The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-16
The dmiea Daily Eage ghuraas gornug gaare 6 1893.

teenth," said I; ana IN less tnan . NM
ute the whole gallant record of this sol
der was before me, tho story which I
had heard as boy in the little town
whence he had gono to the war. There
was the charge at Gettysburg from
ment in Lbby's noisorne dens; the g.
cape, recapture and second escape; the
record of what he had suffered in the
rebels hands, and his return to the
ranks Of the bluecoats. The minor in
cidents which I had remembered and
which had caused me to take hts case as
a test were all there in black and white.
Then l tried others in humber ranks
and found the same accuracy in every
instance. spent less than half an
( hour in the room. The information
which I received would have taken
months to secure under the old system.
Much of It, indeed. would never have
been obtained.
OF course great care Is taken to pre-
serve these records from improper use.
No person with q doubtful errand can
learn anything which he might use for
malicious purposes to annoy tho living
or discredit the memory Of the dead.
There are endless stores OF queer
acts in these boxes I was interested
IN the Indian troops They were. am
told, of little use to the service-not
enough, 1 judge, to pay for tho keeping
of records which include such names as
Yuttuk-ko-ko-mer-ne and Wa-ta-she-
ko-wily-hoy. Some of them, however,
had names which were more to the
point. One box. remember. contained
the records of those who alphabetically
fell between 'Liar" and ''Mixed Wa
ter" What the water was mixed with
anybody familiar with the Indian char
acter can guess
did not expect to come across the
name of Jefferson Davis in this collec-
ton, but little reelection might have
prepared ne for it. He served in the
First Mississippi infantry in the Mexican
war, and there was an interesting ac-
oount-though told with military brew
ity-of the operations near Monterey,
1913.
Now and then during my stay amid
the records / saw men with small
baskets passing rapidly through the
rooms.
''They are the mail carriers" said
Col Ainsworth. 81 have introduced
system Of communication between the
various parts of the Office which obvi-
ates one of the worst forms of delay ex-
listing under the old system. In such
large office as this, where papers pass
through many hands, much time is or
dinarily lost by the accumulation of
matter upon the various desks. A clerk
would finish his work upon a great
many papers and then transfer them to
the next man. who might have been
waiting in idleness for some hours.
That Is impossible now. I have mes
sengers who start from tho main office
at five minute intervals and make the
rounds. Each clerk has a basket of
cards bearing the numbers by which
various departments are designated.
When he has finished work on paper
he fastens to it a card bearing the num-
Der of the department to which 1t should
go next. The carrier takes II from q
box provided for it and delivers it by
number. When it is to be returned the
clerk simply turns the card over, and
there upon its back Is the num-
Der of the department. from which
it came. Tho next carrier going
the opposite way takes 1t back. By this
system the average delay Is not more
than two and half minutes. II used
to be twenty-four hours"
1t would pay any business man to
study the methods Of this office. For
instance, in all the vast operations con-
Quoted there, involving endless CORE
spondence and the most perplexing de-
tails. there is only one book. That is
in the "Tenth,street branch" and is
used for keeping track of the card work.
1t shows where any card is at the given
time. When the carding is completed
the book will be destroyed Every
other matter in all that vast establish
ment is kept track of by the index card
system. The method of dealing with
correspondence is marvel. Every let
ter received or written is transferred to
card which is extended by means Of
pastors, ana the result Is UQal instead Oh
hunting through the indexes of letter
books the entire correspondence on any
subject can be found in minute all to-
gether, just like a soldiers record.
There are hundred other details of
the system equally perfect in their
adaptation to the conditions, bu. the
limits of space forbid reference to
them. Taken as it stands, the Office, l
believe. justifes the statement made
at the beginning-thati IL embodies the
most remarkable triumph of systemiza-
ton in the world. 1t has been done, as
/ have said, practically without cost to
the government, and the reduction Of
the clerical force which it will permit
will save $500, 900 year in salaries
And the records of the nations defend
ers have been preserved
1t is now proposed to reduce the rec
ords of the revolution and the war of
1912 to the same system, and doubtless
this will be done. Then this govern
ment will have the most complete mill
tary history that exists anywhere.
-
His Preference.
Mau1ma-Whom do love best in the
S.,