Evening star. [volume], December 21, 1930, Page 3, Image 81

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
WHAT BECOMES OF SANTA CLAUS LETTERS?
Every Missive Addressed to St. Nicholas Now Turned Over 8
to Santa Claus Association by the United States Postal
Authorities—Pleas of Thirty Thousand Needy
John Duval Gluck , founder of thm
~ Santa Claus Association.
BY KATHLEEN READ.
Manly Claus. North Pole.
Dere Santy Claus: Please don't forget us
Mke you did last year. In all my life Tommy
and I have wanted roll skates and little Sue
a doll what shuts her eyes. If you can’t bring
all this, a sack of candy will do.
4 Your friend. JOEY.
rHE busy post office clerk smiles as he
glances at the envelope containing
this letter. Then he tosses it Into a
big yawning bag marked 8. C. A.
One thing he knows: Joey will not
watch this Christmas slip by as gutless and
Joyless as the last one did. Times may be hard,
but there will be a touch of Christmas festivity
in Joey’s home. The Santa Claus Association
will see to that.
There was a day some 16 years ago when
such letters as the above slipped into the mail
box in childish faith and high expectation were
a source of genuine heartache to post office offi
cials and clerks. Each Yule tide they came
fluttering in by the thousands, sometimes be
grimed and finger marked and bearing varied
addresses: Santa Claus—North Pole —Ice Land
—Cloud Land—Toy World—Golden Gate-
Heaven. And each little missive meant another
addition to the dead letter office and another
stamp of oblivion—unclaimed. In all of the
meticulous United States Postal System there
was no forwarding address available for mail
directed to good old St. Nick.
Today the Santa Claus Association, cele
brating its fifteenth anniversary, is proving to
each little letter-writer that Santa Claus is a
regular guy who receives his letters in proper
fashion and answers them in the most approved
manner.
The Santa Claus Association was instituted
at an earlier date, but it was not incorporated
under the membership laws of the State of
New York until 1915.
It is the only charity of its kind in the world.
It is the first charity to cause investigations to
* be made under the "Gluck class system”; that
is, to investigate the poor by the medium of
volunteer workers who are in the same station
at life. It is non-sectarian and non-racial.
The Santa Claus Association does not permit
its name to appear on any shipping labels
issued to donors. It permits no public drives
for money. It is open to the public, to whom it
affords an opportunity once a year to play
Santa Claus direct and to know every dollar
it expends is used for the purpose for which it
is raised. It is the only organized charity that
puts the donor in direct touch with the recipient.
'T'HIS is how the wheels go round in the Santa
Claus Association headquarters:
The Postal Department is authorised by
Uncle Sam to turn over to the Santa Claus
Association every letter sent to Santa by what
ever name or to whatever address. Upon re
ceipt of the letters an investigation is made.
The investigation is to make sure that the home
is one which might otherwise be overlooked by
r St. Nick. When the record is complete it is
• attached to the letter and sent to a donor who
has signified his desire to play Santa to some
needy home. Thousands of men and women
* find joy each Christmas in making the wish
of a little child come true. There are some
donors who cannot do the shopping themselves
• and send money instead. The Shopping Com
mittee of the S. C. A. takes charge of these
cases, but wherever it is possible the donor is
urged to assume the entire responsibility of the
Santa Claus role and thereby glean the com
plete satisfaction and joy involved in the act
of giving
Last year more than 10,000 donors came for
ward to claim Santa Claus letters from the New
York City post offloes. A large number of the
donors are business men, whom the association
calls the best charity experts. In some cases
food, clothes, rent and even personal visits are
among the surprises in store for the youngster
who penned the momentous letter informing
Santa of his existence. The donor plays the
. Santa Claus role exactly as he chooses, and
that’s the joy of the 8. C. A. system!
A great many donors take interest in the
family after the passing of the holidays and
many interesting stories are recorded in head
quarters annals. In one case thousands as
THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON', D. C., DECEMBER 21, 1930.
* jjijj
BBBP ■.
Waiting to give the postman a letter to
Kriss K ringle, telling him all about the
doll she wishes for Christmas.
dollars were spent on a single family; in an
other 500 children were taken care of by a
childless donor.
Sixty thousand letters were turned over to
the association last year. Many of these letters
bore requests for clothes, food and coal instead
of toys. “Toys are mighty nice, Santa, but it’s
awful to be cold,” wrote one little girl. This
year many more letters asking for the stark
necessities of life will come in. Tor even joyous
childhood is wont to forget the things of play
when the body is cold and stomach empty
Jr \JjSfe. xBBI
Wk jr Ji fek
Whonawr these busy postal clerks come upon a letter addressed to St. Aficfc
J&ey toss it in a special pouch, which is forwarded to the
Santa Claus Association.
And the S. C. A. will do Its best to see they
get these things, but t toy will go along also,
for the association believes fervently that toys
keep fresh the illusions of childhood and give
reality to childish dreams.
The Santa Claus Association of the United
States and Canada was formerly directed
through the New York City headquarters. The
organization is now decentralized, the associa
tions in various cities being related but inde
pendent units. The parent Santa Claus Asso
ciation in New York City, which has been a
model for others throughout two countries, took
root 20 years ago. Its purpose is to make
gifts to toyless, joyless children, and for many
years was one of the largest alms-giving organi
zations in the world.
'J'HK story of the origin of the association is
an old one, but, like the Christmas story,
will bear repetition. The Santa Claus Asso
ciation’s destiny was fixed when John Gluck
was bom one Christmas Day less than 50
years ago. Johnny soon began to feel that
> this dual birthday with Christmas was a left
t handed compliment of fate. No one thought
of Johnny Gluck’s day in the greater ptepara
tions for Christmas Day. Birthday candles and
Christmas candles were all the same in Johnny's
home. He grew up wondering if his day would
1 ever be rescued from the Christmas halo. John
Gluck developed into a successful business
man. He was not marriage-minded, but dls
> tinctly charity-minded. Each Christmas found
him poking around finding boys and girls whose
homes would be destitute of Christmas festivi
ties and playings.
Finally, there came a Christmas Eve which
in the light of the chain of events which fol
lowed was an important one. He was on his
way home when he came across a small boy
fjl
SrPi '■wj
tiptoeing to slip * grimy envelope into the
postbox. As Gluck stepped forward to help
him his eyes lighted on the address scrawled
on the letter. “Mister San tie Claus, North
Pole.” The man waylaid the posting of the
letter by the words: “Santa Claus is a personal
friend of mine; if you give me the letter I
will see that he gets it.”
As John Gluck turned back toward the shop-*
ping district for new purchases, a shadow fell
across his contentment. This little fellow
would be taken care of —he would know the
thrill of an answer to his letter —but what
about that long line of kiddles that stretched
from ocean to ocean who had confidently
mailed letters to Santa Claus. An inquiry at
the poet office the next day revealed that each
year thousands of children’s letters to Santa
found the only official channel available—the
dead letter office. Thousands of childish dead
letters representing thousands of dead childish
hopes!
The man who never had a birthday of his
very own then and there conceived the Idea
of the Santa Claus Association. He confided
the idea to a few of his bachelor friends and
to friends of their friends, and the Idea began
to roll up like a huge Christmas snowball.
Vincent As tor donated an enormous office room
for the Christmas headquarters.
It was not long before the entire Nation
and its neighbor, Canada, became Interested in
this unique Christmas organization. The donor
friends of John Gluck In New York grew into
thousands. Children’s letters which had gone
through the mails were read over the radio.
Donors popped up like mushrooms from all
over the continent. The war came and the
Santa Claus Association was swamped with re
quests. its volunteer forces stretched In im«
ending* lines. Children from other countries,
hearing of this benevolent American Santa
Claus, sent pitiful little requests addressed to
“Santa Claus, America, United States.” And
sometimes the association found a donor who
accepted an overseas charge.
An article in the Santa Claus Annual, pub
lished each year by the association, states:
"No center of population is too small or no
city too large to organize or operate a Santa
Claus Association. Under our decentralized
system each community elects its own officers
and handles its own funds. We never try to
freeze out another Christmas charity,' but co
operate instead. The kiddles’ Christmas is far
more important than promoting the welfare' of
this association. We are not the Inventors of
Christmas. We have only one program, the
poor little kiddles. They are not beggars any
more than the rich child and are entitled ts a
bit of festivity at this glad season.”
DOT to go back to the man whose birthday
celebration has surpassed his wildest
dreams.
John Duval Gluck has a rich Inheritance of
charity-minded ancestors. His grandfather,
Johann Baptiste von Gluck, as a young
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