Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-03
LABOR SAVERS.
To be Found in the Up to Date Offics
Of These DAYS,

Icouiu tHey NC permitted TO see the man.
ncr in which business is conducted
, these times. In their day mails were
| slow and not too frequent, while the
| telegraph was used but very little and
the telephone was a thing of the future
I-something which had not even been
| limited of-as was the type writer. TODAY
! with the fast and frequent mails there
! is always complaining and the other
the telephone, telegraph and tyne
| writcr-could not be dispensed with.
! And in addition to these there are MANY
articles OF office equipment which are.
| though OF very recent origin, which are
coming much into vogue and the use of
which will be universal i'm n few ve,rs
The average person is very familiar
with the telephone and telegram and
understand how generally they are
USED. where once was the time when
messenger boy came to the, door with
a telegram a feeling of apprehension
went over one, today it is taken as q
matter of course. and few think that
the yellow envelope contains bad news
Today the wire, either the telegraph or
the phone. is used freely to send con-
gratulations. invitations, destinations
and. IN short information of all kinds.
Likewise 1t is rather out of the COM
mon to receive a business communica-
ton these times which Is written with
a pen. The business man who doesn't
use a writing machine is not considered
very near up to date. Even, many la
dies carry on their correspondence on
the machine. having script type, instead
of the ordinary Roman characters. 50
much easier is it.
Among the articles of office use
which is coming into general use and
which is rapidly becoming indispens-
able, is the card index and the vertical
filing cabinets. The combination of the
two is one of the greatest labor saving
devices which can be placed in an
office. To go into detailed explana-
ton of how they work would not be
possible here, because of the space
which would he necessary. In brief
the card index consists of small cards
held in a suitable tray upon which the
entry is made, the same as in an index
book. These cards are arranged
alphabetically, guide cards with a
small tab prOtruding above the cards
being used for this purpose. The
beauty of this over the book is that
the space of any particular division
never becomes full and has to be car
RED further along past other divisions,
as frequently occurs in books. nor does
it become necessary to rewrite all the
entries, as it does with the book, for
50 soon as n card is filed blank is
dropped in behind it to be used, so that
the index expands. 1t may over-run
into the second, third of the hundreth
tray. but you will always have your
AS" together and your "B's."
Perhaps the best example of what a
card index can be made to do which is
to be had in Augusta, Is at the insur-
ance department at the State House,
where the system is most extensively
used. For an example of how much
can be saved by the use of the index
is taken in the record of the list of the
companies represented by the nsur-
ance agents in the state which is kept
there. Formerly this was kept in a
book, now book being required each
year and it being necessary to rewrita
every agents name and list of COM
panics which he represented each time.
BY using the card system the book
is done away with. Each card i'm the
tray is devoted to a single agent,
(some agents requiring more than
onc) and on it there are places for the
names Of several companies and
spaces to show what years they rep
resent the companies.
The cards arc 50 arranged that they
hold the record of an agent for ten years
for each company he represents. All that
is necessary each year, to bring the rec
| ord up to date. is when the license is
| issued to an agent is to make n cross in
| the space before the name of the company
which ne is to represent and in the column
| for the year in question. Once in ten
| Years the entire card has to be rewritten.
| II can he sncn that this is much easier
than rewriting the entire entry every
| year
| Another tray In this office contains the
| list of licensed companies in the State.
| This tray is arranged on the same princi-
pie and shows the date that license cX-
| pircs The cards of this trade are ar
ranged for five years.
| But the card system is arranged for use
in keeping accounts and has been found
| to he preferable to the ledger system. as
| there are never any closed accounts in it.
everything being live. As fast as an
| account is closed 1t is removed from the
tray. without disturbing the other ac-
counts One big mercantile house in Bos-
ton handles 900 live accounts in this
manner.
| \ machine is now being introduced
which is proving to be n great labor and
time saving device in offices where many
accounts are handled 1t is called an add
ing machine and it will handle a column
of figures much more rapidly and fully
as accurately at the most expert account
ant But it costs considerable amount
of money. so that only those Offices WHERE
a great many figures have to be handled
can afford them. They cost $375.
Purnton Eros. have a crew Of men
at work on the foundation of their
lime and wood shed, and had a portion
Of the piings set, yesterday. The
platform in the Maine Central yard
which comes directly in front of the
shed, will be moved. and n spur track