring that | whipped
my figure of last year.
Packages Mailed Early
These people in Washington had
the right idea on the package mailing
proposition. Why, yesterday after
noon there weren't as many piled up
for delivery and dispatch outside q
town as you'd see any weekday in
July. But | just couldn't pound il
into their heads to mail those darned
cards. Yes. sir. ten and a half mil
lion of them coming right out OF
this city alone
And that. in nut shell. is the story
of the annual rOmp at the Washington
city post Office. 1t is all over now
with the exception of maybe a day or
two more Of extra ordinary labors due
to fragrant disregard by some persons
of the old familiar mail early" APP
peal and the late arrival of trains
from distant points.
The last regular delivery Of mail went
out at 2:3O o'clock yesterday afternoon,
while the parcel post delivery force
employed its III trucks and 81 add
tional ones loaned by the Army until
midnight. On the stroke of l. the
ma jority of the S21 specially engaged
employees to augment the regular
force walked out of the Post Office,
their Today extra money" period
having ended. 4 skeleton force of
ABOUT 30 men are ION the floor" today
solely for the purpose of keeping the
mails moving Tomorrow morning
those packages which could not be de-
livered up until last midnight, plus ad-
ditiOnal arrivals, VIII be disposed OF. as
will any belated cards that make their
appearance.
Special Delivery Force Busy.
Throughout today. however. the
special delivery force was kept quite
busy disposing of letters and parcels
sent in this classification. Perisha BILE
packages that arrived today, although
not marked special delivery" were
handled as such and the extra fee was
charged. This step was taken to pre-
vent the loss of contents, for the pack
ages could not be turned over to the
addressee by the regular parcel post
machinery until tomorrow.
There are two sides to the City Post
Office Christmas mail question, the
local side and the incoming side.
Postma ster Mooney and Supt. Schooley
were quite satisfied with the local
division of the floor" Both agreed.
however, that if patrons of the postal
service had needed the mail early"
slogan as regards packages to the eX-
tent Westinghouse did the conges-
ton in the parcel post section yester
day afternoon and last night would
have been avoided.
Show Enormous Task.
Statistics for Yesterdays traffic in
mail were not available today DIS the