Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-26

-HE wives. mothers and sweet
hearts of the '.Sammies" in
France are not to be kept in the
g dark about the health and gen
eraI welfare of their men at the front,
and even a tiny hint of their approx
mate whereabouts. If the adjutant gen.
erals office Of the War Department can
help It And that it is going to help
c.ai division. for which Adjt. Gen.
Henry p. Mccain has formulated plans.
in order that information may be given
out as promptly as possible.
From the time when our great trans
ports swung majestically out to sea,
loaded with the thousands of splendid
young men who were voluntarily going
to fight for the safety of their own
country. though on foreign soil. there
was a painful interval of watching and
waiting for news of their safety and
health. and when rumors came back
that there were submarine attacks on
the way over. Illness aboard and cas-
ualties. the War Department was be-
sieged with inquiries from relatives and
friends OF the men, For a time IL was
contemplated to make no special pro-
vision to reply to these requests for
personal information. but to attend only
10 those which might appear for ex-
traordsnary reasons to justify response
Z +
However, when Adjt- Gen. Mccain
found that those inquiries that came
from members of Congress and others
of influence would be attended to and
communications from unknown CORE
spondents would be ignored. he decided
that there should be no favoritism
shown and that all inquiries should be
answered impartially SO far as might be
within the resources of his Office and
the information IL possessed. In max
ing this decision he has won the lasting
gratitude of millions of American wom-
en- to whom Is reassuring the smallest
bit of information about their fighting
men. no matter how officially brief.
This special division win have to do
with the compilation of all sorts of in
formation in regard to officers and en-
listed men on duty abroad and will be
supplied to their relatives and friends
on inquiry; this will save the folks
back home" many sleepless nights and
unnecessary heartaches owing to some
startling. unofficial report The War
Department has decided that the latest
news. with as little delay as possible.
who write for information.
In a way this special division is a
bueau of heartaches at best, for 1t can
not always send out glad news of the
perfect health and preservation of the
men at the. front. or give glowing ac-
counts of some heroic action in battle.
The news will have necessarily to be
sent out in cold. staccato sentences.
written on blanks printed for the pur-
pose. and will not be chatty correspond
ence. 1t Is. indeed. a red-letter day
when the President or Secretary of
War sends a personal letter of con-
graduation or coincidence.
The brighter side of this bureau of
information Is that when rumors of
casualties and their resultant anxieties
come they may be ailayed by a letter
to this division and correct information
will then be furnished. AS has al
ways been the custom in the Army. in
case OF death any personal property
that can be recovered will be returned
TO the nearest of kin, and the little
mementos which are the silent wit
nesses OF the sentimental side of the
great god Mars will find their way
back home and act as an incentive to
stronger patriotism and a hrmer resolve
/. TO help protect the nag.
Collecting this data Is going TO entail
unceasing labor and It is estimated it
viii require for an army of a million
msn about LOO officers. enlisted men
and field clerks. who will be organised
and stationed down through general,
divisional and regfmentaI headquarters