Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-15
Some Things You Want to Know
State Department Index.

minister TO Washington It is important to
know IN advance whether he Is persona
grata. Reference to the card index will
give the desired Information in each case.
These and q multitude OF varying details
cover the work OF the department. and
only the most scientific indexing will make
any given item readily accessible.
Under the state department method all
files on related matters are now grouped
together IN a logical manner When sny
bureau wants to refer to 4 matter that
has been filed away and lndexed. card
is sent to the index bureau asking for that
particular file. Ii is hurried along anu
returned to its appropriate place as soon
as possible. In this way all lost motion
is eliminated and the best results obtain
able under modern indexing methods are
realized
There are about thirty employees engaged
in the work OF classification. filing and in
dexing Recent economies OF administra-
ton will enable the department to utilize
the energies Of about one-thlrd OF these
in the task of applying to the matters in
the archieves prior to 1906 the same meth
ods Of indexlng as are employed In current
work. There are some 1900 letters received
each week
Under the old rules OF the department
the bulk of its correspondence was carried
on by the diplomatic and consular bureaus
Under later rules geographical divisions
have been made. A far eastern bureau
was established. and all political matters
relating to the far east were handled by
it, whether of diplomatic or of consular
origin SO successful was the experiment
that bureau dealing with Latin-Amerl-
can Subjects. another concerning western
European subjects, and stin another deal
ing with near eastern matters have been
established. These give opportunity for
highly specialized work. The same method
is employed in the classification Of the
files and in the index work one set Of
employees has charge of the files OF Latin
American matters, another set of workers
handle far eastern subjects and so on.
There are two principal divisions of the
filing system. One part is known as the
major file and the other as the minor file
TO the major file are referred all matters
OF first importance-the things which come
up frequently in the course of the transac-
ton Of public business. Each transaction
Is given serial number and a following
number-for example, 1928. The 1872 is the
number OF Identification while the sig
miles that II is the third communication In
the correspondence under that serial num-
Der. One of the rules of the department
says that every paper received or sent by
the department shall be indexed, excepting
acknowledgements, crank letters, popular
communications on such subjects as Mag
ara Falls, The Congo, etc" AS there are
hundreds OF crank letters received every
week it is we'll for the public treasury that
no arrangement has been made for index
ing them
Some people complain about the lack Of
application Of modern business methods to
the various departments of the government
1t is true that Uncle Sam Is slow in adopt
ing new IDEAS but there is a good reason
for not being hasty in such matters The
records Of the governmental offices are so
voluminous that to rush forward and adopt
every new and improved innovation would
be suicidal. The government printing Of
flee tried 1t with the audit system, thereby
sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars
and precpltating scandal. Any system
of record keeping that can be adopted
safely must be far beyond the experimental
stage When 1t is adopted, however, no.
where else is 1t made more thorough than
by the government.
The excellent results that have been Sc
cured from the State department card in
dex system are well known to the members
of the cabinet. 1t Is expected to serve as
a model for the various departments in the
introduction Of business methods in the
government service Many of the branches
of the government have card index sys-
TENS OF greater or less extent but II is
plain that with letters and other matters
which must be indexed coming in by the
tens Of thousands, changes must be made
gradually and carefully. 1t is probable that
within the next few years the card index
system will be in vogue In every depart
ment of the government and that the older
system of record-keeping will be banished
AS q labor-saver and efficiency promoter,
the business world has no device superior
to the card index. and in the State depart
ment 1t has reached it's highest note of use
fulness.
FREDEEIc ]. HAsKuNC.
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