Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-09-25
USE OF CARD system IN War
Germany Has Plan for Keeping
Track Of Prisoners Taken and Of
Enemies Its Soldiers Bury.
sCHwER1E WORKS OUT SCHEME

ton OF the huge horde OF over 10000
prisoners Of war In Germany, 20 that
rank. service. division and place OF con-
finsment Of each man can be instantly
determined, has been perfected to an
astonishing degree by Count Schwerin.
n oe-year-old captain OF cavalry. Today
the relatives Of any French. Russian.
English, Canadian. italian. Serbian,
Monteneertn. Belgian OF japanese pris-
oner In Germany can ascertain within
ewouty-four hours where that soldier Is
and what his condition is.
This IL made possible through a card
eatalogus that al but beggars desortp-
ton; II h probably the most perfect thing
Of its sise and kind IN existence. In its
creation two other systems have had 10
be discarded a. inadequate. and the work
and pains lavished on them duplicated.
In its maintenance eighty persons are
engaged, while Its inventor, Count
schweFin, works twelve hourv a day,
ovOrvoeing things.
Record OF Each Man
naGh day dozens and SCORES Of lists OF
names pour into Count schwenn's de-
partmsnt Of the war ministry In the Dor
othssn-strasso. here IN Berlin. These
lists give the necessary information for
filing cut the cards. 20 that each shall
contain the name and foronaIHe Of the
prisoner. his service branch. regiment
and company, the place and date OF his
capture. and the place where he is held.
n he Il wounded. the nature Of his
wounds and the hospital whore he IL are
addod.
Scores Of young women FIJI out the
cards. which then go to sorters. under the
Inspection OF man who in peace times
y head instructor In one OF Berlin's
higher schools. Before the sorters stand
wooden cases built after the fashion OF
type cases. but deeper. II was the sight
Of compositors throwing in type that
led Count schwerin TO adopt these cases.
Method OF Sorting.
The first cot Of sorters take the cards
Just Is they coma In alphabetical con-
fusion, from tho writing room. and d.
vide them according to the initial letter
from A 70 2. other sorters then take
the As and aubdfvide them systematically
Into IA. Aaa. Alb. Aba. Abb. and so on.
Thousands OF cards are sorted and filed
daily-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 3OOOo Bel
Rian names, from 1900 to lSooO English
names. and hundreds of thousands Of
French and Russian. with but one ex-
ception the Serbians. Montenegrins and
Japanese who arc prisoners In Germany
are civilians Of military age interned
here.
Hundreds of Letters Daily.
Approximately 800 letters come 20 Count
schwerin's 'Kartotheh'' daily-requests
for information about relatives or friends.
II IL the boast and pride OF this officer
that no request remains unanswered
longer than twenty-four hour-forty~
eight at the very outside whom tho lettsr
or inquiry Is In difficult Russian.
To facilitate relatives In getting in
formation about the foreign soldiers,
however, Count schwer1n has forwarded
the complete data about prisoners. as
fast as received at the war ministry and
filed in the card catalogue. TO the gov
ernInents at London, Paris and St
Petersburg. and TO the 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 10 know that they
have been taken prisoner.
An nxampie Cited.
An example OF this came to light ~
Gently IN q case concerning 1s-year-old
Prince ChiInRy Of Belgium. He had en-
listed under an assumed name and was
captured. He was put IN prison camp
- = private soldier. In due time tn
aulr1es about the young man came in.
His name did not appear In the card
catalogue. and before the young man
was found II had been necessary 10
hunt out every soldier OF his reEiment.
scattered In half dozen oamps all over
Germany, 10 take them before = military
court and demand OF them under oath
what they knew about HE case.
Catalogue of the Dead.
30 much for the catalogue about the
nvsng soldiers of the eight countries
now at war with Germany. A smaller
catalogue contains as far as available
the names q the desd-Supplied In a
variety o. ways. but chiefly by means
Of the metal tags worn by the soldiers
around their neeks.
This Hat IL incomplete for a variety
of obvious reasons. but partly because
many Of the soldiers. especially the
Erenchs take the tags off, through Eu-
eerstition and throw them away. Even
- nat there are. IN the war ministry
building. boxes and boxes fun OF the
htlis tin disks.
The French tags are clearly stamped
VITA The soldiers name, regiment and
bnns station The English tags are far
Asas clear. and sometimes cannot be
naads cut at al. The Belgian disks are
aA1rly plain. and those Of the Canadians,
uiade az leather. arr good. The Russians
narerly wear any, and Il IL an almost
hcpeleas task TO try 20 keep track OF
Ghelr dead.
Care Taken of vaIuabIes.
n thousands OF Gases OF course the
men tall IN sach places that the Ger
mana can search their garments before
burying the bodies All valuablea. keep
aakss and possessions are then tied ur
and forwarded to Berlin, where the
treasury OF the war ministry takes
charge e them
An exact list OF the contents OF each
NsaoEraUa 4 rnaaa "a &c.. - 4. -.