1918. ChecfelMt I i tatr Wial Uncle Sam is Doing for Wives hnd Children of Soldiers CABLEGRAM. Of 'epartaaAB,. gndSdilOrSr-JyTrczn a Cpenen to, . -.(I Or THE SUNDAY OKEGOXIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER AND THE FOLKS AT HOME BUY UNCLE SAM'S INSURANCE Buy the Full SIO.OOO tCepyrlcfct. 11. by rrank O. Carpeater.) " Aa hl part I that toath down to the bat tle so (hall hi part be that tarrlata by the tun; Uwy ehell part alike, WASHINGTON. D. C Thi waa on a of the war deereea of David whea he commanded the armlea of Kiss Saul In bis campaign against the Amalekltes. It corresponds with on) of ths recant decrees of Presi dent Wilson, our commander in chief In the great -war of the prevent The decreea were written by Congress. They are the will of the Nation, but the President baa put them into action and Secretary McAdoo la carrying them out. They relate to thoae who are "tarrying by the stuff." They have to do with the heroes at home, the mothers, wives and children of the heroes abroad. We hare already put several million men under arms and by the time this letter la published J.OeO.000 of them will have been landed in Prance and tens of thousands of others will be dodging submarines on their way over the ocean. Every one of these men repre sents a family. Many have left depend ent wives and children behind. Some have fathers and mothers of whom they are the sole support, and the sac rlflce and service on the part of these dear ones at home are almost as great as thoae incurred by the men in going abroad. the battle so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part' alike." Tha Government has decreed that this shall be the division. The people at home shall be taken care of the same as the soldiers abroad, and it has enacted legislation and brought Into being the machinery to carry out its decrees. The machinery Is known as the military and naval division of war risk Insurance. It had no exist ence whatever until Congress passed the act for Its creation last October, but it Is now bigger than a govern meit department in peace times. It has altogether something like 10.000 employes, and of these 1000 are work ing at night. It keeps 4300 typewriting machines busy all day. and hundreds of clerks do nothing else but take care of the index files. The offices now oc cupy all or parts of twelve buildings and they will fill the great structure now being erected for the Treasury De partment on the site of the old Arling ton Hotel. The bureau is receiving more than 1S.000 applications a day for war Insurance and It will soon be sending out 1.000.000 checks every month ss the allotment of the fam ilies of our soldiers and sailors. From December to October it sent out more than S.5C0.000 checks worth altogether tl 40.000.000. and each check repre sented money, a part of which was takes ffom the pay of a man in the Army oT Navy and the remainder from the United States Treasury, as the share of those who were tarrying by the stuff, having sent their men abroad to fight for them. Before I describe my visit te this bureau and what it Is doing, let ma give you the provisions the Government has made for those who tarry at borne. Th l"olted States is more liberal to Its soldiers than any other nation on eartn. It pays the highest wages that have ever been known. The amount received by each private Is at least 130 per month, but In givlns It the Government does not absolve the man from his duty of taking care of his family. IS is willing to do its share, but the man must do his. It requires that IIS out of every month'j pay go to the family. This Is known as the Government allotment and It is com pulsory on the part of the soldtet only in case he Is married or has dependent children or relatives whe would otherwise be a charge on the community. In addition to this SIS a month the Government adds an equal amount oi more out of the United States Treas ury as its share as a payment for those who tarry at home. The amount appropriated at the time the act was passed was $141,000,000 and much more will be required before the war is over. The Government payments- vary ac cording to the size and dependence of the family. If the soldier has a wife only, she gets half his pay and 15 additional, receiving SI0 a month. If there la a wife and one child the Gov ernment adds 125 a month, making the monthly payment $40. "there is a wife and two children It adds $Ji.S a month, and for each additional child It adds IS more. If there is no wife and two children the children receive sit so fnim Cncle Sam. In addition to tha IIS of their fathers pay. If there i. - wifa and three children they get t2 and if no wife and four children la. children receU-e 130 with IS more nnnth fnr each additional child. The law has also provisions by which If a soldier's grandchildren or parents h-.ih.ra or sisters are dependent npon him for support one-half of his pay goes to them, the Government add ing eoraethlng like $10 per parent and from l to ISO for Ut CUIluren. lnr as there be one. two. three or four. - tMa tt will be seen that ever family that "tarries by" the etuff will receive from 130 to ISO or more a month while Its man Is away flghUng nr haltlea At the present time hun dreds of thousands of families are re ceiving such payirents monthly, and this number will eteadily increase as more soldiers go to the xieia. In addition to these payments, the law makes certain provisions If the soldier dies or is disabled during the service. These are the same for men of all rank and are not based npon tha nay of tha soldier. The soldier's If there are no children, will receive 15 per month. A widow and one child will get I3S. and if there be two children the amount will be 147.10 per month, witn more lor acn tmnal child no to two. IX the soldier leaves a child, but no widow, the amount paid will be $!0. and for two children 130. while for three children It will be $40 a month, with $5 addi tional for each child up to two more. If the mother of the soldier be a widow she may receive $20, but neither a widow nor a mother shall have her persion continued after remarriage. If the soldier becomes disabled during the service be will receive a payment of from $30 to $100 per month, the latter sum being given only .when he is per manently bea-rtdden. There are also compensations for Injuries of various kind received In battle or while In the service. Another Important provision of Uncle Sam's for those who "tarry by the stuff Is insuring the lives of the men In the service. Arrangements for this have 1 een made and they are car ried out through this bureau of naval and military ina-rance. Already in the neighborhood of 4.000.000 applications for policiea have been made and the total -amount of Insurance written to date Is more than $30,000,000,000. The average amount Insured Is for $8600 and it Is estimated that more than $0 out of every 100 men are lrsured. The object of the Government war Insurance is to give the soldiers and sailors a chance to Insure their lives at reasonable rates. When the war broke out the chief life Insurance companies added $100 per $1000 to the ordinary rates on all war life insurance. This meant that the man who took out a $1000 policy would have to pay as much as the 'man In private life and $100 more per year. If he took out $5000 he would have to pay the regular rate and an excess of $500 per year, and If $"500. the average amount which the Government Is giving, he would have to pay an excess of 1850. r This was manifestly Impossible for men receiving only $360 and upward per year, and so the Government estab lished this war risk insurance bureau to take care of the situation. According to Its regulations the Insurance rates are less than one-twelfth the excess war rate charged by the life Insurance companies. These are lower than the ordinary rates of those companies and are so arranged that after the man has applied for Insurance the money for the premiums Is taken out or nis pay every month and he need not worry about his policy lapsing from his not keeping t up. .. . Moreover, the rates are exceedingly low. Those of the draft ages irom ?1 to II are only from 5 to 70 cents per $1000 per month, so that if a man takes out a $10,000 policy, which Is the highest sum possible, he pays there fore only $7 per month. If he takes out a $5000 oplicy It costs him $3.50 per month and If ho dies his family would get $27.50 per month of every year for 11 years therearter. ims 11-year payment la one of the pecnllar Itlea of the policy. The. amount it is Insured for Is not paid as a whole nnn death, but In equal monthly in stallments for 240 months after death. The Installments are $5.75 per $1000 and the average insurance policy so far applied for will give permontn for 21 years to the wife, children or relative of the man lasured should he happen to die. Thla Insurance win oe paiq w w man Bimseir ii ne ia manently disabled during the terra of his policy, no matter whether he Is In the service or not and after the war is over he can keep up tne in surance on tne same term-, mr years, or he can convert it into om forms of life Insurance arranged for by the Government. And now let me tell yon something about the big machine which has beep organized to carry on this part of tne ir. I have spent the greater pan of the day looking Into It and I am surprised at the efficiency with which it Is running. The machine had to be created from the ground up. lne Government had no department or a similar character and the whole naa to be blasted, as it were, out of the rocks. The business started with the Insuring of our ships at sea against losses by the German fleet and submarines, and from that beglnnng was developed the great machine for insuring the lives of millions or men, largely the work of William C. De La noy. an Insurance man of New York City, who has been the director of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance from the start and who now la at lta head. In order to do this work, however, he had to bring in many others to help him. and among others C F. Nes bit, the present commissioner of mil itary and naval insurance, was ap pointed to put the new bureau Into being. I asked Mr. Nesbit to tell me how the work was organiezd. Said he: "We were In despair at the start. Tha thing was so big and it had to be done in such a short time. The sol diers were already in the cantonments and General Pershing and his Army were already in France. We had no offices, no equipment, no clerks and no definite plans. The Job seemed Impossible. I could not sleep of nights for worrying about my part of it. and I remember telling the Assistant Sec retary of the Treasury that if he had ordered me to take a gang of pick and shovel and dynan-.lte men out to Colorado and move. Pike Peak 200 miles west In a space of two months the task would not have seemed to ma greater than tha one they had given us." "But you soon got the Job under way," -Tea. we had to do so. The families of the soldiers had to have their allow ances, and there were thousands who wished to insure. Congress had enacted the law. the money had been appropri ated and the work had to be done. It commenced the day the act was passed. That was the sixth of last October, and by 2:10 P. U. of that day we were look- 4T 9V tadPP - ,..1.41 " T cstat put" . -.I taw tess' Ing for offices and fighting for nr equipment in the way of desks, type writers and help. There .were no build ings to be had, no blanks and no clerks. We found our first quarters in the Na tional Museum, and later there was an overflow to other places acattered over the city When we looked for clerks we found that the other departments had already consumed the available supply, and we. had to get our help from the new people who came Into the city. We have now over 4000 clerks and shall need many more as the business of the bureau increases, aa It la bound to do. We must have a fireproof building to take care of our records and files. Our papers are the only records the Govern ment has of lta contracts with the sol diers and sailors, and should they be lost or destroyed there would be need less litigation created. We shall need them certainly for 60 years hence." "It would seem to me that the task of planning the machine must have been a gigantic one." "In deed it was," replied the commis sioner, "andMt waa only through the assistance of Insurance men all over the country that we were able to do it and that in such a short time. As soon as the act waa passed the Government applied to the leading life insurance companies and they sent the best men In their employ to help us. Many of the high officials, actuaries and other experts came and worked here " for weeks without pay, and it was through them that we were able to create the machinery and make the organisation we have. Some of these men are still here and the work ia being done with the aid of the best brains and expe rience of- the country." "Can yon give me some Ides, of the work?" I asked. "It seems to me," said the commis sioner of Insurance, "that the bureau might be looked upon as a great fac tory. The raw material is the appro priations of Congress and the blanks which have been filled out by the sol- dlers and sailors and sent In to us. The finished product goes out In the shape of checks delivered to the fami lies of soldiers and sailors and the ma chinery comes between. "Take, for instance, the atory of one application. It is written on a blank at one of the cantonments and It comes to us In a lot of a few hundred or it may be 60,000, for we have often that many in one day. The blanks are first read and sorted. The one we-have chosen may go Into any one of eight classes. It may need no allotment or it may demand allowances and go into a certain class, according to the amount and number of dependents to be paid. We do everything here by number and not by name. Each application that comes in has Its number and from that time thia number and not the name is referred to. The next operation is figuring out the amount that the fam ily of the applicant should receive and this Is followed by writing a card which contains the man's name, the branch of the service and the parties to whom his pay is" to go. This card has to be verified and checked up by two different clerks to see that it Is cor rect. After that the information upon It is transferred to the card index sys tem and duplicate cards are sent to the disbursing officer where the checks are made and sent out. One card must go to the bookkeeping division where the checks are to be signed, and the last operation Is placing the checks in the letter of transmittal to go out In the malls. In all, there are 18 dif ferent operations performed on each application for allotment or allow ance and it takes at least 18 different neonle to handle each one. This means that the millions of application blanks we have already handled have required at least 18 times that number of han dling operations and that such work must continue on as long aa the war lasts. "This work has to be done aa to every application," Mr. Nesbit contin ued, "and when you consider the vast number of men in the service and that wa must keep track of every one and his family, you can realize something aa to the work. Take, for Instance, the Smiths. We have more than 100,000 of them on our flies. We have more than 1000 John Smiths, more than 1500 Will lam Smiths, over 200 each of John A. Smiths and William H. Smiths. There are more than 1000 John Browns and about 10,000 soldiers named Miller or Wilson. We had recently some trouble retarding the allotment of John J. O'Brien, whose wife was named Mary. HIHO 3P- nMt l . - BT1UI.- ifcwW " Ttfsk lts at)provea vv TSdi oer pur?-: a. ar.ii -tfC fswi We looked up the index cards and found that there were 262 John J. O'Briens and 60 of them had wives of that name. Moreover, there are many changes and additions. We have to have the names and ages of tha chil dren, and that even to the babies born after the soldiers have left for France. We received one communication the other day which stated: "Child born named Elizabeth, wants allowance.'" In company with Mr. Nesbit I went from building' to bulging looking -into the processes above described. The first visit was to the New National Mu seum, which covers more than two acres. It is situated in the Mall back of the city market and north of the Smithsonian Institution. Many of the exhibits have been removed to make way for the clerks. The great hall back of the vestibule has been cleared and there are hundreds of women and men working within it. The room cov ers perhaps half an acre, and the only museum curiosity remaining is the original flying machine with which Dr. Langley experimented from an Island down the Potomac, thus making the first demonstration of successful ma chine flight. The little "aerodrome," as he called it, hangs from the ceiling above 50 or 60 typewriters and tabulat ing and adding machines which are clicking away. Not far to the right of if they topenlng the mail, which comes in at the rate of over 1000 per hour, and at the left they are checking and filing the claims of the soldiers. It takes more than 100 women to sort and distribute the mail. There are clerical machines of all kinds clipping away, and the red tape so common to Gov .mm.nh rienartments has. as far as possible, been eliminated. In organiz ing the machine, the best of the United 07M rrea - 5 e,- - States bureau of efficiency experts were called in. Leaving this room, I went on to oth ers on the first and second floors of the museum, finding clerks at work everywhere, and thence was taken down into the basement to see the great audience hall with Its begin ning of files and other record equip ment. Coming out of the National Museum, we crossed the street to the city mar ket, making our way among the butchers and provision dealers to an iron stairway which took us to the attic. Wa entered what seemed to be a great factory. The room covers one third of an acre. The roof is high overhead and it' looks like a barn. It v.. frtpm.rlT used as a drillroom for soldiers, and was once noted as bPing the largest' dancehall south of New York. It Is now filled with hundreds of clerks working away at Hat aesKs. The air is loaded with the noise of typewriters and other clerical ma chines, and one is reminded of a great cotton mill. It is here that the checks are sent out to the families of our soldiers and' sailors. The work goes on day and night and the rush is such that at times they are working on Sundays. At the close of one Sunday night it was found that more than 100,000 checks had gone out. The ordinary capacity of the establishment is 30,000 checks dally. The money goes out in a con tinuous stream, or, I might eay, in thousands of streams, for the checks move forth by every mail train and to every part of the Union. I found the same activity in the Elks" Hall, where they are daily han dling more than 11,000 applications for life Insurance, and also in the old emergency hespital, which has . been taken over for another branch of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. There is a necessity that all of these forces be gathered together under one roof and the fireproof building on the eite of the Arlington Hotel will be about right for this purpose. The pension business of the Government has as its quarters the largest brick building of the world, and that required for war risk insurance will. I venture, be equally large. ' There are 175,000,000 cells In the lungs, and, spread out,- they would cover a surface 30 times greater than the human body. ' 99 CjJie nun treatment Jbr tender skins Is your skin so tender that the least exposure to the weather makes it smart and burn so ten der that it is often painful even to wash? Some people, with delicate, tender skins have been misled by the superstition that washing the face with soap is bad for the complexion. Dr. Pusey, the famous skirt specialist, in his book on the care of skin, says : "The layer of dirt and fat that such persons accumulate on the skin is a constant invitation to various disorders." The following Woodbury treatment is just what a sensitive skin needs to keep it active and a soft washcloth in warm water and hold it to the face. Then make a warm water lather of Woodbury's Facial Soap and dip your cloth up and down in it until the cloth is "fluffy" with the soft, white lather. Rub this lathered cloth gently over your skin until the pores are thoroughly cleansed. Then rinse the face with clear, cool water and dry carefully. Make this treatment a nightly habit- See what 'a difference it will make in your skin in even ten 'days a promise of that loveliness which the !. awn. -Via -w9a Ia-ru "'ftrii.iw t . , w.tr- a u-rv 7:BsBa- wwtutaaalg -""AJjJffe Tenuis TAis Ccl& Tott Auction Bridge. Continued From Pace 2.) been said, I give below examples of correct and incorrect overcall bids. The score in each case. It is assumed, is love, and the desire naturally is to reach game. I may here state that when the score is such that the same number of tricks at any bid will in sure game, the overcall of a minor with a major suit is not so essential, pro vided always, the partner's hand has help for the minor suit called. Your partner Z, bids a heart A passes and you hold hearts 3; clubs A K J 7 5 4: diamonds Q 7 2; spades K 7 6. Having no help at hearts, but good clubs, overcall with "2 clubs." It is a backward bid and a distinct warn ing of danger. Your partner bids diamonds and you hold hearts A-K J 7 6 4: clubs 2; dia monds K 4 2; spades 6 5 2. You have good help for your, partner at dia monds, but you have a genuine bid at hearts, 'a better suit. So inform your partner. Transpose your hearts, and diamonds and let the bid be a heart rather than a diamond and you allow the bid to stand. Your diamond hold ing is the same as was your heart hold ing in the former instance, but you have help for your partner at his bid, hearts, and hearts is a major suit which could r,o game in one trick less than your suit, diamonds. If your left hand adversary outbids your partner and your partner passes, raise his bid (hearts), if necessary, twice. You have a trick (the guarded heart honor), and two raisers the diamond ace and the singleton club). This justifies two raises. Some even would risk three be cause of the diamond king. Your partner bids hearts and you hold hearts 7 6 3; clubs 6; diamonds A K Q J 4; spades K Q J 9. Having three hearts, the suit your partner bids, let his bid stand. If it becomes neces sary, raise the heart bid. Your dia monds will make a good side suit. Do not be misled because the suit con tains four honors. Your partner bids heart and you hold hearts 4: clubs, 9 5 4 2; dia mond A 4 2; spades, A K J 8 6. Deny the hearts. Overcall with "2 spades.' Your partner bids a spade and you hold hearts, 10 6 6 4 3 2; clubs, Q: diamonds A Q J 8 4 2; spades . Deny the spades by overcalling with "2 dia monds." s Your partner bids a spade and you hold hearts Q J 9 7 3 2; clubs. A K Q; diamonds 2; spades Q J 3. Let your partner's bid stand. You have two honors in the suit, a singleton diamond and the tierce major in clubs, an ex cellent assisting hand at spades. In actual play the holder of this hand did not allow the bid to stand but bid a heart,' thus denying the spades and causing his partner endless confusion. The outcome of this hand was inter esting, illustrating in' a forcible man- regular use of Woodbury's brines to a tender,! sensitive skin. . Begin tonight to have a lovelier skin Get your first cake of Woodbury's today. Begin now to overcome whatever condition is keeping your skin from being as lovely as it should be. Blackheads, conspicuous nose pores, oily skin 'and shiny nose, blemishes, a sluggish, sallow skin treat ments for these and others of the commoner skin troubles are given in the booklet "A Skin You Love to Touch" which comes wrapped around the soap. You will find a 25c cake sufficient for a month or six weeks of any Woodbury treatment and for general cleansing use during this time. Get a cake today. It is on sale at all drug stores and toilet goods counters throughout the United States and Canada. The Andrew Jergens Company, Cincinnati, New York and Perth, Ontario. u PTid t. 90 j 6 -W ' -"--wt tell. . - - .., I ner the evils that can result from bad bidding. I will later give the hand. Your partner bids a spade and you hold hearts 7, 5. 3; clubs, K, 7, 6; dla-u monds, K. Q, J, 10, 8. 4, 3; spades, none. Overcall with "two diamonds. This Is a distinctly backward bid. and your partner should so construe it. This, by the way. proved a very Inter esting hand, bringing up some exceed ingly instructive points. I give it in full: 7 51 K7 6 KQJ 10 843 V K Q J 10 8 4 J .... 4 6 Q J 10 9 3 Q J 10 9 8 3 2 9 7 52 a 64 A9I A6 4 .A AK8752 How many players, I wonder, with: Z's holding, would have bid a spada rather than no trumps? Many other wise reasonable players are so obsessed with the idea of playing a hand at no trumps thatsthey can regard it fnom this viewpoint only and fail to realize that a sound major bid is often the better bid. This hand holds a hundred aces, a temptation too great for the. majority cf players to resist. Never theless danger lurks In the no-trump bid because of the singleton ace ofi diamonds and the gneat drop in hearts and clubs. Z, who prefers a safe game) to a brilliant one, started, correctly, with a spade bid. A passed. Y made the overcall of "two diamonds." B bid "two hearts." Z now bid "two no trumps." His partner is protected in diamonds, while he holds the ace twice guarded in the adversary's suit. Tho no-trump bid. therefore, now becomes the proper bid. This hand was played in dpulicate, and at some tables the bidding continued between Z and B un til Z went to "four no trumps," which held the bid. At these tables Z made a- grind slam, giving him a total of 270 points 70 for tricks, 100 for aces and 100 for slam. a a At other tables when B went to "four ' hearts" Z, instead of persisting in his bid, doubled and B redoubled. At these tables Z-Y took eight tricks before B .could get a lead. Each of these tricks was worth 200 points, so their overtop score was 1000 the value of four rubbers. At one of the tables B relinquished his heart bid- after he had called "three hearts" as his partner did not once raise him, he felt he could de pend upon his own hand alone and Z in spite of his partner's warning con tinued his spade bid, going to three. At this table Z lost three odd tricks, and the adversaries scored 150 plus simple honors, 18 in all 168. It is easy to see which of' the players in Z's position used the soundest judg ment. ' Y A B Z