Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-17

entries. the magnitude of the task undertaken
becomes apparent He soon Jaw that by the
addition OF about twice as much labor on these
index cards-by inserting not only the mans
name. regiment. company and the name of
hospital. but also the date Of bis entry and
discharge anc the diagnosis Of his case, which
IL usually contained in one word and never
more than fve-he would then have a complete
transcript o. these perishing records that
would live forever and be twice as servicesble.
SO he has done il, and by the beginning Of
1880 all OF the calls Of the pension Office for
hospital records will be answered by reference.
not TO these erumbling books but 70 hle cases
containing slips Of stiff paper abouts inches
every man treated in hospital. wherever To-
ca'ed, at any time during or since the war.
INSTEAD OF CROPPING IN A MusTY BOOK
ior hoursin an uncertain search for an unknown
quantity clerk steps to the case containing
the records OF the right regiment, and, pulling
out a ME box, finds his slips in less than a
minute, transcribes the information on blank
and 10. that which before was tortuous course
Oh RED tape extending over many months is all
accomplished In less than five minutes in twice
as satisfactory manner.
COMPARING AND CHECKING.
There are now about g. 600, 900 of the 600 600
entries copied from the books to the cards. and
DIR. Ainsworth hopes to have the remaining 3
0O0. 600 completed by the last OF December. This
work has been done since Nav 1887 and has
been accomplished without any increase of
force. As the current work of answering calls
was overtaken spare men were put upon the
work OF copying. A beautiful system Of COM
pairing and checking was devised. under which
mistakes were made impossible and the work
was rushed ahead until today there are sixty
hve men engaged in answering calls in place of
the $50 who were formerly in that line. and the
remaining ls5 are copying from the old books.
THE WORK OF COPYING
is carefully performed on printed blanks made
of the very finest quality of linen paper, that
approaches parchment in toughness and dura-
bilty. The blanks are printed out as fully as
possible in order 10 save writing this being
done on presses on the lower floor of the build
ing After being copied the cards are COM
pared by another set of men in another part of
the building The comparer does not know in
the morning whose work he is TO handle that
day, and is therefore unable to form any COM
oination with the copyist whereby fraudulent
records could be inserted on extra cards in or
DER 10 secure pensions for friends.
OTHER CHECKS
make this operation still more impossible. All
errors of copying rectiied by making an
entirely new slip, as erasures or corrections are
prohibited This is to prevent corrections of
the records. II a card should even be discov-
ered with scratch or extra mark on it there
Is prima facie evidence that il has been tam
pered with. Each card is signed by the copyist
ana Is stamped in consecutive order bv a num-
beiing machine procured from the bureau of
engraving and printing. record is kept of
the numbers falling to certain volumes and
also OF the numbers stamped on each day.
TINS, together with the date stamp that goes
with the number, Is almost an unavoidable OBJ
stacle to the insertion of fraudulent records
ANSWERING CALL.
When call comes from the pension Office
there are from 200 to 600 received every morn
ing-it is given to a .'searcher," who dives
into the file boxes and hauls out the slips re-
latlng to the man in question. There may be
only one, more likely two or three and some
times half dozen, according as the man was
very SICK or only a casual case. 1t not infre-
quently happens that there are records OF a
man almost constant presence in hospital on
the slightest pretext. These we're known dur
ing the war as
HOSPITAL RUNNERS,
who sought that means to avoid the harder life
and rougher fare of field work. A card is on
exhibition In the Office showing the case of a
man whose name is borne on the records of
various hospitals 16l times. All this inforrna-
ton is on one card, consolidated FROM the l6 en-
tries In many volumes
Once provided with the slips the searcher is
enabled to write out his reply TO the pension
Office in a few minutes. II a nan claims a
treatment in hospital of which there is no
record on the cards the case is sent down to
the new medical museum building-where the
OLD books are now stored-and a search is
there made in order to give the claimant the
benefit of all doubts, although there is a moral
certainty that the further search will be fruit
less.
In the file boxes the slips are ranged in
aiphabetic order between certain letter groups
In such system that il is perfectly easy to find
a card in less than a minute, and yet there are
i've million cards on all sides.
EXTENDING the woBK.
This work will be extended to the old records
OF the adjutant generals alice, in themselves
fully as valuable as those of the hospitals. for
they contain the muster rolls OF each regiment
and company, all returns Of troops, all records
OF leaves, furloughs, discharges, musters out,
dismissals, and in fact every detail OF the SOL
diers life during that perilous period. They
are In the form of large sheets that have been
folded and unfolded until they are practically
In shreds. The work of card-indexing them
will be a great service and will be started Just
as soon as the current work of that office is
showed up even. When this is accomplished
any call on the War department for inforpla-
ton contained in the old records can be an
swered inside of twenty-four hours, while the
crumbling leaves of the faithful volumes are
sleeping in ire-proof walls.
~