PRISONERS' MAILS

Horowhenua Chronicle, 7 April 1916, Page 3

PRISONERS' MAILS

HEAVY TASK of THE SWISS. TRACED i OF BL.'wK.-BORj;ERED STA.ui'o. There is one small postage ct-iinp, with a black border and the .single word: "Decede" (dead;, which represents a greater tragedy than any t ii;<le in the present war. tt is the stump used 'by the international m«il senijc, conducted by .Uje Swiss_ Government, between the prisoners or war oi -i-il nations and their familus, oil letters directed to soldiers who have fallen ai the front -or died in (writes a Berne correspondent ot the Sp: ntgfield Republican.) ■ A large table is piled high with those letters, each bearing the fatal /stamp, "Decede." This is but <■<'■ 'mail, and each day's mail piles the table again. Tltey are to families <n England, Germany, France, 'Turkey, Austria, Japan—the entire iiirigc «•>' lighting countries- for Switzerland has taken over the entire work of administering this mail service between families and their men at the front. For a small country it is an enormous work that Switzerland has thus assumed, bearing the entire expense without a penny's charge to anyone. Located right in the 'heart of the carnage, with tho fighting nations on every side, Switzerland is peculiarly placed lor effectively carrying on this humanitarian work. It is like the diplomatic work •which the United States assumed for the different countries, but the magnitude of the work is probably greater owing to the vastness of these daily mails between a!l the fighting countries. And yet Switzerland* does this work simply and without noise, and tew know of the extent of the undertaking. ■ A great pile of German mail had just come in, and the bags were stacked up on the floor. "Here is something curious, san.l one of the officials, turning to the German mail-bags. "Tou will notice they are made of vpaper—yes. paper manbags, Ilßualily mail-bags are very stout —of leather or heavy canvas. But lately we have noticed tiie Germans are using paper for their bags. It means a big saving of their hemp, and the bags are strong and serviceable. ' All about, long lines of postal employees were at iwnrk sorting the soldiers' mail—ilettcrs, packages and money ordwre—going to various (countries. Many poor people moil a loaf of bread daily to the son or father away at tho front or in prison. One of the wrappings of a loaf of bread had broken open and disclosed that the sender had ingeniously inserted a copy of the Paris Matin inside the bread. _ It was doubtless done without malic*-. the officials saidi, by some poor mother who wanted her son to get a glimpse of the home paper. Most of the packages made one sad to see, they, were so pathetic in their meagronoss and yet so full of silent love. 'ne •was a small remnant of a Christmas tree, with some of tl>e trinkets adhering. Others were packages neatly divided into small sections of chocolate, tobacco, soap, and other needs and small luxuries of the men away from home. But the most poignant branch ot this busy bureau was the table heaped with letters and packages which couid never be delivered, each bearing the stamp "decede." One employee was binding these l.'tters in packages or 100, and then- were many ot these hundreds, with the incoming vans adding to them constantly. When 'he letters are first received every effort is made to deliver them, hut when the official rcord or other authoritative information shows the soldier i* dead, the fatal black-bordered stamp "decede goes on tlie letter and it is returned to the sender. And so this stamp carries into countless homes daily the news, which is a tragedy to each one of these households—the first news for the sending of the letter showed the family thought the son or father was still alive. , "There was a strange incident, about one of those letters," said the official. "The letter was sent ' a mother in Germany to her son in France. Finding he was dead the letter was returned to the mother, who not understanding the French word 'decede.' thought it meant the name of the town to which her son had been transferred. So she wrote to him again, and this time all 1 the children joined in the letter, and it was addressed to his name, at, Decede, France. Of course, there is no ! such place and so again the letter went- . back with nil explanation why u could not be delivered." TVl.'Tfreny summed up the magniiiul - of this work in all ehisses of so'dier mail as follows: '"'Each day the Swis•post office receives and forwards an average of 219,034 letters and rrstals 51,897 registered packages, ami 8158 postal orders—this is the daily averasre on tlie special service of soldier mail.' And yet Switzerland, a small and rot rich country, is doing this work wifb 1 out charge and doing it gladly; its 1 State railways earrv a'l tb's mail free | of charge; all postage stamps, audi duties are waived : hundreds of extra pot- 1 tal employees are engaged in the ad- : ministration, an expenditure of 20.- 1 000.000 francs (£800,000) .of various < kinds is waived—that is fhe way a small country is obeying a large im- i pulse to do its share in the better port 1 of the war's work.