New Britain herald., 1918-09-20

could be when this service was con- ducted by the post office department. These delays affect a relatively small proportion of the mail, but the num- Ter is sufficient to give rise to a very general, if unjust, criticism of the postal service.
 Delays caused by military objection 10 furnishing the civilian postal of ncials with information as to the loca- tion of troops are now, in a measure, cured by this information being given the army officers directing the mail service. Letters could not be prompt ly delivered without knowledge as to where they were to be sent. Military officials are also provided now with transportation facilities which were not provided by the army for the civil ian service.
 But at times there is still delay to the mail after it reaches port in France. Some of these are absolutely unavoidable if the safety and welfaSc of our troops are to be given first con- tideration. Others can be avoided and steps to that end which were inn possible under military restrictions upon civil authorities have been or are being taken.
 Only in exceptional cases, and un- der circumstances which will be ex- plained, does it take more than three weeks for a properly addressed letter to reach a soldier in France who is at tachcd to an organized unit of the army. Most of the mail reaches it's destination in less time than that. The great mass of letters to and from the expeditionary forces go and come on schedule time.
 Yet exceptional circumstances may delay a soldiers mail as much as two or three months, or he may not get it at all. In the extreme case where there are several soldiers of the same name it will be because his letters are improperly addressed and he has failed to correct the conditions by fur nishing his proper address. There are no delays, or at most none great sr than @ few days, when the soldier is located with the organized forces and the letter is properly addressed.
 Jn view of the duplication of names in the American EXpeditionary forces the absence of any distinguishing des- tgnatiCn for groups of casual or re- placement men has been a source of difficulty in the delivery of mail. Thou sands of soldiers are being sent to France every month from this coun- try for replacement purposes. They come from various cantonments- Pike, Meade, Humphreys, Lewis and p1sewhere-and are usually designated simply Camp Pike August Automatic Replacement Draft" or some similar designation, and part of that particu- lar draft may be sent to one Telace- ment camp in France and part to an- other. Mail now forwarded 10 these solGiers who have been scattered among organizations at the front ''hoat9rs' maiI'-goeS to the central post office at Tours and it's distribu- ton there is still further hampered by being mixed up with the accumula- ton Of misdirectod mali. It is esti- mated tll&t 5000 letters a month vcrc delayed from this Cause. This Hclay iii delivery vii not occur under Rrra"Telncnts which huVa just been {audc tn have each replacement unit . GE 2G0 men or less as 1t leaves camp ju t&r CEilo States given 0 distinctive Eynlplry rambler which it. will retain &utI it rC2c:,Ha replacement camp in France. Every member of such unit RiH trcn ne one Of 250 men instead nr one cf one and a half million men. sIta JuLr Jones Of the small unit will bo cas:!* located.
 At each replacement camp in 1'YGnce q directory section of the Rrmy p-St office has been established, s0H n5aiI for a replacement soldier will hereafter follow him to the unit E. which he is sent from that camp tna clerks in the directory section of tIo post ofice using the card records If the statistical division of the camp commander. It still rests with the soldier tn immediately notify his correspondents as to his correct ad- Axess, and with the various canton