Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 242, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1918 — WILL GET MAIL IN THREE WEEKS [ARTICLE]

WILL GET MAIL IN THREE WEEKS

Washington. —Improper or inadequate addressing is the main cause for delay in the delivery of mail to soldiers in France, according to Capt. Frank E. Frazier, assistant director of the A. E. F. postal service In France. Captain Frazier suggests that every person writing to a soldier in France follow the following model:

The mail of more than 50,000 soldiers in France is delayed and perhaps can never be delivered because of incorrect addressing. While delays due to this cause and to the fact that the military authorities have objected lu some cases to furnishing civilian postal authorities with information as to the location of troops have been numerous and disagreeable, nevertheless Captain Frazier maintains they have constituted a small part of the service, which amounts to the delivery of 1,000,000 letters a day to the troops abroad. Three Weeks the Average Now. “Delays caused by military objection to furnishing, location of troops are now being cured in a measure by giving such information to army officers directing the mail service. Military mail officials are now provided with transportation facilities that were denied to the civilian service. .Only in exceptional cases does it take more than three weeks for a properly addressed letter to reach a soldier in France who is attached to an organized unit of the army. The great mass qf letters to and from the expeditionary forces come and go on time.” One of the causes of delay has been duplication of names. Another has been that hundreds of thousands of

letters sent to some training camp or other in this country were forwarded to the great central A. E. F. post office in France, at Tours, and there held until the addressee could be located in France. It is estimated that 300,000 letters a month were delayed on this account. Captain Frazier points out that it is necessary that every soldier should notify his correspondents at once when he is assigned to a definite unit in France.

“Delays in the delivery of mall which cannot be avoided are likely to occur at any time during a period of great activity and secret movement of troops,” Captain Frazier explains. “Where the success of a troop movement on the front depends upon secrecy mail cannot be sent to members of a mobile force until the troops are established at the selected designation. Whether the delay be of hours or several days it must be accepted as a military necessity. Some Letters Just Miss Ships. “Every care is taken to expedite the mail for wounded men fn hospitals. The only delay is that which is absolutely unavoidable. A wounded man may be sent from one hospital to another, and even to several before reaching a permanent *base hospital. There is no delay whatever in mall sent home by or for wounded men. “Only two causes of delay have occurred at The port of embarkation in this country. One is the posting of the letter just too late to make the transport and with a week ensuing before the sailing of another transport. The other cause is the limitation placed upon ocean transportation facilities and lack of information as to the destination of ships.

“Unless the military port officer at the port of embarkation knows where a steamship is going to land, mail cannot be sent by that steamship. This defect has been cured by a war de-partment-order which directs that the Information as to destination be furnished to the miliary port officer. One of the most puzzling things to the public has been the frequency with which letters were received in France of a later date than letters that came afterward. One explanation qf this is that the postmaster of the port of embarkation has been assigned, a definite limited cargo space. Ilf 2,000 bags were ready for shipment and he could get space for only 800, 1,200 bags would lie over, and these might include letters written previously to letters in the 800 bags." All in all, Captain Frazier sees a great improvement in the service and predicts a constant betterment—if the people at home will use care.

Return to Stamp. Mrs. Walter Smith, Street, Boston, Mass. Private John Walter Smith, Jr., Co. L, 102 d Infantry, Via N. Y. American E. F.