The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-10-17

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The mail of more than $4,000 SOL
diers in France is. delayed and per-
haps can never be delivered because
Of incorrect addressing While delays
due to this cause and to the fact that
the military authorities have objected
in some cases to furnishing civilian
postal authorities with information as
to the location of troops have been nu'
merous and disagreeable, nevertheless
Captain Frazier maintains they have
constitutedA small part Of the service,
which amounts to the, delivery Of l.
100000 letters day to the troops
abroad. - tx 70. =, .l.- !"
Three Weeks the Average Now.
"Delays caused By military objection
to. furnishing location Of troops are
now being cured in a measure by Civ
ing such information to army officers
directing the mail service. Military
mail officials are now provided with
transportation facilities that were de-
MED to the civilian service. Only in
exceptional cases does it take more
than three weeks for a PROPERLY adj
dressed letter to reach a soldier in
France who is attached to an organ.
ICED unit OF the army: Thesgreat mass
of letters to and from the expedition.
airy forces come and 60 on time Z ~
One Of the causes Of delay has been
duplication of names. Another has
been that hundreds of thousands OF
letters sent to some training camp OF
other in this country were forwarded
to the great central A. E. +. post Office
in France, at Tours, and there held
until the addressee could be located in
: France. 1t is estimated that 100000
letters a month were delayed on this
account. ! Captain Frazier points out
that it is necessary that every soldier
should lofty his correspondents al
once when he is assigned to definite
unit in France.
Delays in the delivery Of mail
which cannot be avoided are likely to
occur at any time during period Of
great activity and secretmovement Of
, troops,". Captain Frazier explains,
"Where the success of a troop move
ment on the front depends upon Sc
crecy mail cannot be sent to members
of mobile force until the troops are
established at the selected designat ton. \
Whether the delay be of hours or sew.
eral days it must be accepted as q
military necessity.
Some Letters Just Miss Ships 80.
"Every care is taken to expedite the
mail for wounded men in hospitals.
The only delay is that which is abso-
lutely unavoidable. A wounded man
may be sent from one hospital to an.
other, and even to several before
reaching a permanent base hospital.
There rs no delay whatever, in mail
sent home by or for wounded men.
"Only two causes Of delay have oc.
Cured Mt 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 des.
tinntion of ships.
UNLESS the military port officer at
the port Of embarkation knows where
steamship is going to land, mail cam
not be sent by that steamship. This
defect has been cured by war de-
partment order which directs that the
information as to destination be fur.
nished to the military port officer. Ono
of the most puzzling things to the pub.
lie has been the Frequency with which
letters were received in France Of q
later date than letters that came after
ward. One explanation of this is that
the postmaster OF the port 6f 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 800, 1900 bags would
lie over, and these might include let. !,
ters written previously to letters in the
300 bags"
All In all, Captain Frazier sees n
great Improvement in the service and
predicts q constant bettcrment--lf the
people ut bone will use care.
.fsI stt+ 80 &
Superior, Wis.--Produce valued at
over $4,000 was raised by schoolgirl.