Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-09

A Years Work Of the Record and Pen
Division Of the War Department.

A Years Work Of the Record and Penaion
Division OF the War Department.
r. C. Ainsworth, captain and surgeon in the
United States army, the officer in charge of the
record and pension division Of the War De-
partment, has made q report to the Secretary
| of War concerning the work of that division
during the past year. The transformation that
has been effected by the substitution of the
new system Of recording and adjudicating cases
is set forth in the following paragraph:
Altogether there were received 30l 238 calls
/ from all sources from July 8, 1889. to June 30,
1880. These. added to the 40, $50 on hand July
adjutant generals Office and 104 in the division
transferred from the surgeon generals Office,
made total Of 341 1872. which were all disposed
of, leaving none on hand at the end of the fs-
cal year. The largest number Of cases re-
| ceived in any one dzy was 2.161 on the 31st of
I March. 1890. 1,6SS Of them coming from the
pension Office, yet this mail was all disposed of
promptly and with much greater ease than an
ordinary mail of 500 cases could have been
under the old system with many more clerks
| than are now employed upon this work"
DR.. Ainsworth then proceeds TO explain the
method of using the card indexes, showing the
wonderful rapidity with which the work OF the
division IL performed. In conclusion he SAYS:
'An applications. whether coming from sol
i diers, widows or orphans living in the remotest
sections of the country. with no one to urge
! speedy action in their behalf, or from the most
! distinguished citizens occupying positions of
| dignity and honor, have each received exactly
] the same careful and prompt consideration.
and to each applicant notification of the result
! has been sent. as rule within twenty-four
| hours after the receipt of the communication.
In short, il may be safely said that there is no
delay in that portion of the work OF adjudicat-
ing the claims of volunteer soldiers or their de-
pendents which devolves upon the War Depart
the clerical force to accomplish the results
stated above. On the contrary, of the 6i6
clerks allowed by law TO this division during
the last fiscal year it was found possible by the
end of the year to ml,loy 449 on the WORK of
reproducing and preserving. by the index rec
ord card system. the military records Of the
volunteer army. the current work of the office
which the whole clerical force was formerly I'M
able to cope with. being kept NJ. a. stated
above by 1877 clerks. The fu1l cxten. If this
virtual reduction of force can be better 3pVre-
cia:ed. perhaps, when il Is considered that the
salaries alone of the clerks WHO have been
taken OFT the regular work 81 the office and
assigned TO that of reproducing the old records
amount to mCrs than half million dollars. In
other words. -aving Of thiS amount annually
has been made possible by the methods of this
division.
MEMORIALS OF THE NATIONS DEFENDERS.
''But the value of the records Of the volun-
teer army cannot be estimated III dollars and
cents or measured by the mere business needs
of the government. They are the memorials Of
the nations defenders and as suci atone are
worth every effort that can be mace for their
preservation. From purely buairess stand
point. however, and aside from all sentimental
considerations, these records are simply in
valuable, and the child is not yet born who
will live to see the day when reference to them
will no longer be necessary. Made on the
poorest of paper, and having undergone the
wear and tear of more than "A Qulrter of n
century Of constant usage, it is no wonder
that the old rolls are in tatters and fast crumb-
ling away. II is safe to say that. had il not
been possible to institute the vigorous measures
now being carried out for their reproduction
and preservation, most OF them would have
been practically destroyed within very few
years But with the force now available for
that work it is confidently believed that the
car,iing of the most important Of these records
can be pushed to completion within three
years, after which the originals can be stored
away i'll safety. all demands upon them being
met by the record cards which represent them,
and which will enable very small force of
clerks to answer all the inquiries which can be
made. 1t is believed that the additional clerks
appropriated for by Congress since the close of
the fiscal year will enable the division to meet
promptly all demands made upon it under the
new pension law without diminishing the force
employed upon carding the old records. 1t is
due to the clerks in charge of the several divi-
sions to state that almost without exception
they entered upon the work Of reform in busi-
ness methods and discipline with a heartipess
and zeal deserving of special commentator"