The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-09-08
PRAYERS OF PEASANTS
ASCEND FOR AMERICA
HUMAN INTEREST LETTERS
IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES
ARE TRANSLATED.

w Apli' ~ BAs - ~ ~ N'A''N'
OF the National Museum here, al
most in the shadow OF Colonel
Roosevelts stuffed hartebeest and OF
the restored dinosaur is n govern
ment bureau devoted to translating
letters written in more than score
OF languages by the mothers, fathers
and wives OF American soldiers. 1t
is the foreign language section OF
the war risk insurance bureau which
dispenses soldiers and sailors pay
alotments and family allowances TO
the dependents OF fighting men.
In Chinese, Hebrew, German,
Italian. Gre ek, Scandinavian
French. Spanish. Polish, Russian,
Slovenian, Esthonian and dozen
other tongues come the letters from
foreign lands, pouring out thanks
to the American government Tor
remittanccs which have kept the
Wolf from the doors. Hopes and
hardships OF the war, and prayers
for Americas success are expressed
in fervent phrases by these foreign
correspondents.
America is welcome to my son
for the God-given task ahead
wrote an American woman recently.
Il live in neutral country, but my
heart and my neighbors' hearts are
with YOU wrote widowed mother
from North European country.
Hundreds OF other letters contained
similar expressions
"My wife and | pray three times
a day for the United States and her
blessed armies wrote Rumanian
father.
Hints of Great Poverty.
Interspcrsed are hints OF great
proverty which the checks from
Washington help to ameliorate. y
few letters contain inquiries or COM
plants that the payments are not
greater. Each letter must be turned
into English by corps OF trained
translators, hastily gathered in re
cent weeks. Then the inquiries pass
through the hands of clerks who
NAV spend most OF a day wading
through yards of files OF soldiers
names, addresses or army organiza-
tions which inquiries failed TO give,
or careless soldiers neglected to
record properly.
Finally the answers are written IN
English, turned back into the
original language, and sent on their
way to a foreign land. Many carry
a paragraph OF good wishes or en-
couragement whilh make them not
merely business notes, but messages
OF good cheer from America. The
greater proportion OF the letters go
TO Italy and Greece.
Two score translators and stenog-
raphers do this work, directed by
Mrs. NJ. Crenshaw, around whom
the organization grew up. The
principal translator is DR.. Aurelio
Palmieri, Italian scholar, master OF
a score OF languages and dialects,
who has taught in leading Europ-
an universities, lived among the
near Eastern peoples OF Europe and
studied their social problems. He
reclassifed the theological library
at Harvard Jew years ago, and
more recently classified the Con-
gressional Library's Yudin collec-
ton OF Siberian literature.
Has 1000 Employees.
Important as this foreign Ian
gauge section is 10 the war risk
Insurance bureau, it is one OF the
smallest divisions. The entire bureau
has Approximately 1000 employees,
10000 OF whom are women. No
other government bureau has so
many civil employees, and no other
man in Washington does so much
hiring as w. \. Mckenzie, the
CHIEF clerk and immediate boss OF
these 1000 Yet Chief Clerk
Mckenzie can not hire all the wom-
en- typists and stenographers he
needs.
The exdous OF several hundred
school teachers, employed during the
summer as clerks, leaves vacancies
which even the civil service COM
mission has difficulty in filling,
though salaries range usually from
$1,000 to $1,000 4 year.
As American armies grow, so
must the bureau grow. Already 1t
handles 10000 letters week. Ev-
erv Monday morning between o.
600 and 10000 letters, the accumu-
lation OF two days. pour in, to be
slit open, read. sorted and referred
to the proper section, where intor-
nation is gathered for an answer.
The Bureau has on file 3,5OO,OO0
applications for allotments and al
lowances, and nearly 5,500,000 checks
have been sent out since last De
cember. Now they are going at
the rate OF million a month. In
addition. the bureau has taken care
OF S,5O0,000 applications for gov
ernment life insurance. Various Sec
tions of this big government de-
partment are housed in twelve build
ings in Washington having 5lo,O0O
square feet OF floor space.