New-York tribune., 1889-12-23
prsINESS METHODS USED.
,rcRErARY PRoCToR'S REFORMS BASED
ON PRACTICAL IDEAS
.ow A GREAT MASS OF ACCUMULATED CASES
MAS CLEARED AWAY IN ONE OF HIS DE-
PARTMENTs ADVANTAGES OF
THE GARD INDEX SYSTEM
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vasnington, Dec. 22.-It is of the curious
.am,les of departmental organization that while
-. pension Bureau is part of the Department OF the
.s,ior all the original record evidence In possession
:, ,be Government bearing pension claims is
s,er the control OF the War Department. There
.h.. Department over 80 900 volumes OF hospital
o,rd books and over half million rolls and books
anr the service records Of the veterans of the late
"a, There are o47 clerks engaged in the work of
sxerng calls from the Pension Ofice for information
s,sipsbie from these alone. When secretary
v.,tor became the head OF the Department last
'.,,ns. this work was badly in In the
.,ntant Generals Office there were over 10000 cases
hand unolsposed of. There were but few
,ch had not been in the Office for more than thirty
s and the bulk of them from sixty TO ninety while
.,xc were which known officer
nuster cases (which had been in the Office from one
:. ,,ur wears The whole system calculated TO
.te rather than save work. The Pension Office
,se one call the surgeon Generals Office of the
u- Department for the claimants hospital record,
,s II made another separate one on the Adjutant-
n.rerals Office for the service record and received
,n,rate answers thereto. In the AdjutantGeneras
.scs the work divided among thirteen divisions
and subdivisions. necessarily making work for each
.,ber. The Department had Hnconsciously fallen into
.o,eessness 10 the possibility of bringing the work
,n 10 date; and there not wanting those who
.r., maintained that il impossible to work to
.s~.ntase unless there was accumulation of cases
% hpd
s,eretary Proctor is distinctively a business man
,s has the reputation of having the nerve to carry
AZ; a reform which his judgment and experience tell
him 10 be necessary. In spite of the opposition and
,,rs of lesser officials he issued an order July
creating the Record and Pension Division of the War
nusrtnent and transferred thereto all the records
n the Department relating 10 pension matters from the
several bureaus in which they had previously been
tppt Captain Ainsworth. q. s A.. was placed in
charge Of the whole. According to the reports Of the
chiefs Of the subdivisions there on the morning
that day 4055o undisposed of in those parts OF
;hs Acknowledgement Office transferred On July
e there by actual count 36,949 cases on hand
Ms understood that the secretary told Captain Aims
uth when he put him in charge of the work that he
would give him three months TO bring up the arrearage
and be in shipshspe 20 answer calls from day 10 day
as they made; and that If he failed, he (tbe
Secretary should try to find else who could
awheFe there is a will there is a way" and the in
PRODUCTION of business methods and business energy
cleared away the great mass of accumulated cases,
keeping up the current business meanwhile, that
the last day of September there not left
in the Office undis posed of. Now every inquiry from
the Pension Office is answered promptly, usually within
twenty four hours after its receipt and the work is
DOW up, notwithstanding that the average number of
calls is almost double what it was last year. Last
Office o54 and in the eonGenerals Office 1s7.
The latter cases duplicates of the former. but
are both combined in one now. The average number
Of cases at present is over 1000 per day. The De
partment has devised a form Of blank for inquiry
by the Pension Office, that the request for the
claimants whole record both hospital and service. is
made and answered upon one sheet only and in the
most convenient shape for use in the case.
Secretary Proctor's order required "that the most
direct methods be adopted in the transaction of the
public business, avoiding all unnecessary routine" In
bis annual report TO the President he said: The
change was somewhat radical. but the result has been
satisfactory" 1t certainly is satisfactory, and
Will be appreciated by the country. 1t will
appreciated also by the old veterans. the settlement
Of whose claims will be fastened by this reform.
The searches and verifcstions of the records are
made with as much painstakfng as ever: Every
.ror, is made to make them accurate as possible
and the new devices have been introduced to make
them more 1t has been accomplished too with
ont any increase of clerical force. and is Illustration
OF what the Republican party and will do in Sc
curing an effective. business-like administration
There have been over 1000 900 pension claims
presented. When il is remembered that in every one
Of these search had 70 be made through the
records for the purpose OF verifying the Claimants
statements it can easily be understood that the
records became much worn until now they are In
wretched condition. dropping TO pieces from age and
use To preserve these records from entire destruc
ton to make the information they contain accessible
and insure in their search tile greatest accuracy
the card index record system was introduced by Cap
tain Answoth in the Pension Division of the Surgeon
Generals Office. He took charge Of that
division in December. 1886, and after
first bringing up the lrrearage Of cases
there on hand. some 10000 in all, put all clerks
vho could be spared to copying the records upon in
tividual cards of uniform size and of ndcstructibe
paper. In the first place, each register record
Npied upon cards each separate card representing an
lntry upon the original record When book had
been copied it was given to a careful comparer who
Examined every entry in connection with the card rep
rsenng ii, verifying the correctness of each card and
TIE count of the oopyists number of entries in the
booS. thus showing that there accurately
tpied card for each entity. These cards
we're then passed to numbering ma
thine, registering the exact number
cards to each book so that the number of cards
ported by the copyist and the compsrer were again
verified mechanically. The cards were then assorted
By regiments and all the cards of regiment filed
sphabetically BY this means, when the medical
history Of soldier is called for by the Pension Office
all the treatment he received while in service without
regard 10 date place. be found instantly. If he
vas in general hospital at Savannah, New-Orleans
Memphis or st. Louis a hospital boat on the Missis
arp. In field hospital at stone River and Winnings
sslOn the cards showing the dates on which he
Neco lett tilc HOspllaI, tHc uadDlHtlSo AO'
v he treated will fall together among the cards
k regiment; and, being arranged in Alphabetical
eder they will be found in minute two without any
sata beyond the name and regiment OF the soldier.
The system embodies the advantages Of public IL /
brary card index in the facility Of finding the desired
references to the original records he references
gwen on the card). but combines with the utility of
the encyclopedia in that the record itself will be
found COPIED on the cards 1t is easy 10 see, there
FORE that Of the two methods the old and the new one
Tie latter is apt to be the more accurate one
Under the old system Of searching the hospital re-
cords. ii was absolutely necessary that claimant for
pension should state in what hospital treatment was re.
teved by him. Without definite statement of this
Character. 1t was mere matter Of hunting blindly
through many volumes having general index II
v almost hopeless task TO attempt to search more
taan 90 nOn vnIunles OF rrcnrds containing n. .in