Evening star., 1926-11-26


son formally under way beginning to-
! naT. at least week earlier than ever
before. and bankers reporting total
OF S3.344U0h in Christmas savings
funds all ready 10 be distributed next
Wednesday, Washington merchants
are prepared to handle one of the
most prosperous Yuletides in the his
/ tory of this city.
More than 72.000 persons Joined the
Christmas savings clubs established
by 2S local banks and the dollar or so
| put away each pay day during the
year has mounted now to IL most at
| tfactive sum for every member to
spend on Santa Claus wares Both in
! the total amount saved and in the
! number of subscribers. the savings
clubs this year far exceed those OF
previous years.
A total Of 66,279 members saved
"a 4.441 900 in local clubs last year,
| While two years ago s3 900 900 was
saved by 1885 thrifty persons. These
hEureS show hat the Christmas funds
laid aside during the past year out
strip those of the year before by more
than $1,000 900
Stores Ready for Rush.
Merchants everywhere. however,
mas rush. They had on display this
| morning. ready for the first shoppers,
their full supplies of Yuletide stocks
ana they were prepared to broadcast
the slogan: Buy New, Mail Early.
and Get Better Service" If their pre.
dlctions that this will be Washington s
greatest Christmas'' are fulfilled.
early preparations also will make it
the Sanest Christmas.
j simultaneously with announcement
that savings here would approximate
$o.oOo, 900. it was learned that Christ
mas savings for the whole country in
tne past year reach a total of $685.
26S.000. This represents a gain of
$S5 900 900 over 1925. or ~ ner cent
Nearly 100000 persons enrolled in
the clubs throughout the country.
Buy-Early Move Pushed.
The shop-early movement is being
pushed by the Merchants and Manu-.
facturerS' Association with the active
cooperation of many other interested
agencies. Postmaster w. NJ. Mooney
OF Washington has appointed com
mlttee of postal officials to move even
farther forward the peak" of Christ
/ mas mail. Last year, through con.
certed appeals and warnings, the
peak load" of mail was moved up to
december IL. three days earlier than
IN previous years. and consequently,
1t is said, thousands of letters were
delivered on or before the holiday
that otherwise would have been
caught in the jam at post office sta
tions.
An instructive message containing
mailing schedules has been sent to ali
pupils and teachers of the public
schools by Postmaster Mooney, de-
claring that EARLY mailing reduces
confusion in your homes Just prior to
Christmas, insures prompt and safe
delivery of your parcels and elimi
mates congestion In post Offices"
Gifts should be securely wrapped" ;"
the instructions read. "and securely
tied, using corrugated pasteboard
boxes. Fragile articles should be care
fully packed; addresses should be
plainly written in the lower right por,
ton of the address side, with the
name of the sender and his return ad-
dress in the upper left corner. pre-
ceded by the word FROM"
Expects 100000 Cards.
Mr. Mooney estimated that the city
post Office will handle 5000 900 Christ
mas cards in the several days before
Christmas, in addition to Christmas
packages and regular mail.
Greeting cards must be posted on
or before December 81 to insure de-
livery. even in this city, Mr.. Mooney
warns. There will be no delivery by
letter carriers after noon Christmas.
In order to insure delivery before
Christmas all mail should be posted
on or before the following dates. he
announced: Letters and packages GO
ing to California and the Far West
and Southwest. December IA; Illinois.
Iowa and the Middle West. December
IS; Southern States, Ohio. Indiana and
Kentucky. December 16: New Eng
land States. December II: New York,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Decem-
Der 18; Virginia, Maryland, West Nfr-
ginia and North Carolina, December
20, and Washington, December II.
SeN.entN.fi1.a Thousand comics OF this