New Britain herald., 1918-11-11

good on all roads, is being adopted.
BY the consolidation of terminals eff
fc1ency has been increased and one
cause Of great Inconvenience to trav-
ellers has been removed.
It remains true, however, that the
first aim Of the railroad administra-
ton is to move the men and material
needed by the government war pro-
gram. To this, everything else is
subordinated. The savings in expens-
es, the Improvement in the conditions
of labor, and the simplication of the
service for the travelling public are
all matters of secondary Importance.
The first aim is to help win the war,
and the improvement in the health of
the roads is being devoted primarily
to the task.
The Soldiers Mail.
The mail service for our army
abroad has now been taken over by
the army. It is handling a million
letters a day that are received in
France from this country and about
100000 letters q day that are mailed
in France for soldiers in France. It
has warehouses for sorting mail at
French ports. It has railway mail
clerks on some 1000 miles of French
railroads. It has a central post Of
flee at Tours permanent post offices
at various points, mobile post offices
right up to the firing lines, and mail
orderlies attached to each company
Of troops.
In the past when the mail service
for the army was under civil control,
great delays were caused in the deliV-
cry of mail by the necessary secrecy
ny-roir nNn
under military control, all movements
of the mobile post offices are tele-
graphed in code to the distributing
post offices and the letters follow the
soldiers as they march. All the hos
pitfalls notify the central post office of
the identity Of wounded soldiers re-
ceivcd or transferred. The central
post office works with the central rec
ord division of the aG5utant generals
Office where every soldier in the army
is Card-indeXed. and $50 men are
there constantly employed searching
out addresses A system has been de-
vised by which delivery may be quick
encd to "rcplacem ent uniLS'' who have
been scattered among widely Separat-
ed troops. And various means have
been found for overcoming delays
due to lack of shipping facilities or
congestion of mail at crowded posts.
It still remains true that mail for
some $4,000 soldiers in France is de-
Iayed because the letters are made
Quately addressed. In the future all
such letters will be stopped at New
York and returned to their senders.
1t is estimated that 5000 letters a
month have been delayed i'll the past
because the men were in replace
ment units
This "hoater's mail" is now being
handled expeditiously. The delay due
to censorship is not great and it is
being reduced.
The army authorities are aware
that nothing sustains the morale OF a
soldier like letters from home, The
III obile post offices now keep UP with
the troops; the mail is received with
the rations at the kitchen; and the
whole reorganized postal service is
devoted to providing that the dough-
boys letters shall reach him as
promptly and regularly as his meals.
Camp Chaplains.
When our citizen soldiers We're first
gathered into camps and environments
in this country, there were, Of
course, not enough army chaplains to
provide the new troops with church
services and religious instructions.
Camp commanders were therefore
authorized by the War departm ent to
accept. in their discretion, the services