Jackson County sentinel. (Gainesboro, Tenn.) 1914-current, 1921-07-21
WORLDS LARGEST
RECORD OFFICE
Stupendous Work Carried on by
Adiutant General
HISTORY OF EVERY SOLDIER

interesting Comparison Showing the
increased Efficiency in Handling
Records Since Days Of the Civil War
keep Track Of Every Activity
Pertaining to Officers and Enlisted
Men In the United States Military
Forces.
Major Gen. Peter O Harris, the adj
tutant general Of the army, presides
over the largest single record Office in
the werld at Washington, d. C. There
under his direction, an army of 400
clerks, most Of them young women,
work day after day at their endless
task Of keeping track Of every activity
that pertains to officers and enlisted
men In the United States military for
ces, keeping up q complete record
Of each and standing ready to supply
information in reply to inquiries.
Filed away In the huge temporary
buildings, which were constructed at
the time Of the World war, is as COM
plete q word picture of the life OF
every soldier as the government could
obtain. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that the records Of the World war
today, thirty months after the signing
Of the armistice, are far more nearly
complete than were those of the Civil
war thirty years after Its close. And
1t might be added that the work Of
the adJutant generals office at Wash
ington Is practically brought up to
date, says the New York Times.
The value Of this service to the
many hundreds of thousands Of
mothers and fathers, wives, sweet
hearts and friends of soldiers who
we're or are still In the fighting forces
Of the nation Is obvious. Information
Of the latest movements of every SOL
der is available and upon short notice
information may be obtained concern
ing all that the War department may
knew. or deem It advisable to let be
known, concerning every man who
enlisted or was drafted for the World
war.
Few Of the soldiers are aware Of
the fact but tucked away In one Of
the great buildings at Washington a
young woman clerk watches day by
day each happening in his life. Each
Of these wemen is the guardian Of the
record Of $500 men under the present
system. She carefully files away every
letter or War department document
that has to do with him.
With the end Of the fiscal year
the operations of the department are
to be cut in half, as congress failed
to grant an appropriation sufficient to
maintain the present force.
Building Great Organization.
Perhaps the story of the assembling
Of this great organization Ia best told
In General Harris's own words.
Probably few realize" he said.
shat the adjutant generals Office In
Washington is the largest single rec
srd Office in the world.
@From the time Of the War of the
Revolution until 1889 the method of re-
ccrding and indexing correspondence
In the War Office here underwent but
little change. That method consisted
In laboriously copying and inde1ing
In longhand all incoming and outgoing
communication. This was done In
large and unwieldly volumes, known
~ letters received and letters sent
books. There was an index to each
book.
"In 1889 the record card system Of
recording correspondence was devised
and adopted by the record and PEN
sion ONCE, which was consolidated
with the adjutant generals office in
1904. The system was long step
forward and enabled the adjutant
generals Office to function 80 ex-
pediticusly that Il was not only able
to handle without delay all current
work, but to dispose Of large number
Of accumulated cases. many Of which
had remained In the Office for over a
year after their receipt. As q result
Of these changes the office operated
satisfa ctorily through all the years
leading up to the World war.
"But while the record card system
was vast Improvement over the sys-
TEN that II succeeded. and provided
m accurate and satisfactory method
Of handling limited amount Of cor
respondence, 1t was foreseen that II
was not sufficiently elastic to meet the
demands that would be made upon II
By any great increase In the volume
Of correspondence such as was Incl
dent to the World war.
Grows BY Strides.
The total number of pieces Of mail
q oil classes received In the adjutant
generals office during the fiscal year
1919 was 925.930 The total number
during the fiscal year 1919 was ST.
e1o.242. For the year 1915, the daily
average was 8026 pieces and during
1919 1t was 2S7,266 pieces. But this
dees not tell the whole story. From a
daily average Of approximately $1,000
pieces 10 July. 1918. the tide rapidly
rose until II reached its flood with a
daily average for the months In 1919