Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-12-01
FILES AND WASTE PAPER
BY Frederic j. Hsskin.

Washington. Dec. IA eheet Of
paper s a light and nim~y thing. but
by a procaer Of multiplication. u be-
| comes a problem Bach year the pro
hle-n OF what 10 do with sheets of pa
per looms bigger in the Federal Gov
ernmeut establishment.
Rudyard Kpling wrote a rather
lengthy poem entirely about the hles.
He found II a fruitful subject. Experts
have written lengthy prose articles
about files and manufacturing com
panies and business colleges have lots
OF expert advice 10 give concerning
/ files The reason the subject is 80
! important and has 80 many cominen-
tators IS that files represent, hrrt. the
l -ecor,s OF what people have done. ana.
second. they represent an ever increas-
| ing problem in storage. First, they
are vehicles Il information; second.
they are dead weight. on both counts
they require much attention.
A good example Is the Intey,aSe
Commerce Commission. BY following
a case through that body. an idea can
be obtained how the files, the slips Oh
papsr. grow IN bulk. A shipper be-
lieves he Is being charged tco mucn
freight. lie flies complaint with IN"
commission. This starts new tle.
IL is given a docket number. The
commission notifies ali railroads in
volved that the complaint has been
filed and they must de;end the exist
. ing rates. These notifications add
, more slips OF paper. A hearing Is set
, By the issuance OF an ordev. Another
I slip OF paper. Testimony Is taken
: evidence being given on both sides
- This may add anywhere from a dozer
r. sheets OF typewriter paper TO hall
% a ton OF typed and printed matter
!. depending on the Importance OF th'
\ case. Sometimes great stacks q sta
. tistiCs. called exhibits. intended q
= illustrate the justice or injustice o
. rates are added 10 the documentary
q evidence. Then all parties file briefs
~ which are printed arguments. In
big case a brief may De "a big as al
\, unabridged dictionary. All ot thes
must be retained In the nles. Finally
the commission renders an opinion an
issues an order These are fdded 20 IN
files.
There are some half dozen cases
and each new case starts another al
= which grows as the case progresses
n All these papers must be retained a
they are Federal records. The prob
: lem - growing constantly and Il Is ex
pected that the commission soon WI
have % erect great warehouse 1
addition to It's present commcdiou
quarters. merely 20 store these slip
, OF paper.
r Patent 0fice Files Extensive.
X The Patent Office is another Govern
ment agency where files sccumulat
e rapidly. The General Land ONCE
another. Since the war the Veteran
Is Bureau and the War and Navy ID,
partments have built up mammoi
n files All the other departments. con
5 missions. boards. and bureaus stagg,
under the same ever-increasing h
cubus consisting of slips q paper. sac
Id one OF which a too Light 10 tilt an,
IN thing but precise and sensitive seal
* The-e flies must be tended. to
he Thousands OF clerks are employ,
G. merely to take care OF th.m--to ~
ee new slips of paper in and take c
- slips OF paper out for examination.
IL Ia proposed 10 build a FEEDER
Hall of Archives and when that
done, many Of the tiles will be concel
k. srated and the pressure on exlstir
office space viii be lightened. but no
X. every Government building at Was
ingtcn Is bulging with files.
Beside the vast quantities OF pape
" retained In the fles there Is a dai
er output of waste paper which may
~ disposed OF. In an establishment
a great as the American Governme
35 waste paper is more Of a problem ths
ELL seems possible to the ordinary citiz
,r. who finds that library waste pap