The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1918-12-27

Guilty.
Dealings with complaint of de-
lays in mail for soldiers in France,
both before and after the mail serv-
ice was taken over by the army,
Mr.. Burleson's report says that much
of it was due to the handling of
mail by orderlies in military service
Perhaps the most serious of these
delays arose from the attitude of
the military authorities" it says,
who declined to reveal to a civil
liam postal organization the where
abouts of military units, in many
cases until their location had been
discovered by the enemy. There
was also a good deal of trouble in
obtaining motor transport, and at
one time the military authorities
undertook to take from the postal
stations the small details of enlisted
men who were assisting in the work
! on the ground that they were needed
for purely military service"
In the United States, 1913 branch
postoffices were established at
camps and environments to deliver
mail to the troops. Censorship
boards were established at nearly
all ports of exit from the United
States, in connection with military
operations, and 1000 employees were
engaged in censoring approximately
1880 pieces of mail daily during
most of the period covered by the
report.
A very wide extension of the
aerial mail service has been plan
ned, the report indicates and out
lines are given for four routes, two
of which extend outside the United
States.
The trunk line and feeders de-
cided upon for the aerial mail, the
postmaster general says, after de-
scribing experimental operation be-
tween Washington, New York, and
Philadelphia, ''under the present
program are:
l.. "New York to San Francisco,
with feeders from (a) Chicago to
st. Louis and Kansas City. (b)
Chicago to St. Paul and Mime
apolis. (c) Cleveland to Pittsburg.
2. Boston to Key West, with
feeders from (a) Philadelphia to
Pittsbudg. (b) Washington to Gin
cinnati. (c) Atlanta to New Or
leans.
3. "Key West, via Havana to
Panama.
| 4. "Key West, via the West In
dies, to South America
1.-THE postoffice department only
awaits the day when the aircraft
! production of this country can more
:, than supply the needs of our own
army and those of our allies to make
! effective the program for aerial
mail that l have directed to be put
,, into operation as speedily as the war
iconditions will permit" Mr. Burle.
.!son continues. He points out that
: planes for the overseas service de.
. cided upon must be powerful, fitted
1 with wireless, and of special con.
; struction, and declares that the com
| mercial advantage resulting from
the expected reduction in the time
of communication between South
! and Central America will justify tn,
r expense.
i Discussing the rural truck lines
and the expected requirement by thu
81 department of many hundreds O.
v war trucks, the report says that tn
RI commercial and economic advantage
e of the service are evident, and it
+ extension desirable. The trans
o mission of food products from farm
S to urban cities is particularly facili
d tated by the motorized parcels pos
d.: lines.
m Due to enlistments and higl
e. wages in outside service, 9,O7
i postal employees left government
employment during the year, the re
t port says, necessitating extra eff