The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1920-04-03
Period of Congestion and vex-
atlous 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.

tnSuf
ance that the insurance division Of
the bureau is virtually at the end OF
It's period of congestion and conse
quent dissatisfaction and vexatious
delays. resulting from the great vol
ume of work suddenly thrown upon Il
by the rehabilitation of the armed
forces during the past year.
Former service men are assured
that they will he 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.
Ihis IS the first time that the bureau
has been in position to give this as
surance.
Strides of great Importance to the
millions of former service men and
their relatives and benefciaries. have
oeen made toward bringing the in
surance business of the bureau to an
absolutely current basis in the prompt
answering of mail and acknowledge
ment OF premiums paid. The records
OF accumulated work disposed of show
conclusively such an enormous and
distinctive improvement in the expe-
diting of the business that II Is con-
hdently believed that within the next
month the insurance division win be
giving as rapid and accurate service
as do any efficiently managed organl-
cations in commercial life
Catch Up on Mail.
For example, the number of unpoSt-
ed premiums. which last October was
approximately $1,000 has just been
reduced to an average of 10000 or
less than one days work. With 9TH
er necessary operations in the hand
ling 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 a reduction of approxi-
mately 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 1t is now possible
to mail out receipts for premiums. It
is matter Of only 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. 1t 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 a result of delay or I'M
satisfactory Information. but the prog
ress now being made indicates con-
clusively that these vexatious cases
will be cleared up speedily, and that
thereafter, although there will always
Of necessity. as in any large organiza-
ton. he occasional errors and delays |
I'm the business in the bureau of war
risk insurance. these difficulties will |
be reduced to a relatively insignia |
cant minimum.
III 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-
quiring 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 a large
of it was answered improp-
erly and frequently delayed.
Many Letters Returned.
In a large proportion of the cases,
the service men themselves. being UNI
familiar with the necessity of giving
full Information about their cases. GER
-ificate numbers, full names. dates of
discharge, etc. rendered it impos-
;IbIe to answer properly their inqui-
res. Others failed to give proper adj
lresses, with the result that today
lumhers of letters addressed to for
ner service men by the bureaus are
1eing returned by postmasters from all
Darts Of tile country, accompanied by
statements thar it is impossible to find
he nddressee. Fragmentary or insult
lcient Information also inevitably re-
ulted in the miscrediting Of preml-
ms. due TO lack of identification.
Some idea of the enormity of the
ob may be gained from the fact that
be most recent figures show that the
otal number of applications for In
urance received by the bureau was
,61O.3SS. totaling $40.141 .233, 500. the
reniuIns to March. 1920. totaling APP
$325.00O.000.
For long period. 1t was necessary
or the bureau to typewrite all of its
ddresses. This meant reference to a
ace in each case. multiplying the
hances of errors and entailing an
normous amount of labor. With
uch an unprecedented business as
ame IN. the bureau was flooded with
publications.. inquiries. remittances.
tc-. and 1t was a physical impossi- b