The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-28

sheet OF paper Is q light and sfilmsy
thing. but by the process Of multi
plication, 1t becomes q problem.
Each year the problem\o of what to
do with sheets Of paper looms big
Der In the federal government es-
adjustment
Rudyard Kipling wrote q rather
lengthy poem entirely about the
flles. He found 1t q fruitful sub
jact. Experts have written lengthy
prose articles about files and man
ufacturing companies and business
colleges have lots Of expert advice
to give concerning files. The rea-
son the subject is SO important and
has SO many commentators Is that
files represent, first, the records of
what people have done, and, second,
they represent an ever increasing
problem In storage. First, they are
vehicles Of information; second,
they are dead weight. On both
counts, they require much atten-
ton.
A good example il the interstate
commerce commission. By follow
ing . case through that body, an
idea can be obtained how the files,
the slips of paper. grow in bulk. A
shipper believes he is being
charged too much freight. He files
. complaint with the commission.
This starts a new file. 1t is given
a docket number. The commission
notifies all railroads involved that
the complaint has been filed and
they must defend the existing rates.
These notifications add more slips
of paper. A hearing is set by the is
suance of an order. Another slip
of paper. Testimony is taken, evil
dence being given on both sides.
This may add anywhere from a
dozen sheets of typewriter paper
to half a ton of typed and printed
matter, depending on the import
ance of the case. Sometimes great
stacks of statistics, called exhibits,
intended to illustrate the justice or
injustice of rates are added to the
documentary evidence. Then all
parties file briefs, which are print
ed arguments. In big case brief
may be as big as an unabridged die
tionary. All of these must be re-
tanned in the files. Finally, the
commission renders an opinion and
issues an order. These are added
to the files.
There are some half dozen cases
day brought before the commits
sion and each new case starts an
other file which grows as the case
progresses. All these papers must
be retained as they are federal
records. The problem is growing
constantly and it is expected that
the commission soon will have to
erect a great warehouse in addition
to its present ,cOmmodious quar-
tiers, merely to store these slips OF
paper.
Patent Office Files Extensive.
The patent office is another gov
eminent agency where files ac-
cumulate rapidly. The general land
Office is another. Since the war the
veterans bureau and the war and
navy departments have built up
mammoth files. All the other de-
partments, commissions, boards,
and bureaus stagger under the same
ever-increasing incubus consisting
of slips of paper, each one of which
is too light to tilt anything but a
precise and sensitive scale.
These files must be tended, too.
Thousands of clerks are employed
merely to- take care of them-to
put new slips of paper in and Jake
old slips of paper out for examina-
ton.
1t is proposed to build federal
hall of archives and when that is
done, many of the files will be con-
centrated and the pressure on ex-
listing office space will be tighten
ed, but now every government
building at Washington is bullying
with files.
Beside the vast quantities of pa
pers retained in the files there is a
daily output of waste paper which
may be disposed of. In an estab-
lishment as great as the American
government waste paper is more Of
a problem than seems possible to
the ordinary citizen who finds that
library waste-paper basket,
emptied perhaps once week,
amply takes care of his needs. The
problem is big enough to have a
special committee of the house of