Omaha daily bee., 1915-11-07
MACHINE SCARES
go JOB HOLDERS
Does Work of Three-Score Clerks
in Turning Out the Pay
Roll Checks.
BOOST FOR CITY EFFICIENCY


That young man over there gets $40
year. He is doing It with the aid OF
machine he is operating. the work for
merly requiring the services Of sixty
persons. He is as fond of the machine
as II it were his baby. On days when
there is a pressure Of work he comes
early In the morning. He stays at
night, sometimes as late as o'clock"
The speaker was a city official. Strange
as It may seem. the machine was In the
municipal building.
The machine over which the young
man was working and the young man
himself symbolic the new order Of
things. Together they were filling out
checks in the central payroll division of
Comptroller Prendergast's department Of
finance at the rate OF $500 an hour. The
mechanism was one of the numerous
devices introduced since January /.
which have cut down the expense of the
payroll work Of the city.
Prior to last January each department
made out its own payroll. Before the
end of the year all of the city's payroll
work will be done by this central di-
vision at q saving of nearly IS per cent
in cost. While actually engaged in fill
ing out checks for the nine-odd thousand
employees of Father Knickerbocker who
are at present paid by check, the ma
chine referred to does in rush time work
which formerly occupied sixty men.
Those who receive weekly. bi-weekly,
or monthly checks, as the case maye be,
do not realize how great a physical task
the distributing of the city's money is. 1t
puts out in salaries and wages moro than
sos, 100000 q year. The efficiency ex-
perts of the department Of finance and
the bureau Of municipal research col
laborating have devised a way by which
machines can be used to help distrib-
uto e..
inexpensive Task.
The making of checks by machinery
has become 80 easy and inexpensive that
by January 1 next It is expected that
very few of the city's employees will be
paid in cash. Already the increased use
of checks has cut down the automobile
hire for Transportation TO different parts
of the city Of paymasters equipped with
large bags of cash and guards. The
amount saved up to the present time is
sufficient to pay the official who directs
the work of paying city employees, that
Is to say, 5000. In the language Of Mr.
Bruere the city chamberlain. the pay
ment of all the employees in the depart
ments of bridges, docks and ferries,
parks, and health. by check will save
in time now lost by paying employees in
cash several thousand dollars q week
I'm these four departments alone."
But hoH\is the work Of preparing checks
payable to thousands upon thousands of
different individuals to be accomplished
by machinery? Not only the names but
the amounts also are different. Even the
deductions required by law in the cases
of employees whose wages have been gar
nisheed are made by the machine 4
The plate method of addressing maya
zines and letters which has BECOME so
familiar. Is the basis of the system. There
is a plate, perhaps, three inches long and
an inch and half wide, for every en-
ploye who is to be paid by check These
are OF kind of metal which will permit
the making of as many as Twenty
changes. They are filed after the fashion
OF a card index, in the order IN which
the names should appear on the payroll
sheet. Each plate Is labeled with the two
code letters of the department in which
the worker is employed and figures show
Ing his permanent payroll number. Incl
dentally, these figures show whether the
pay Is weekly. .biweeliy. or monthly.
Significant Tabs.
Some of the plates have little red tabs
on them. This indicates that the man
whose name is on the plate to which 1t
IS attached has fallen into the clutches
of the money lenders. They are insigT
nificant looking little signs, but behnd
each of them lies tale of furniture
bought on the installment plan in larger
quantity than the salary warranted. Of
sickness, or of the arrival of another
baby in the tenement home.
The metal plates are so stamped that
they can be used in preparing the payroll.
as well as in printing the check. Pay
rolls are still made out in some of the
departments with pen and Ink. Not only
are these trying upon the eyes Of those
who have to read them, but they are on
such large sheets that they are difficult
to handle and cannot be filed in the
ordinary filing cabinet. Ultimately all pay
rolls will be made out In the central
payroll division.
The machine used for stamping the
plates is capable of turning out from 700
to 1000 new plates day. Whenever the
salary of an employee is garnisheed the
reduced amount which he Is TO receive
is inserted and a distinguishing letter
added which indicates, when IL appears
on the check, why the amount is below
the regular salary.
The chsck-writing machine is almost
human. The plates having been inserted,
It rings a bell at the end of each payroll
and stops when the supply of checks or
piatos runs out.
The check blanks are unlike any others
one ever saw. They were designed to save
expense in filling them out. They may be
drawn upon any enc of eleven different
banks. TO each of which has been assigned
code letter. The cole letter. however,
signifies whether TIE check is for a teach
er's salary. for an employe Of a given
department receiving compensation each
month, or semi-monthly. or whether he
is on the weekly payroll. Teachers are
paid through one bank, those receiving
weekly compensation through another,
etc,
The checks have distinguishing colors,