The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1920-04-15
Period of Congestion and vex-
atious Delays Is Virtually
at an End.
ANSWER WITH REAL LETTERS
Strides of Great Importance Made in
Bringing Insurance Business of
Bureau to an Absolutely
Current Basis.

Washington. - Announcement is
made by Director r. G. Cholmeley-
Jones of the bureau of war risk insur-
ance that the insurance division of
the bureau is virtually at the end of
its period of congestion and conse-
quent dissatisfaction and vexatious
delays, resulting from the great vol
ume of work suddenly thrown upon it
by the rehabilitation of the armed
forces during the past year.
Former service men are assured
that they will be answered promptly
from now on with real letters, instead
of with form paragraphs or unsatis-
factory form letters, in all cases which
require detailed and specific answers.
This is the first time that the bureau
has been in a position to give this as
surance
Strides of great Importance to the
millions of former service men and
their relatives and beneficiarieS, have
been made toward bringing the in
surance business of the bureau to an
absolutely current basis in the prompt
answering of nail and acknowledge
ment of premiums paid. The records
of accumulated work disposed of show
conclusively such an enormous and
distinctive improvement In the expe-
dlting of the business that it Is con-
fidently believed that within the next
month the insurance division will be
giving as rapid and accurate service
as do any efficiently managed organi-
cations in commercial life.
Catch Up on Mail.
For example, the number of unpost-
ed premiums, which last October was
approximately $4,000 has just been
reduced to an average of 10000 or
less than one days work. With 9TH
er necessary operations in the hand
Ting of remittances, a receipt will be
sent out in few days from the date
Of the original receipt of the remit
lance.
Unanswered mail in the insurance
division shows q reduction of approx
matelv 60 per cent from the daily
balance of five months ago. Probably
1t will be two or three weeks before
1t will be possible to answer all the
letters as quickly as it is now possible
to mail out receipts for premiums. 1t
Is matter of only q few weeks, how
ever, before the answering of all let
tiers in reference to insurance within
four days of their receipt in the bu-
reau will be the regular practice.
In the meantime, it is inevitable
that there will be some Impotence on
the part of those service men who in
the past have experienced difficulty in
adjusting their insurance matters with
the bureau, as result of delay or un-
satisfactory information, but the prog
ress now being made indicates con-
clusiyely that these vexatious cases
will be cleared up speedily, and that
thereafter, although there will always
Of necessity, as in any large organiza-
ton, be occasional errors and delays
In the business in the bureau Of war
risk insurance, these difficulties will
be reduced to a relatively insignifi-
cant minimum.
In order to cope with the great flood
of mail which came to the bureau CO.
incident with rehabilitation of the
armed forces each of the letters re-
curing searching Of the records,
which in many cases was done by in
experienced personnel, it was neces-
sary to resort to form and paragraph
letters in answering inquiries. In
struggling with the volume of excess
mail which piled up in the bureau,
there is no question but that large
percentage of it was answered imprOp-
erly and frequently delayed.
Many Letters Returned.
In a large proportion of the cases,
the service men themselves, being I'M
familiar with the necessity of giving
full information about their cases, GER
tificate numbers, full names, dates of
discharge, etc., rendered it impos-
sible to answer properly their inqui-
ries. Others failed to give proper adj
dresses, with the result that today
numbers of letters addressed to for
mer service men by the bureau, are
being returned by postmasters from all
parts of the country, accompanied by
statements that it is impossible to find
the addressee. Fragmentary or insult
ficient information also inevitably re-
suited in the miscrediting of premi-
ums. due to lack of Identification.
Some idea of the enormity of the
Job may be gained from the fact that
the most recent figures show that the
total number Of applications for in
surance received by the bureau was
4,610,388, totaling $40, 141, 800, the
premiums to March, 1920, totaling APP
proximately 1926, 100000.
For a long period, it was necessary
for the bureau to typewrite all of its
addresses. This meant reference to a
record in each case, multiplying the
chances of errors and entailing an
enormous amount of labor. With
such an unprecedented business as
came in, the bureau was flooded with
applications, inquiries, remittances,
etc, and it was physical impossi-