Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-03

These are facts established by post Of
ice statistics.
But Immediately the government
makes a soldier out of him and sends
him away, either to camp or foreign
service, his inclinations for letter writ
ing begin to assert their force AS
proof of this the government during the
month of last December did military
postal business in this country alone
of more than half a million dollars
The total expenses for operating Such
. service came slightly upward of
$4,000, or 27.32 per cent of total re-
ceipts.
SGT 1856 Monthly at Meade.
During this month the select service
men in training at Camp Meade paid
$27,8s6.09 for postage. money order
government exactly s5,625.6S TO run
the Meade office during the Christmas
month, the busiest of the year.
This does not refer to the immense
volumes of mail received by the troops
from home and friends elsewhere. 1t
includes only the actual postal bust
ness transacted by the soldiers in camp.
Total monthly postal receipts for the
Birmingham (Ala.) post office of last
year did not exceed an average of S44,-
80. This includes parcel post ship
ments by business houses and the bulk
of business mail, which constitutes per-
haps three-fourths of the mail that
passes through Uncle Sans postal
channels. Take fourth of the above
amount and you have about the exact
amount of money necessary to dispatch
personal mail for 1872. 900 persons. When
It is considered that 10000 troops at
Camp Meade used the post office there
to the extent of 7.SS6.09 in a month
1t will be seen what a big difference
army life makes with the personal mail
Of the average man.
largest nv
military post Office for last December
was that of Camp Gordon. near Attain
, "a. Ga. Here the troops paid into the
efica $30.20 in month. The small
est receipts for December for any mill
tary post Office were at Camp Fremont,
San Francisco, Cal, which took in
$1.02s.07.
Camp Devens. at Ayre, Mass, was lib
eral in buying postal supplies. This
camp paid the government s23,45377
for the month of December. The total
expenses of operating this camp post
office were $4.305.43.
Strong for Money Order.
The selective service men go strong
for the money order feature of the post
$39,lSo-03 worth of money orders in a
single month. the number of orders is
sued being 2,176.
Most of this money was sent back
the soldiers. according ta4the money
order returns. This was the largest
smount of money orders sold by any
military office for December.
to transact the mail business at Camp
Meade Two auxiliary clerks are as
signed to this office. Forty-eight reg
ular and auxiliary clerks are constant
post Office. An auxiliary clerk is one
who is employed by the Office as a
substitute. In most Offices they work
longer hours than regular employees,
their pay being based on the number
of hours of service rendered.
Camp Meade received 1894 pieces of
registered mail and dispatched 2,531
pieces, figures show. -.,
The Post Office Department has not
yet established the postal savings fea-
fure at military camps This will prob
ably be established later on, but SOL
diers now have to go to the nearest
main post office to deposit postal saw
ings.
Soldiers mail is handled, in some
Instances. direct from the camps, but in
. majority of cases it is worked"
through the nearest main office. This
IL because of the fact that the soldier
develops correspondence with some one
in a distant state and the mail is
s'throYn" for the nearest big city, to
be distributed from this point.
Reading Matter for Camps.
A highly important feature of the
military postal business is the amount
of reading matter sent to the camps
for distribution among the troops
Practically every magazine has taken
advantage of the privilege offered by
POSTMASTER General Burleson to have
Its copies remailed to the troops by
readers By afixing a one-cent stamp
on the side of the publication it can be
sent to the soldiers and sailors of
Americas forces. Much of this matter
goes abroad, but thousands of sacks
fnd their way to the training camps
While the Post Office Department be-
lieves in encouraging this movement,
1t wishes to have impressed upon the
public mind that the government does
not want soldiers to have anything but
important. current magazine stories
and articles which will be accountable
to the general soldier mind
Thousands of well meaning persons
have swamped the mails with chean
literature much of it uninteresting, for
the men in khaki This mail is sorted
and what is acceptable is sent to the
camps or the forces abroad or distrib-
uted among the sailors on battleships
and in training stations.
Recent issues of magazines or other
publications are desired by the military
authorities. Gen. Pershing sent the
word back from France that only mag.
hzines which have current news fea-
lures or instructive stories by first
rank authors should be sent across The
Post Office Department has appealed to
the public to exercise discretion in re-
mailing publications for the fighting
men. Unless the magazine or other
publication has features of merit. do
e1t mail it. is the advice of postal
Much as the average Sammie appre-
states good reading matter, however,
be more greatly prefers personal let
eers, from home, from -sweethearts,
friends or even acquaintance, who do
their bit to make camp life CHEEKY by
Keeping the man in training fully
abreast of the happenings. national and
local. that take place while he is pre-
pairing himself to be member of the
american forces "over there"