Evening star., 1925-11-24
Letter Carriers Holiday
Welcome to Merchants

The order providing that letter car
riers shall have an opportunity this
year to celebrate Christmas at home
is viewed by the public as a humani
tartan step. The Postmaster General
is commended for his action suspend
ing mail deliveries on Christmas day,
1925, and the abolishing of the Christ
mas rush is recognized as in accord
ance with the trend of the times.
A picture Of the mail man stag
gering under the burden of packages
and Christmas cards on the day when
the rest of us are making merry" is
painted by the Buffalo News, with the
remark that ii has never been a
pleasant one" The News advises
that ''if everybody will mail Christmas
cards and presents early Postmaster
General News experiment can be
worked out without affecting in the
least efficiency in the delivery of Yule-
tide mail" An opportunity TO rest
"and to join in the festivities Of the
occasion" Is approved by the Bristol
Herald Courier, with the comment
that mo class Of workers more GER
tainly deserves such a holiday than
the post office employees"
r. X r =
"The letter carriers, doubly thank
full for a holiday after many days of
increasing burdens" says the Ana
conda Standard, will be able to en-
joy Christmas with their families like
other people The new order will
have still other good effects. Senders
of gifts by mail will he compelled to
do their Christmas mailing early and
the usual congestion will be avoided.
Still further, the Postmaster Gen
4 - t1
chants and their statesmen. To do its
Christmas mailing early the public
must do it's Christmas shopping still
earlier"
A similar point of view Is taken by
the Boston Transcript, with the re-
mark that at is a case of both shop
ping and mailing early, and that
means making Christmas merry not
only for the letter carriers, but for a
lot of other people" The whole ques-
ton of labor on the holiday impresses
the Transcript. There are some
among u.s." it says, "who, from the
very nature of their employment must
spend a part of Christmas at their ac-
customed tasks. Policemen must pa
troll their beats. Street railway en-
ployes must keep the cars in motion.
Other public utilities must be op-
eraIGQ. buI II 10 III hCOPii6 WIN SiAS
spirit of the holiday season and the
good wishes and friendliness to which
it gives rise that the number who
work on Christmas should be limited
to the minimum number needed to
meet the demands for service that
cannot be postponed"
X X X X
Viewing the magnitude of the task
that annually confronts the post Of
flee, the Danville Bee calls attention
to the fact that Gin addition to the
marvellous expansion Of the United
States parcel post. with it's hundreds
of millions of gifts, all concentrated
in the 10 days preceding Christmas,
the vogue of personal greeting cards
conveying the compliments Of the sea
son imposes heavy tax on the letter
mail No good reason can be assigned
for timing these artistic reminders to
reach their destination on Christmas
morning, rather than two or three
days before" The experiment, how
ever, according to the Philadelphia
Bulletin. must depend for success
on the cheerful cooperation OF the
public" The Bulletin continues: The
design to give the employees of the
country's greatest business organiza-