Evening star., 1921-03-27


those nations were born.
AS the address is affixed to many
wrapper from these stencils the imag-
ination can but conjecture how many
to its destination. Starting on speed
ing express trains and transferred TO
ocean liner, some copies may land on
camel caravan or jogging elephant,
some be given over to Chinese wheel
barrow or coolies pack in the sunny
orient and others taken aboard teams
of dogs and reindeer on r. +. d.
routes in frozen Alaska.
The stream of daily mail. rising dur
ing the food tide of renewals toward
the end of the calendar year to $4,000
pieces per day. pours into the head
quarters of the society, at 18th and NJ
streets, and there is diverted to its
various channels. None of it goes to
lexington. Instead. the letters in
dIcating renewals, changes of address
or other details affecting the twenty
ton card index ledger just described
are handled and essential contents re-
corded on sheets which are then for
warded to the thirty y-nine sectional
sodmothers Of the metal files.
Herein lies another interesting labor
saving device From room where two
or more asserting clerks work all day
long in separating the mail for various
departments. that affecting the member
ship files goes to room where there
are thirty especially trained young
women. There. before a series of thirty
nine compartments which look for all
the world like the boxes in the village
post Office presides young woman who
works more speedily than does the viii
lage postmaster IN deftly distributing
the mail. These thirty-nine compart-
ments. of course. correspond to the
thirty-nine filing cabinet sections at
4 + x
THEN the young women go through
the letters, culling from brief
blanks or from the loquacious verbiage
Of the lengthy letter writer. .he essen
tial facts which are transmitted on
form sheets to the membership files at
lexington. A carbon of these sheets
likewise furnishes a record sheet which
the treasurer needs only paste in his
ledger. third, with the voucher, in
case the letter was accompanied by
provides an Office record. Thus
three essential records are tabulated
by one typewriter operation.
Another novel device is employed in
connection with the sending of publica-
tions of the society other than the
magazine. In typing the permanent
record sheet which contains the notation
of the publication ordered and the name
and address of the person ordering a
gummed strip of paper is placed over
the column for name and address, and
this paper serves as an address slip to
paste on the wrapper of the publication
to be mailed. Thus time and possible
error in copying are saved.
The handling of the checks. postal
orders and express vouchers in payment
of membership dues and remittance for
other publications is done with bank
like precision. deposit slips are checked
at the end of each day with vouchers
and balances must be reached, as in a
bank. The metal membership index oc-
cupies the major part of the first floor of
the main building at the lexington
offices. On the second floor is an array
of card index files which record not
only active members, but all members
from 1906, when the filing Of members
in card index was begun.
Earlier members of the society, from
the time of its formation in 1883. with
200 members, still are recorded IN
the old ledgers. There is also the list
of original and other early members
printed in Volume /. No. 1, of the
National Geographic Magazine, bear
ing the date of 1883. The list in that
issue included many noted names.
such as those of Alexander Graham
Bell. Cleveland Able. Nathaniel P
Gage, Gardiner G. Hubbard, Samuel
Hay Kaufman, Sumner l. kimball
and ChdrleS ID. ?" dlcOtt.
Were the present membership print
ed in the large type, with addresses.
twenty-five names to the page. as
they were then, it would require
twenty-three more volumes than
there are in an entire set of the In
ternational Encyclopedia. If only the
names, without addresses, were print
ed in the columns of The Evening
Star. a name to line, it would take
416 pages of The Star, or thirteen is
sues of thirty-two pages each, to pub
lish them. Cards in the present index
show election to membership, and ex-
piration upon death. of such historic
figures. for example. as Theodore
Roosevelt. Rear Admiral Robert E.
Peary, Admiral George Dewey. An
drew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland and
Sir John Murray.
In the storage rooms, where beer
kegs once awaited shipment. now is
stored one months supply of paper
for the magazine.
Imagine that the pages in each copy
of the magazine to be placed end to
end. top against bottom. as in
scroll and then picture a giant scroll
made up in this manner from all the
magazines printed in a year. Such
roll could be unwound until a stream
cled the worlds surface seven times
and enough would remain to reach
from New York to Melbourne. Aus
tralia. In each single issue of the
magazine, exclusive of covers. maps
panoramas and other inserts, there
are 654 acres Of paper. enough TO
spread over more than third OF
Rock Creek Park
Were a gargantuan circus tent MADE
of this paper the middle tent pole
would be three times as high as the
Washington Monument, and the base
area of the tent would exceed the
acreage of the Soldiers Home
grounds. Or, IL you can visualize this
paper better in weight, the monthly
amount used in the magazine is 315
tons. An equivalent tonnage in that
other precious and scarce commodity.
coal, would keep the average family
bin filled for twenty years.
\ \ X
THE social service worker would
not regard the former output of
the building as a constructive inf1u-
ence, and would be seized with the
possibility of the transformation OF a
plant which ministered to physical in
diligence to one which stimulates the
mental life of the much Travelled and
those who would travel. or the re-
turned soldieE and the home folkWho