The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1918-12-10

which has been set. the office is operat-
ing three shifts of workers; 900 women
and young men work from a m. to 5
?. m. and two shifts of limited service
soldiers labor through thes night.
SwAMPING THE NEWSPAPERS.
Every cablegram now received from
the overseas casualty records office
comprises approximately seventy-five
typewriter pages. Until a week or two
ago the cablegrans came in code. neces-
stating forty-eight hours for DECIDING
each list. which frequently resulted in
errors and rechecking. Much time has
been saved by g recent order abolishing
the use Of the code
The checking Of each and every re-
port several times before it IS tele-
graphed to the next OF kin still causes
some delay but 1t reduces the numoer
Of errors. Unless mistakes in the lists
are discovered. names received today
are telegraphed to the next of kin with
in forty-eight hours and are published
by the newspapers eight days later. The
office doubts whether the press will be
able to handle 10000 records week. 4
radical change may be made in the pub
LEGATION of casualty lists If many news
papers complain that they are being
swamped.
DELAYS IN FRANCE.
Notifications are going out TO rela-
tives a little more promptly than before
because OF the adoption of a new sys-
tenn of cabling the names of the seri-
ously wounded. For a time these lists
were brought to America by courier
once week. 1t IS noted also that the
overseas office Is catching up on reports
of the killed in action. Daily reports
of this class average from fifty to 100
at present. not so long ago the daily
total was very much larger and about
a month ago several hundred deaths
were reported TO the office in one day.
But officers here find it difficult TO ex-
plain the delay Of the office in France
in reporting some cases.
Every cable report gives the date
when each man was killed. wounded or
missing in action. Most OF the killed
in action now being reported are for
october and November. But a percent
age Of the reports deals with Septem-
Der and few with August cases First
reports on some of the seriously wound
ed cases stiIl run as far back as July
One startling case is that of a soldier
who was captured months ago. Report
that he had escaped from the enemy and
rejoined his command came in a few,
days ago; he had never been reported
missing in action.
RED CROSS WOULD HAVE HELPED
II has been we'll established that the
War Department has not co-operated
as il should with the Red Cross No
information can be obtained from a
single official or worker in the latter or
ganization, but II is easy to CLEAN the
truth from official War Department
statements and by talking with army
officers. During the first few months
of the war assistance was given by the
War Department, the statistical divi-
sion answering all questions asked.
Difficulty was first experienced last
spring. when Gen. March announced
that the emergency addresses of men
whose names appeared in the casualty
list would be published no longer Re
quests were made for these addresses.
but the War Department replied that it
was against the policy to give out the
addresses and that they would be given
only in certain cases, which need not be
described here.
Practically every one is agreed that
the plan Of giving out casualty news
from Washington was the right one.
News of that character checked in
Washington is more likely to be ac-
Moreover. messages sent from abroad 10
Washington in official sacks are more
likely to reach the families interested in