Omaha daily bee., 1915-09-20
USE OF CARD SYSTEM IN WAR
Germany Has Plan Tor Keeping
Track Of Prisoners Taken and Of
Enemies It's Soldiers Bury.
scHwER1N WORKS OUT SCHEME

prisoners Of war ia Germany, so that
rank. service. division and place OF con-
finement OF each man can be instantly
determined. has been perfected to an
astonishing degree by Count Schwerin.
a 60-year-old captain OF cavalry. Today
the relatives Of any French, Russian.
English. Canadian. Italian, Serbian,
Montenegro. Belgian or japanese pris-
oner in Germany can ascertain within
I twenty-four hours where that soldier is
and what his condition ls
This Is made possible through a card
catalogue that all but beggars descrip-
ton g Is probably tho most perfect thing
OF It's size and kind in existence In its
creation two other systems have had to
be discarded as Inadequate, and the work
and palms lavished on them duplicated
In It's maintenance eighty persons are
engaged, while its inventor, Count
schwerin. works twelve hours day.
overseeing things.
! Record OF Each Man.
Each day dozens and scores of lists OF
names pour into Count Schwerin's de-
partment of the war ministry in the Dor
| otheen-strasse, here I'm Berlin. These
lists give the necessary information for
filling out the cards, 80 that each shall
contain the name and forename OF the
prisoner, his service branch regiment
and company. the place and date OF his
/ capture, End the place where he is held.
II he IN wounded the nature of his
wounds and the hospital where he is are
added.
Scores Of young women Till out the
cards. which then go to sorters. under the
inspection OF a man who in peace times
Is a head instructor In one Of Berin's
higher schools. Before the sorters stand
wooden cases built after the fashion of
! type cases. but deeper. 1t was the sight
of compositors Throwing in" type that
led Count schwerin to adopt thVse cases.
Method OF Sorting.
The first set OF sorters take the cards
just as they come, in alphabetical con-
fusion, from the writing room. and dl-
vide them according to the initial letter
from A to y. Other sorters then take
the As and subdivide them systematically
Into Aa- Aaa, Alb, Aba, Abb. and so on.
Thousands OF cards are sorted and filed
dally-for the list OF prisoners never stops
! growing.
The names also are divided according
to nationality, and put away in the cases
that flank all four walls OF three rooms.
There are between 5000 and 5000 Bel
Pian names, from 5000 to 1S,O0O English
names, and hundreds OF thousands of
French and Russian. With but one ex-
ception the Serbians, Montenegrins and
Japanese who are prisoners in Germany
are civilians Of military age Interned
here.
Hundreds of Letters Daily.
Approximately 500 letters come to Count
Schwerin's "Kartothek" daily-requests
for information about relatives or friends.
! II is the boast and pride of this officer
that no request remains unanswered
longer than twenty-four hours--forty-
eight at the very outside when the letter
! OF inquiry Is in difficult Russian.
To facilitate relatives in getting In
formation about the foreign soldiers,
however, Count Schwerin has forwarded
the complete data about prisoners, as
fast as received at the war ministry and
filed in the card catalogue, to the gov
ernments at London. Paris and st.
Petersburg, and to tho Red Cross head
quarters at Geneva, Brussels, Copen-
hagen and Berlin
One of the most interesting features
OF the card catalogue work is the fact
that many men give false names and
data because they are ashamed OF being
In captivity and do not want any one
IN their native land to know that they
have been taken prisoner.
An Example Cited.
An example OF this came to light re-
Gently in case concerning 19-year-old
Prince Chimay Of Belgium. He had en-
listed under an assumed name and was
"a MI EIC In,
as a private soldier. In due time in
quiries about the young man came in.
His name did not appear in the card
catalogue. and before the young man
was found 1t had been necessary to
hunt out every soldier Of his regiment,
scattered in half dozen camps all over
Germany, 10 take them before military
court and demand OF them under oath
what they knew about his case.
Catalogue of the Dead.
So much for the catalogue about the
living soldiers OF the eight countries
now at war with Germany. A smaller
catalogue contains as far as available
the names Of the dead-supplied In a
variety OF ways. but chiefly by means
Of the metal tags worn by the soldiers
around their necks.
| TINS ist - incomplete Tor variety
OF obvious reasons. but partly because
many OF the soldiers. especially the
French, take the tags off, through su-
perstition and throw them away. Even
at that there are. in the war ministry
building, boxes and boxes fun OF the
little tin disks.
The French tags are clearly stamped
with the soldiers name, regiment and
homo station, The English tags are far
less clear. and sometimes cannot be
made out at all. The Belgian disks are
fairly plain. and those of the Canadians,
made OF leather. are good The Russians
rarerly wear any and Il is an almost
hopeless task to try TO keep track OF
their dead.
Care Taken of ValuabIes.
In thousands OF eases OF course the
men fall In such places that the Ger
mans can search their garments before
burying the hodies. All valuables, keep
sakes and possessions are then tied IN
and forwarded to Berlin. where the
treasury OF the war ministry takes
charge OF them.
An exact list OF the contents OF each
package Is made and forwarded 10 the