"Think Before You Kiss!"

Great moist smacking kisses are as Russian as vodka or borscht. A kiss is the festive greeting of peasant to peasant, irrespective of sex. And no Moscow merchant or lawyer would think of wishing his partner "Merry Christmas" without a buss on both cheeks. Soviet Commissar for Post and Telegraph Nicolai Antipov has lately been brooding darkly, intellectually on Russian kisses.

Last week a new set of cancellation stamps went out to Soviet Post Offices from Leningrad to Odessa. Postmen carried to astonished comrades letters postmarked:

Think Before You Kiss! (Every Kiss Costs 40,000 Bacteria)*

*The Kansas State Board of Health also pronounced on kissing last week, issued a guide for kissers. Among other "don'ts" were the following: 1) Never kiss in a crowd, but if you must, take a hot mustard foot bath and avoid drafts if you feel "all in" afterward; 2) guard against sudden changes in temperature when kissing; 3) at a party where "postoffice" and similar games are played, be sure to gargle frequently.