The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-15
Special Requirements of New Field
 of Work.

Special Requirements of New Field
 of Work.
 q call myself an indexer and scrap 1 ner." said the occupant of an office not | far from Madison Square. By scrap per, I do not mean pusil st, but pro fessional scrapbook maker. In these | two fields, or, really, one field because no scrap-book is of value until it has been indexed, I am an expert. That does not mean much, because there are only six or eight of us In New 1erk. Our calling is the result of the chpplng bureaus, of which there are now some thirty or forty in various parts of the country. You subscribe to bureau and order clippings upon any particular subject or subjects. These are furnish ed to you by tens, hundreds, or thou sands, according to the subject given. Each clipping Is mounted upon a slip, which gives the name place, ana date of the paper from which 1t Is taken. If you are wise, you will now employ an indexer and scrapper to put these into permanent and valuable form IT you do not care to engage an expert for the entire job, you will find 1t advisable to consult with one for information ana advice
 '.In the choice of scrap-books beware of the gaudily bound affairs with which the market is flooded. They are poorly bound and go to pieces before they are half filled with scraps. What IS even worse. the pages are mades of thick wod- pulp paper, which. dries. cracks, and breaks ere year has gone by' have seen scores of nice-looking scrap books which were masses of fragments by the time the last page was pasted with clippings. The only kinds of pa per which should be used are either the best linen or else Manila hemp Liter ary people may profit by the usages in business offices. The books there which are made for the heaviest wear and tear have their pages of yellow or brown Manila hemp paper. This is particular ly the case with all first-class invoice books, which will last till the day of doom. Most of them will outlast their bindings. and for this reason nearly all are so constructed that the heavy can vas bindings can be removed without trouble and handsomer ones put on when so desired. What Is more, they are very economical A 250page in yoice-book costs S1.50 which is less than most of the pretty parlortable affairs which, contain but hundred pages and the poorest wood-pulp paper.
 Tn indexing, the best system is that of subjects and authors, instead of subjects, authors, and titles or more
 titles alone. This is well illustrated | in a set of ten books which got up for an officer of a large electrical company. The scraps referred to accidents caused by various forms of electric energy,
 ranging from strokes nf lightning to the
 overturning of gravity batteries l in | dexed it under such heads as lightning,
 crossed wire, induction currents, isni- | ton of explosives, metallic conductors.
 accidents to dynamos batteries cells, l armatures, and the like Among the | thousands of scraps there were very 1 few which could be indexed under the
 head of authors. and when 1t came to | titles it was simply arA impossiblity,
 an account of the love of the ordinary
 editor to indulge in fancy headlines. Here are few of the lines: He Imf- tated Franklin. but Is Sorry for It. "A New King of Voltaic Pile 'Harnessing
 Dog Which Wouldn't Run Dynamo "A Motor on a Spree and "A Call From Friendly Dynamo
 | Another very difficult piece of work
 was for politician in this city. The l scraps were purely personal, and ac- 1 cordlng to his directions, were divided /, into praise blame, advice and 'sug- gestion.' I do not think he was over
 popular because for one praise there
 were at least ten 'blames.' He com mented upon It one day in philosophic manner that surprised me saying, Tt is
 better to be praised than blamed but
 it is much bater 10 be blamed than ig | nored.
 'I indexed both the praise and the
 blame according to the subject which 1 called the article forth, such as Sixteen
 to One The Cleveland Issue of Bonds,'
 'Tammany and Mayor Strong The
 Iexow Inquiry and The Mazet In- | quiry. York Evening Post.