Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-09-13
MONEY Order
Plan Of AUDl1
Electrical Device; viii s,Ve
Labor ald Expense for
tie Government
Delay h Completing
Accounts BY Use Of Cards
And Machines

WASHINGTON. Sept. IA com
plete revolution has been effected in
the method of auditing the eighty
six million money orders sent an
nually to the auditor for the post
Office department by the use of me.
chanical electrical devices, with al
most human ingenuity, which have
been devised by Charles A. Kram,
auditor of the treasury for the post
office department. The e system
has reduced the expense of running
teh Office $200,00 annually, and Mr..
Kram is so enthusiastic over it's sue.
cessful operation he predicts it will
render additional assistance unneces-
sary for many years to come.
So far rs the public Is concerned,
1t is q very simple matter to pro-
cure a money order and to have 1t
cashed. The applicant for an order
presents q blank application giving
particulars, together with the amount
Of the remittance and q few cents
Tor fees. He receives a little blue
slip of paper with q receipt. The slip
Is sent to the payee, who represents 1t
at the post Office where 1t Is cashed,
and the transaction is at an end.
Two records of the transaction,
however, are sent to the auditor for
the post Office department, one from
the issuing postmaster, giving the
particulars Of the. issue, another
from the paying postmaster in the
form of a receipted voucher and
claim for reimbursement for the
amount named in the money order.
Under the Old Method.
! With the exception of q few add
ing machines no mechanical devices
have been heretofore employed IL the
auditors Office for performing the
routine work, the methods being sub
stantially the same as when the sys,
tenn was established in 1864, The
paid orders We're received and check
ed by hand against the issuing post.
masters statements. Under this pro-
cess a year was required to complete
the audit. The Dockery commission,
in 1894, attempted to shorten this
time, but the plan had to be abandon.
ed as impractical. Under this pro-
cess, each money order had to be
handled nine times, so that in the au-
diting of the $4,000, 900 orders during
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1912,
there was the equivalent Of handling
one arder 774,00O. 900 times.
Some time ago Auditor, Kram sub
mitted to the secretary Of the treas
ury a plan which,. il his opinion,
would materially reduce the work OF
auditing the orders and lessen the
expense. This plan involved a tabu-
lating system, which the secretary
approved. with authority to put it in
to operation July | Of this year.
For twelve months previously the
auditor has been busy with the pre-
liminary work, which required the
giving of each post Office in the coun-
try a number by which it would be
thereafter designated in the tabula-
lions and which is printed in the an
nual postal guide. So we'll were the
details worked out in advance that
July l last the force engaged in as.
sorting money orders and examining
money order statments entered upon
its new duties without hitch or en-
barrassment.
This mechanical tabulation is ef-
feeted with small cards and four
types of machines-card-punching
machines, gang-punching. machines,
automatic tabulating machines. About
240 employees are required to do the
work. a- m
II. Division Of "Fields."
The cards for auditing money or.
ders are divided into what are called
"flelds." and each field" IL. arranged
on q number code for recording the
name of the paying Office, file
number, name of issuing Office, num-
her OF money order, month OF issue.
amount named in the order and
amount Of fee paid for, It. II
The ,card-punching machine is op.
Grated on a desk OF table by pressing
keys, az. with an adding, machine,
with the fingers, thus %perforating the
cards with round holes on numbers
..si - ..a.1k = =. as-.. --.s.. l..ss. x...L 1900. q