Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-04-24
FOLKS AT HOME
DO MOST WRITING
A. f. F.. POSTAL SERVICE SAYS
so AND HAS THE FIGURES
TO PROVE 1T.

An article of considerable interest
was sent to Mr.. and Mrs. T. C. Kes-
ter by their son Walter who is now
in France. 1t gives so much infor-
nation that We reprint the article in
full as follows:
If the mail clerks of the A. E. F,
decide to hoist their own distinctive
shoulder insignia it will be a thumb,
a right thumb that looks like an ord
mary thumb that has been flattened
out with a hammer. For the right
thumb of every experienced mail
sorter is almost one-third again as
broad as his left and you can always
tell the old timers among the $500
officers and enlisted men in the A. E.
F. r---l service by the breadth of
their right thumbs.
But there are several thousand
soldiers in the postal service whose
right thumbs are just spreading out
with the first years experience. Yes
terday they were in combat organi-
zations. Today. though, they are
being fitted into the army mail sys-
tenn, a system that has been chasing
itself day after day to keep pace
with its expansion.
Overwhelmed from it's birth, the
army postal system has, never been
free from the pressure of new
growth. In July last year the army
took over from the postal depart
ment the job of handling it's own
mail. The A. E. F. became it's own
postmaster.
In July, 1918, the army in France
filled $4,000 sacks with it's letters
and packages. In December, 1918
the A. E. F. postal system was dis
tributing $4,000 sacks of mail In
January the A. E. F. sent 27.S7S,000
letters back to the states through
Bordeaux and Brest and the folks
back home, living p to their record
all through the war, returned al
most two letters for every one they
received, 50.4S3,000 letters arriving
to be distributed through the 155
main postoffices of the A. E. F.
s Just as an incident in January's
postal business the port at Bordeaux
loaded 5000 mailsacks full of Ger
man helmets on homeward bound
boats. There were some other
souvenirs mixed in among the he'll
NETS, of course, and the old iron
market of few years to come will
nave q ucW iiStcu
assorted and mixed Prussian
scrap" or something like that.
The American soldier has lived up
to the letter writing reputation of
the American people. Today the
volume of business of the A. E. F.
postal system is larger than that of
the entire French civilian postoffice
system and it is still growing. New
plans call for an A. E. F. postoffice
in Berlin, more than 500 enlisted
men and 100 officers having pro-
ceeded to German interior points on
Red Cross and other special mis-
sions.
The A. z. F. mail system is mod
eled on the backbone way of han
ding the mail. There are "a long
railroad lines over which A. f. F.
mali coaches. in charge of A. E. F.
soldiers pass daily. On Is OF
of the "a lines mail is sorted en-
route. There are $50 soldiers who
travel on these coaches as guards
part of their duty is to see that the
mail coach isn't sidetracked and for
gotten in some out-of-.he-way
switching yard. These men live on
the coaches, eat, sleep and all, and
they are almost constantly travel
ing. Layovers are short and come
only az the end of long journeys.
In addition to former equipment,
20 new German mail cars have just
been taken over by the A. E. F. and
are now running daily over various
lines. The cars have stoves, Sleep
ing hunks, and ingenious devices for
sorting. The German signs are
still posted on the sides. Some Of
these cars are keeping the Third Ar
my in touch with the rest of the ar
my and home. Twelve day mall
service is now not uncommon be-
tween Coblenz and New York. 1t
might even be shorter,
As an example of the way 1t works
the Third Army mail coach left
Coblenz at 1890 a. m, February
20 The coach arrived in Paris at
9:45 the next day and its contents
were unloaded and distributed by
1890 a. m. The sacks for the
States arrived in Bordeaux at 500
o'clock that evening. Leaving Bor-
deaux on Sunday, February 20, the
mail should arrive in New York to-
morrow.
"That is as good service as history
has ever shown" a major in the p.
z. s. declared. However, every
body understands just how the mail
situation over here is affected by the
general railroad situation during
the reconstruction period. On some
lines for instance 1T is not possible
to figure even vaguely on schedules.
From Tuors to Chaumont. as an ex-
ample, the American Special is often
SO hours late-thre are days when