Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-12-15


stipulates that the possibility must be
accorded to prisoners Of war OF writing
to- friends and relatives in their own
country. All direct relations having
ceased between the belligerents, SWit-
zerland found herself very naturally
the most conveniently placed nation 10
serve as intermediary between the pei
ligerents separated from each other by
insurmountable obstacles.
Service Requested by Germany.
Shortly after the opening of hostili-
ties the German post Office authorities
requested the Swiss postal officials 10
take upon themselves the duty OF
transmitting the mail Of the French
prisoners of war, interned in Germany.
The Swiss post office department re-
piled affirmative1y. but onered at the
same time it's service to the ministry
of posts and telegraphs of France Tor
a similar transmission of mail from
German prisoners of war. 1nterneo III
France which offer was promptly ac-
cepted by the French authorities. SIN ,--
liar ARRANGEMENTS were subsequently
made with Austria Hungary, Italy ana
Turkey.
Thus suddenly the Swiss postal de-
partment, which had hitherto been or
try of about 100000 inhabitants. found
itself obliged to face an enormous IN
crease of business. at time when IT'S
ordinary force had been CONSIDERABLY
reduced by the mobilization OF the
Swiss army to it's complete war foot
ing.
It did not hesitate, however, to charge
itself, gratuitously, with this vast
augmentation of work. notwithstand-
ing the fact that it's receipts had been
largely diminished by reason of the
war Switzerland allows free postage
not only to letters. packages aid money
orders destined for prisoners OF war,
but also to all correspondence ad-
dressed by the prisoners and the in
termed civilians to their relatives anu
friends in some of the most thfckly
populated countries of Europe.
Nor is this all, for Switzerland trans
mits today, gratuitously. the CORE
spondence of more than sixty charity
organizations, which have been found
ed in this country for the purpose of
aiding the victims of the war.
Volume of Mail Transmitted.
The letters, packages, money orders.
transmitted gratuitously since the be-
ginning of the war mount into the mil
lions. Two hundred and fifty employees
are permanently occupied at the work
of this transmission of mail matter for
prisoners of war and interned civilians.
while several hundreds of other en-
ployes devote to this duty certain hours
of the day. In some localities the post
office itself is insufficiently large for
labor, and other buildings have been
temporarily occupied, for postal pur-
poses. either in whole or in part:
The sacks, containing the mail, now
arrive from abroad sealed with paper
seals. as the warning countries have
other and much more important use for
lead, which was formerly employed for
such purposes, and the Swiss post
Office has also adopted this practice.
The letters arrive in Switzerland either
already sorted and tied together ac-
cording to the camp of prisoners for
which they are intended, or. when time
is lacking or the number of letters es-
pecially large. they are simply gathered
in packages. which naturally compli-
Gates considerably the work of the
Swiss employees.
Thanks. however, to their habits of
pa tient routine and their knowledge of
the German and French languages, the
Swiss postal officials succeed in de-
ciphering the addresses. many of which
first appear almost completely unin-
telligible.
Few Letters Go Astray.
In spite of these errors. of which
large and. picturesque collection could
be made, comparatively very few let
ters go astray. AS time grows on, in
fact, these mistakes are growing less,
for on both sides the senders of let
ters seem to be familiarizing them
selves with the foreign names, and the
introduction Of maps showing the
printed names of the. prisoners and
concentration camps has contributed
much to the increasing proportion of
addresses correctly written.
AS it is forbidden to give to pris-
oners any news of the operations of
war, some correspondents write letters
with a double sense. sort of secret
code, referring. for instance, to the i'll
health of an aunt or the financial en-
barrassment of an uncle, but intended
to convey information concerning the
war Such correspondence. however, is
almost inevitably returned or destroyed
by the military censor of the camp.
whose wide experience enables him to
detect the most subtle tricks
Those That Get Special Care.
Special attention is shown by the
Swiss post to letters addressed to high
placed personages and officials of the
fenemy's country Letters of this kind
were very numerous at the commence
ment of the war, but have been grad
ually diminishing in number for some
time. The Emperor of Germany was
special mark for such letters from
French sources. Some or his CORE
spondents, if such a term can be applied
to writers OF these uHlldlCTdl eHuS1OnS.
appeal to his humanitarian sentiments
in a language at once respectful and
suitably expressed; in such cases the
letters are forwarded in the ordinary
way; but more numerous are the letters
conceived in hostile spirit and of an
abusive nature, which are. of course,
either retained or returned to the writer
or simply destroyed, as the circum-
stances of the case may require. But
the emperor is not the only one to be
favored with missiles of this character,
for Sir Edward Grey and M. Delcasse ap-
pear to have been almost equally favored.
The packages. according to the COM
plants of SOM of the employees. give
more work than the letters. Many of
them, badly tied up. break and empty
their contents on the floor, and have to be
repacked and retied, and vast quantities
of Swiss paper and Swiss Irvine are re-
quired in order to put the great quantity
to the various camps. Very many of the
packages contain eatables, bread, biscuits,