The Washington times., 1912-08-29
NEW MACHINES TO
SAVE SIX MONTHS
IN POSTAL OFFICE
Annual Saving of $2oo,ooo'
Is Assured by Use of Mod
ern Inventions.

BY the use of card punching ma
chimes, gang punching machines, au-
tomato sorting machines and auto
matte tabulating machines, one divi-
sion of the Treasury Department,
that of the Office of the Auditor for
the Postofflce Department, has been
able to reduce the enormous task
of auditing all the postal money
orders of the country so that an annual
saving of 100000 will be effected
Six months will be cut out of the
time of final settlement of the money
order accounts in the Treasury De-
partment
Ninety million money orders, all of
which had to be audited, reached the
office of the auditor during the last fis-
cal year and inasmuch as the number
of money orders constantly grows-it
has been doubled within the last nine
years-the problem of auditing them
has been one of the biggest questions
which the accounting officers of the
Government has ever confronted. For
nearly fifty years the office of the Aud
itor for the Postofflce Department has
found this a steadily growing problem.
BY the use of the newly installed
solved.
Changes Made No Difference.
Time was when the work of audit
Ing was two years in arrears and in
1894 the Dockery commission came to
the front with new form Of money Or
der with coupon attached which 1t
was thought would reduce the time
required for audit.
But the plan was found impracticable
and the Postoffice Department returned
to the form and methods in use with
but slight modification since 1864. Until
the machines were installed the only
solution seemed to be the constant ad-
dition of more clerks.
Every order had to be handled nine
tres before 1t found a resting place
IN the files for the orders received.
Ihe paying postmasters' statements
were checked by hand against his list
or disbursements, assorted in States
and offices and arranged in numerical
sequence, and again checked by hand
against the Issuing postmasters' list of
money orders issued.
The mechanical tabulation plan in
stalled by Auditor Charles A. Kram,
employs the four types of machines
named. Cards for auditing the money
orders are divided into ''fields," and
each field is arranged on a number
code for recording the following infor-
nation: Name of paying postoffice,
file number, name of issuing office,
order number, month of issue. amount
OF order and amount of fee paid.
Machines Check Orders.
The card punching machine is a de-
vice for use on a desk or table. 1t
is arranged so that by pressing keys
similar to the keys of an adding ma
chine a card placed in the machine is
perforated by round holes on the num-
bers corresponding to the keys pressed.
AS one card at a time only can be
perforated. the gang punch Is used to
perforate the particulars common to a
number of money orders in a dozen
or more cards at one time. When the
facts shown by the original money Or
ders are recorded on the card, the
vouchers are, transferred to the files,
there to be kept three years, as pro-
vided by law, before being destroyed.
The completed cards are next sorted
by the automatic sorting machines,
which seem to display more than human
Intelligence, into numerical groups by
offices of issue. Each group now goes
into the automabtic tabulating machine
and the debit and credit entries totaled.
All Orders Accounted For.
For any outstanding money orders the
particulars will be secured from the is
suing postmasters' lists and recorded on
cards of another color There will be
no change in the subsequent procedure
from the old system. All money orders
issued by postmasters will be accounted
for and reliable data obtained for pre-
pairing the statement or unpaid money
orders more than one year old, which
this office Is required by law to make.
BY the use of these machines the final
settlement of money order accounts will
be made within three months. Nine
months Is the time required under the
old hand auditing system.