The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-10-04
TO PUBLISH CASUALTIES
Information Will Be Quickly
GiventORelatives OfU. S. Soldiers.

Given to Relatives OfU. S. Soldiers.
Preparations for the handling of the
casualty lists that must come before
long from the American headquarters
in France have practically been com
pleted by the War Department at
Washington.
With the aid of the most complex
card-index system ever devised tor an
army, and with the assistance of iden-
tlfication marks to be gwen each SOL
der, Uncle Sam means to see to it that
no mistakes are made and that the
relatives of soldiers killed, wounded or
taken prisoner in battle are not kept in
suspense longer than absolutely nee
cessary before knowing their fate.
Already there is under way the es-
| tablishment of an enormous statistical
division, with headquarters in Wash
ington and a branch in Paris. 1t will
be the function of this division to keep
a card index record of every soldier of
the United States. whether he is at the
front in Europe or on duty in this coun-
try. Officers and men are to be index
ed by name and the cards kept in alpha
betical order for immediate checking
up with the lists Of casualties or with
army orders. On the card of each man
will be the name and address of his
next Of kin" to whom newa of him
will be sent should occasion require.
Originally it had been the intention
to catalogue the men by numbers BIT
this plan has been abandoned. Nor
will the soldiers at the front have only
numbered tags for their Identification.
It is probable that each one will wear
about his neck and underneath hi
clothing a small aluminium tag bearing
his name and company, and that the
system now IN vogue in the regular
army, along these lines, will be eXterC-
ed to the National Guardsmen and Ma
tional Army men.
Not only will the card index cover the
men actually in the various fighting
corps, but engineers, civilians. war
correspondents and others attached in
any way to the armed forces.
Major J. j. Jones, of the Adjutant
Generals Department, has been desig-
mated to be at the head of the stats
teal division at this end and will gener-
ally supervise the work.
1t is the purpose to keep up the rec
oRds both here and at the branch office
in Paris strictly up to date, and the
promise is made that casualties will be
made public as rapidly as notifications
can be obtained.
The branch in Paris will see to it that
the men are listed both by regiments
and alphabetically. There will be du-
plicate sets of these records kept in
Washington so that the casualty lists
can be checked up in the quickest pos
sible manner Should the report come,
for example, that John Doe, of tx"
Regiment, was killed, that comparison
with the official records showed that
there was no John Doe on the roster of
tx" Regiment it would be plain that
mistake had been made in reporting
casualty.
1t will be the duty OF the statistical
division in all cases to notify relatives
of soldiers who are killed, wounded OF
missing.
With regard to the missing men, 1t is
understood that the American Red
Cross will adopt the British Red Cross
system of following up the missing men
and, if possible, ascertaining whether
they have been made prisoners and at
what prison camps they are confined.
That DONE the Red Cross, it is under
stood, will see to it, through the aid of
neutral governments, that the prison
ers packets" which the British Red
Cross has used to such good advantage,
are sent regularly through the lines to
these men. These packets will consist
OF supplies of foodstuffs of a non. perish
able and easily handled character and
such other articles as might contribute
to the comfort OF the recipients. 1t has
been one of the willingly assumed tasks
of neutral nations in this war to have
their representatives in the opposing
countries look after these matters in a
general way.