The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1919-12-03

Dear government. This 10 to let
you know that I am staying a while
with my folks at Simpkins Falls"
And this loyal, punctilious American
mother thought that in that message
she faithfully had complied with the
oft-repeated Injunction, Don't fail to
inform the bureau Of war risk insur-
NICE Of change Of address"
Another conscientious mother who
had been duly instructed in the fact
that It is often difficult to identify q
soldier unless specific information be
given in the letter Of inquiry: addressed
to the bureau, asked for news OF
my boy Jim" 'You must have no
ticed Jim. because he's six feet TALL"
And of course she couldn't be expected
to know that that wasn't just the sort
Of descriptive information which might
help in placing Jim, nor that in that
splendid regiment known as "Per-
shing's own" made up Of units from
all over the country, there were '2.7OO
men who stood six feet and better.
One mother for whom "the boy" had
made allotment and asked government
allowance answered the formal inquiry
as to whether she had other sources OF
income with the p~ainstakingly consci-
entious statement, "Only Fred's hens"
Show Hearty Willingness.
So into the bureau Of war risk in.
surance by the hundreds of thousands
pour the letters bearing their manifest
stories Of hearty willingness to con-
form to requirements and simple, in
corruptible honesty, but frequently so
vague in respect to necessary infor-
nation as to render Identification Of
the cases difficult if not impossible.
The mail section of the bureau works
on a 16-hour basis with one shift work
ing from nine in the morning to five
In the afternoon and a night shift from
one to eight in the morning, handling
directly from the post Office all mail
! arriving during the night.
During the period October, 1918, to
October, 1919, this section received,
sorted, classified and distributed a to-
tai of 19,966,5 33 pieces of mail, and for
the same period received from the va
rious divisions Of the bureau, arranged
according to states, and forwarded to
the city post Office a total Of %, 5 ,508
pieces of mail. This makes q grand
total of AZ .041 pieces. Of mail pass
Ing through the mail section during
the course of twelve months.
On July IA, 1919, Ae mail section,
under instructions from Director r. G.
Cholmeley-J Jones, took over the arrang-
ing and listing of all tenders in pay
ment for insurance premiums. These
| remittances during the period July
14th to October 7th numbered 1908
792 at a valuation Of S ,784,1s6.3s.
Takes On Additional Duties.
The mail section from time to time
Is taking on additional duties in order
to relieve the various divisions Of the
bureau, and IL functioning with q
lower percentage Of errors than the
minimum allowed by the United States
post Office.
The bureaus mail trucks make
hourly trips between the post Office
and the Arlington building and also
collect or deliver at nine Offices of the
bureau outside of the Arlington build
ing, and at eleven other government
Offices.
Around the first Of the month the
mail comes in at the rate of about
10000 pieces a day, later falling to
10000 or $1,000.
Premium receipts make up abou,
half of the entire incoming mall dur
ing the first half Of the month. Sew
enty-fve per cent Of all mail received
Is for the insurance division of thu
bureau.
The mail section also handles eact
day 5000 to 100000 pieces Of out
going mail and about 10000 pieces o.
lnterdepartmental mail. Between De
cember !, 1918, and September 80
1913. the bureau received 4,5O3, 485 dis
charge notices alone. In January tn
food Of discharge notices rose to 685,
300. In August it reached the high
water mark Of 7OO,325. The total mum
Der Of pieces Of incoming mail re
ceived during August was 2,287,436.
How Mail 10 Handled.
Mail az 1t comes from the mail sacl
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