The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-16
American Efficiency At. Peace Conference Has
 Opened Europe's Eyes
Dazed the Europeans by Delivering Copies of Official Proceedings Covering 10000 Words Within
 Hour and Half After Close of Session
By JOHN s. STEELE

newspaper correspondents of II differ
 ent nationalities and half @ score more
 who don't know what their nationali-
 ty will be until the conference gets
 through, wanted to know when they
 would receive the stenographic report
 of the proceedings. The French looked blank and wondered why anyone should
 want such a thing. Anyway, 1t might
 be available in a day or two. The Brit
 ish thought that if the conference rose
 about o'clock report might be ready
 about midnight, but it would not be
 "official' which meant that If 1t con
 tained errors no one would be re-
 sponsible. The American correspond
 ents appealed to the chief of the Amer
 ican staff and he got busy on the tele-
 phone., He began to get busy an hour before the conference met and when IL
 met he had a full staff of soldier ste-
 nograpEers disposed at strategic points and a battery of typewriters handy on
 ich they coul dtranscribe their notes.
 But the climax came when an Ameri-
 cfA. army motor lorry dashed into the
 sacred precincts of the Quai D'Orsay
 and from it were unloaded a couple of
 electric mimeographs with force Of
 electricians who got to work connect
 ing them up with the electric installa-
 tion of the French foreign office.
 The result of it all was that within
 
 after the conference rose a complete
 report running to more than 10000 words, fully corrected and properly yer flied, was placed in the hands of every delegate and of every correspondent who was entitled to receive it. This lreport, although not official" was com pared the next day with the official re- port of the congress and only two minor typing errors were found. Since then the electric mimeograph has been one of the sights shown to visitors to ! the Quai D'Orsay.
 In the same way American efficiency has simplifed the work at the Crillon as compared with that al the Majestic for instance, and has made possible the working of the American headquarters with staff about a quarter num- erous IS that employed by the British. If a British official wants to communi- cate with a subordinate or superior in another part of the hotel he must write a note, ring for messenger and send | ii by hand and the reply must travei by the same method. In the Crillon every room is connected up by an American internal telephone system and the American official can lie back In his chair and talk to any one in any part of the hotel and receive an instant reply. In every place where mechani- , cal aids can be installed they are em- ployed to save labor and make 1t more l efficient and the American organization 1 has become model forSall the others. l It must be admitted that a first some of the European staffs were inclined to l be a bit scornful over the American machinery" but those who came to scoff remained to admire and I venture to Ipredict that when the officials who have Eseens America at work in Paris get I back home there will be rustling of l the dry bones and sweeping out oS l the cobwebs nsome of the chancel- 1 leries of Europe.
 | Copyright, 1919)