New Britain herald., 1930-01-11
STATE DEPARTMENT KNOWS EVERYTHING Vast Store Of Information Covers
 All Possible FeIdS

Washington, Jan. 11.-In the state department is probably the most complete existing collection Of in- formation about tho affairs of the outside world.
 The bureau of indexes and ar chivcs is the liaison section of all government agencies for obtaining and recording facts Of every de scription from all foreign countries. It has at least 1O.0oo,ooo papers tucked away in 5000 or 5000 filing cases, dating hack 10 1906, and most of them mean something or other.
 The idea is that if anyone con- nccted with the government asks for any information whatever on the internal affairs of any foreign nation the bureau of indexes and archives, working with an elaborate but simple decimal index system, can To- cate it within two minutes.
 Lots of Military Facts
 Naturally. this is better than any encyclopedia or library because the information is constantly kept up to date by American diplomatic, consular and other agents abroad.
 The state department itself is cs- pccially interested in collecting miii- tary, naval and political information likely to be useful in its dealings with other governments, but that's only d part of what it has on hand.
 Among the subhcadings it uses ill Cataloguing the rest of the world one observes such items as domestic animals, Boy Scout, game laws, flowers, entertainment, fine arts, public health and animal diseases. When the state department knows about such things as those in C.echosloyakia, Afghanistan, Costa Rica. Luxemburg and Iraq you might almost say it knows every thing.
 There are about 140 persons in this bureau of indexes and archives and last year they handled 1,340.- 900 pieces of incoming mail. record ing, indeXing. routing and filing. Much Of ths mail came in the diplo- matic pouches from foreign service officials, guarded by complex locks. but there is always q big influx Of American mail following the de- vclopment Of important situations in world affars-especially anything that concerns peace or disarmament,
 Mail clerks take first crack at the letters and roughly classify them for distribution among the bureaus II record sections-with titles such as Far Eastern, Latin American, Western European and Administra- tive-Where they are given minute classification. Record clerks in these sections list and make the necessary marks on each communication. de- termining it's routing and often joining it with previous correspond cnce for the aid of the receiving off cials. Some of the material is very confidential and is carried in locked boxes.
 Each piece Of mail then goes through q reviewing desk which . checks the classification and sends il direct 10 it's immediate destination Anything on labor conditions in Eng land goes to the departments divi- sion of Western European affairs anything on Chinese famines 10 the Far Eastern division, and so on The foreign service officer who re- ccivCs the paper then sees whether it requires any action. He may mark it for filing in which case it comes back to a tally desk which removes the charge. All incoming papers are charged up, as q book from lend ing library.
 They Never Lost q Thing
 If the letter or report is moved or for the pcrusal O. several officials, the bureau can always tell, through it's check system. just where the paper is. It has to go back there be- fore it can move on. carried by messengers who make the rounds. visiting each office every 20 minutes.
 Eventually, of course everything goes back for filing
 Doesn't anything ever get lost ?'' David A. Salmon. chief of the bu- reau, was asked.
 Papers may be mislaid," he re- piled, but never knew one 10 be lost"
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