Evening star., 1939-11-19
Man Who Suggested
Early Thanksgiving
To0bserve Il Twice
Heed Of Retoil Group
Still Convinced Shift
Will Help Business
Ne fhs Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Nov. 18.-After all the
fuss and furry about Thanksgiving
Il developed today that the house.
hold of the man who made the nrst
recorded request for an earlier date
will have two turkey day dinners
.,t.r all-on the 23rd and the SOth.
The man is Lew Hahn, genial
rray-haired general manager Of the
National Retail Dry Goods Associa-
ton, who suggested to Secretary of
Commerce Hopkins in August that
Thanksgiving be showed ahead
week. Shortly afterward, President
Roosevelt said he intended to pro-
pose such change.
The immediate prospect of sitting
down twice to Thanksgiving turkey
once on the 23rd, the date New
York is observing, and again when
his youngest son returns for Thanks
giving from Brown University in
Rhode Island. which is observing
the 30th-hasnt shaken Mr. Hahn's
belief that the idea of an earlier
Thanksgiving is fundamentally
sound.
Convinced Idea Is Good.
He's convinced it will enable the
public-at least the part that's OBJ
serving the earlier date-to do its
Christmas shopping more easily,
with less worry and fuss, and that
it probably will lead to more busi-
ness and increased employment.
Nor is he alarmed over the hula
baloo that followed President Roose-
velts changing the date He never
gets alarmed. "Of course" he said
today with hearty laugh, II was
quite unprepared for the storm it
kicked up. It looked to me for
q while as if New England was 60
ing to secede from the Union.
"A great many people who have
been opposing the thing talk as If
Thanksgiving were fixed date; but
1t never has been. 1t has roamed
all over the calendar. And it's only
one day earlier this year than it
was last.
apparently there's no difficulty
getting folks to give thanks on the
24th-why not on the 23rd?"
Not Sure 1t Was His Work.
He doesn't know for sure that he
had anything to do with getting the
date advanced-the Presidents mind
may have been made up, he said.
"If a man shoots up into a tree
and bird falls down, the man may
think he did it. But of course the
bird may have fallen down any,
way"
Mr.. Hahn's letter to Secretary
Hopkins was dated August 2. He
wrote it after receiving a number
of letters from various members of
the association saying that tSs
Christmas shopping time was too
short.
About II days later President
Roosevelt announced his intention of
proclaiming November % Thanks
giving Day.
In some previous years, when
Thanksgiving fell on late date,
the association has pointed out to
Government officials that it worked
a hardship not only on merchants
but on employees.
Some estimate that as a result of
q weeks extra business this year.
100000 additional persons will re-
ceive employment. Mr.. Hahn would
vix III "A tAsrf
the association would inquire from
its members afterward what it has
meant in larger volume and more
employment.
Is of Colonial Ancestry.
Mr.. Hahn's Colonial ancestry can
be traced as far back as that of the
New Englanders indignant over "the
upset of a tradition" His mothers
family settled in Manhattan in the
days of Peter Stuyvesant.
He has been ragged by some
friends who said, why should an
American tradition give way to eco
nomic reasons?" His reply has been:
why did the Pilgrims give
thanks? For bounteous harvests.
Thanksgiving is peculiarly linked to
the economic needs of the people.
mo one certainly has it in his
mind not to give thanks for our
many blessings. But we can give
thanks just as devoutly on the 23d
as on the oath"
Maj. Benjamin H. Namm, vice
president of the association for the
Middle Atlantic States, also has re-
ceived some Raging over the ad-
vanced date
A Vermont woman saw him in
newsreel discussing the subject, and
wrote to him complaining that she
would have to buy two turkeys. She
asked him to send her $465.