File No. No. 811.712/65
Order No. 211 of the Postmaster General ( Burleson)1
Ordered that, during the continuance of hostilities between the United States and Germany, no letters, packages, or other mail matter originating within the United States or its possessions and destined for Germany, or addressed to any post office, port, or other place within the jurisdiction of Germany, or to any person residing within the jurisdiction of Germany, shall be dispatched from the United States to their said destination; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the seizure or detention of any foreign closed transit mails for Germany originating in other foreign countries or originating in Germany and destined for any other foreign country (not her colony or dependency) while in transit over territory of the United States, which closed mails should be returned by the United States exchange office first receiving them to the country whence received accompanied by [Page 413] a bulletin of verification stating that the United States can not act as intermediary for the forwarding of such mails.
That for the purpose of executing this order postmasters at post offices of the United States and its possessions are hereby instructed to send to the Division of Dead Letters, Post Office Department, Washington, D. C., for return to the senders or other appropriate disposal, all mail matter prohibited dispatch as above indicated.
This order is hereby made to include all mail matter destined for Germany now remaining in the United States and its possessions, and that which may be mailed or received hereafter.
Postmasters will cause due notice of the foregoing to be taken at their offices and until otherwise instructed refuse to accept for mailing any mail matter destined for delivery in Germany.
In view of the fact that under existing conditions mail for Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Turkey requires transit through Germany, to which country mail service from the United States is now suspended, mail for those countries will be treated, until otherwise ordered, in the manner herein prescribed for mail destined for Germany; but mail from those countries received in the United States will be dispatched to destination.
- From the Daily Bulletin of Orders Affecting the Postal Service, Apr. 7, 1917.↩