Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1916-02-16

wagon loads Of this mail are handled
daily-letters to Bombay for Turkish
prisoners there by the English. or to
Nagasalxi. Japan, for German prison
nearby transmission between France,
Germany, England, Austria, Italy, Bull
garia, Serbia, Belgium, etc.
A great pile of German mail had
just come in. and the bags were stack
ed up on the floor.
Here is something curious" said
one of the officials, turning to the
German mail-bags, you will notice
they are made of paper-.yes, paper
very stout, of leather or heavy canvas.
But lately we have noticed the Ger
mans are using paper for their bags.
1t means a big saving on their hemp,
and the bags are strong and service
able"
Taking knife, one Of the paper
mail-bags was cut, showing great re-
sistance. 1t appeared to be new
qaulity of paper, with fibre almost
like the mesh of cloth. but unmistak-
1T is remarkable" said an onlook-
err how the Germans get UP SER
viceable substitute as soon as they run
out of any article"
Here is another curious and sig
nifcant fact, said the official in
charge of the gymnasium mails. He
held up a large card, foot square, on
which he had placed 21 samples of rope
and Irvine.
Those show the ingenious substi-
tutes the Germans are now using for
ordinary rope and twine," said he.
The samples were from various mail
bundles from Germany. They ranged
in size from small-s rope, about s.
inch thick to ordinary string. None of
the Fl samples had any hemp. Most Of
the small strings and twines had a
fine inner wire, to give tensible
strength, wound with paper to give an
outer finish and f1exibility. The heav-
Ter ropes were Of paper, with strands
wound together into a stout material
But the little inner wire seemed the
basis of strength in these strange
German substitutes for hemp rope and
cord, required 50 enormously in ordtn-
airy business and commerce.
All about, long lines of postal en-
ployes were at work sorting the SOL
der mail-letters, packages and money
going to various countries. Many
poor people mail a loaf of bread
daily to the son or father away at the
front or in prison. One of the wrap
open, and isclosed that the sender had
ingeniously inserted a copy of the
Paris Motin inside the bread. 1t was
doubtless done without malice, the
officials said, by some poor mother who
wanted her son to get glimpse of the
pdp6E hOSI VI InS PACKAGES
made one sad to see, they were so
pathetic in their meag teness and yet so
full of silent love. One was small
remnant of a Christmas tree, with
some of the trinkets adhering. Others
were packages neatly divided into
small sections of chocolate, tobacco,
soap and other needs and small lux
uries of the men away from home.
But the most poignant branch of
this busy bureau was the table heaped
with letters and packages w.lich could
never be delivered, each bearing the
stamp decade. One employee was
binding these letters in packages of a
hundred, and there were many of these
hundreds, with the incoming vans add
ing to them constantly. When the
letters are first received, every eff
fort is made to deliver them, but when
the official record or other au-
| lucrative information shows the SOL
der is dead the fatal black-bordered
stamp decade" goes on the letter and
1t is returned to the sender. And so
this stamp carries into countless
homes daily the news which is a trag-
edy to each one of these households
the first news, for the sending of the
Letter showed the family thought the
son or father was still alive.
There was a strange incident about
one of those letters" said the official.
''The letter was sent by a mother in
Germany to her son in France. Find
ing he was dead, the letter was re-
turned to the mother, with the stamp
decade. But the mother, not under
standing the French word decide
thought 1t meant the name of the town
to which her son had been trans
ferred. And so she wrote him again,
and this time al 1.-The children Joined in
! the letter, and it was addressed to his
name, at DECIDE, France. OF course
there is no such place, and so again
the letteh went back with an explana-
| ton why it could not be delivered"
In other nearby rooms scores of
male and female employees were at
| work on postal orders. 1t needed nice
exchange between French francs, Ger
man marks, English shillings Russian
roubleS, Italian Ira, Austrian kron-
! ers, etc. The records kept by Mr..
| Breny showed France was sending
| about five times as much to Germany
| as was sent the other way, indicating
more French prisoners than Germans
| or else more generosity. In October
| for example, France sent $4,000 postal
| orders to french soldiers in Germany
| totalling 1,6S1,000 francs (S36O. OOO),
while Germany sent "a, 900 orders to
| German soldiers in France, totalling
| $4,000 francs ($11O,OOo). Russia is also
| sending an exceptionally large number
| of money orders to her soldiers in Aus
tria, Hungary and Germany. Since the
| (s7 ,00O) has been transmitted from
| families to soldiers imprisoned in vari-
GUS countries.
Mr.. Breny summed up the magni-
| tude of this work in all classes of SOL
| der mail as follows: Each day the
| Swiss post office receives and forwards
an average of 219,0S4 letters and pos
| tails, 1922 small unregistered pack
! ages, 51,S97 registered packages and
1925 postal orders-this is the daily
average, on the special service of
| soldier mail"
And yet Switzerland, a small and
not rich country, is doing this work
without charge and doing it gladly;
it's state railways carryaall this mail
free of charge; all postage stamps
and duties are waived; hundreds of
extra postal employees are engaged in
the administration and expenditures
of 10000, 900 francs $4,000, OO0) of var
ious kind are waived-that is the way
small country is obeying a large i'm
pulse to do its share in the better
part of the wars work.