The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1942-12-14
PUBLIC MAILING
XMAS PACKAGES
MUCH EARLIER
SEVEN OF LARGEST POSTOF-
FICES IN COUNTRY RE-
PORT PARCELS BEING
HANDLED IN DUE TIME

some OF the puDIlc-Dut not
enough-are needing the warn
ings of the Post Office Depart
ment that Christmas gifts must be
mailed this year earlier than ever
before, if reports fom seven of
the largest post offices in the
United States prove to be typical.
Six of these offices, queried on
Christmas nailings, reported that
! gift parcels had started moving
through the mails from 10 to II
days earlier than in previous
years. The seventh reported some
rise in parcel post but no broad
gain in Christmas mailings.
Christmas cards-one of the most
difficult problems because of the
public's habit of mailing them in
a last-minute deluge-also have
started to move, but in only small
numbers.
But, postal officials warn, the
early mailings are not yet in suf-
ficient volume to prevent delay in
deliveries of gifts until after
Christmas unless mailings are in
creased sharply at once, and prac-
tically completed by December
Is. Wartime burdens on trans
portation and on the postal Serv-
ice make it essential that the
peak of mailings be far earlier
than in normal times.
Postmaster General Frank G.
Walker, who has held repeated
conferences with high officials of
his department on the Christmas
mail problem, again called atten-
ton to the absolute necessity of
public cooperation.
MY department is handling a
variety of big wartime tasks, in
addition to the distribution of
civilian mail" he said. I'VE
handle a vast amount of Army
and Navy mail within this eoun-
try until it reaches military and
naval stations or embarkation
ports, where it is taken over for
delivery by the Army and Navy.
We write many millions of dol
lars worth of war bonds, sell i'm
mense numbers of war stamps,
handle a huge volume of official
correspondence and printed mat
ter. Our service is burdened with
war work ana so is the transpota-
ton system that carries the mails.
There has never been time in
the history of the postal service
when there was more necessity
for the public to mail parcels and
cards early if delivery is to be
made by Christmas"
A factor now complicating the
postal problem is the vast move
ment of population caused by the
rapid development of war indus
tries in many cities Unofficial
estimates indicate that some fair
sized cities have almost doubled
in population. Detroit has grown
about $4,000 since May, 1910, ac-
cording to the Census Bureau;
Washington has grown $4,000;
Chicago, $4,000; Los Angeles,
131 900; and other centers of war
activity proportionately. In each
of these cities, there is now the
equivalent of another large city
requiring postal service, and gifts
are being mailed to many hun
dreds of thousands of these per-
sons who are away from home.
Postal employees are going to
do their best, as always, to see
that the Christmas mails are de-
livered on time" said Ambrose
O'Connell, First Assistant Post
master General, in charge of pos
tai personnel. "Postmasters al
ready have done splendid work in
calling the unprecedented prob
lem to public attention through
newspapers and radio, and in pre-
pairing to meet the rush of mail
ingS.
"But this year deliveries on
time are impossible unless the
public mails its parcels earlier
than ever before. We have re-
duced the age limit for extra per-
sonnet from Is to is, but the thou
sands of persons being hired are
Continued on Page Four)