Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-17
MAIL ARRIVED
I. AT CAMP FOR
MEN ON WAY
Wrong or incomplete AID.
dresses Cause Great
Deal of Confusion.

Camp Kearny, San Diego, Cal, Sept
17.-There will be Al John Smiths in
the contingent of draft recruits which
begin arriving here early this week, II
the law of averages holds true, n a
corps Of 16 men and n officer al
fees seeing that mail destined for
John Smith. Esq, of San Francisco
does not become confused with that
intended for Mr.. John Smith of Los
Angeles.
For days before recruits began to
arrive mail and even kilograms for
them was reaching this cantonment,
most of it addressed John Doe,
Camp Kearny," with San Diego" or
Linda Vista" added as an additional
indication to the mail clerks of the
whereabouts of this cantonment.
Neither is necessary, according to
Lieutenant Arnold PaIenske, division
mail officer, but what would be appre-
ciated greatly, both by the mail de-
tachment and by the recruit himself
is some such designation as Recruit
Camp" or Recruit Receiving Camp
preferably the latter on all recruits
mail. This, the lieutenant. said, would
save some time in the delivery Of mail.
All mail addressed Blind" as the
clerks in the p~ostof1ce here call ad-
dresses which do not name the regi-
ment and company Of which the ad-
dressee is a member, are sent to the
division mail detachment for delivery.
Those with proper addresses go direct
to the regimental postoffices n are
delivered at once.
The work of the mail detachment
is made up mainly Of searches through
the indexes which list every man in
this cantonment. Most difficulty is
had with mail so addressed that there
is no doubt as to which of several
men it is intended to reach. These
card indexes are arranged in sections,
ir alphabetical order, and one or more
men is assigned to each section.
AS the mail for the recruits comes
from the local postoffice it is divided
into sections corresponding with these
men search through the index files
until they inc the mar for whom it is
Intended. These files are made w of
ard bearing the full name, home ad-
dress of each man. They are filled out
almost as soon as they reach camp: in
deed, they are the second paper made
out in the receiving Office for each
new man.
The old address Of the recruit is of
particular value in determining
whether a particular piece of mail be-
oA6o W AiAA Aoi, AdSNAI5 ~
nation, the mail detachment holds it
is reasonable to suppose that a letter
addressed to William A. Jones, post
marked at Chico, Cal. is more likely
to belong to the William A.. Jones who
halls from that town than it is to be
the property of a mar of the same
name who comes from Salt Lake City.
The only safe. sure method of, in
surfing prompt delivery of a recruits
mail, however, is to address it prop
erly. Lieutenant Palenske declared. A
model address follows:
John w. Smith,
Company No. 8,
Recruit Receiving Depot,
Camp Kearny. Call
Until the recruit has reached here
however, and been assigned to a com.
pany. or until he can write home and
give the number Of his recruit COM
pany. Recruit Receiving Camp" will
serve as an ample indicator of his 10.
cation and will insure reasonable
prompt delivery Of his mail.