The sun., 1918-09-08

| even to several, before reaching q per:
manent base hospital. There is no delay
whatever In mail sent home by or for
| wounded men
only two causes OF delay have &C.
Cured at the port OF embarkation In
this country. One is the posting Of the
letter Just too late to make the trans
port and with week ensuing before
the sailing Of another transport. The
other cause Is the limitation placed Upon
ocean transportation facilities and lack
OF information as to the destlnat ia Of
ships.
| Unless the military port officer at
the port of embarkatlon knows whc:e
steamship Is going to land mail can
not be sent by that steamship. This
| defect has been cured by War De-
| partment order which directs that tho
Information as to destination be fur
nished to the military port officer One
OF the most puzzling things to the pub
lie has been the frequency with which
letters were received In France of n
later date than letters that came after
ward. One explanation OF this Ia that
| the postmaster at the port OF embarka-
ton has been assigned a definite lin
tied cargo space. II 1000 bags were
ready for shipment and he could get
space for only 500, 1900 bags would
lie over. and these might include lot
ters written previously to letters in the
500 bags"
As regards the working Of the SOL
| diers' mail system In France, Capt
Frazier supplies the following inter-
esting Information:
complete postal system corre-
| spending to that In the United States
Is now In operation in France With n
central post office located at Tours.
This service in France, except the dis
tributlon and dispatch OF mails TO the
| United States. Is entirely under mill
tary control. the director and assistant
! directors being commissioned army Of
ficers and the entire force being a
part of the military service.
| Nearly all OF these officers and SOL
diers detailed to this work are men for
merly employed in the postal service of
the United States, former railway mail
clerks being employed in the handling OF
mail on postal trains. and others acting
as distributors etc. France Is divided
| into three postal districts. each district
In charge of an army officer who was
formerly postal official: and these
districts are under the supervision of the
director ut the central post Office at
Tours. Lieut.. Col. T. D. Howe.
Establishing Permanent Omees.
| Permanent post offices are established
| at numerous points, and mobile post
| offices are right at the front and move
with division to which they are at
| tached. They arc frequently under FIRE.
| The commanding officer OF each COM
pany or military establishment is re-
quired to detail from his company a mall
orderly especially selected for the pur-
pose of receiving and handling mail.
Wherever possible a man with former
a attn t. lyn.x tl,a
ranks for this purpose.
] Every mail orderly Is required TO
| keep an accurate record of officers and
men attached to or formerly attached to
| his unit and TO keep a record OF changed
addresses This record is alphabetically
| arranged and the location of every man
| Is noted up to date.
Where a man Is sick or wounded and
the orderly has no record Of his where
about. mail for him is Endorsed sick" or
wounded" giving the date. The letter
then goes to the central post office at
| Tours. which Is furnished by the hospital
with the names of all those under treat
ment, identified by the designation OF
the unit to which they belong. The GEN.
trail office Is Informed also OF every re-
moval OF a soldier from one hospital to
another when in hospital long enough to
establish an address. A perfect card
system Is employed TO keep track of all
who are in.hospitals. and there Is no do
/ lay in the, delivery of mail unless 1t Is
| that OF a wounded soldier in transit or
so slightly wounded as to be discharged
before a letter could reach him.
Warehouses have been built at ports
for sorting mail. Railway mail service
IL maintained on 1000 miles OF railway
with American soldiers. acting as postal
clerks in regular mail cars.
ALI in all, Capt Frazier sees a great
Improvement In the service and predicts
a constant bettement-if the people at
home will use care.