dexed by chapters, by topics, and sub-topics, by cases cited, etc. So it is with the letter file. The small correspondent can get along with one file divided into compartments alphabetically arranged. Compartment "A" will hold all the letters from and replies to persons the first letter of whose names is A. Each of the other compartments will perform a like service, and the only index necessary for such a file is the projecting letters of the alphabet which designate each pocket or compartment. Figure 1 shows the simplest form of the letter file, with compartments alphabetically arranged. As the correspondence of a business outgrows the capacity of this small file, the system may be expanded by increasing the number of compartments and also the number of index characters. This may be done by employing, instead of the initial letter, the first two or three letters of the name. Figure 2 shows the usual form of the vertical letter file cabinet. It is called a vertical file because the letters in it occupy a nearly vertical position Geographical Index. - Retail business usually operates within a limited territory, and its correspondence has to do principally with retail sales. It does not cover a very wide range of subject-matter and it is characterized by occasional communications from a long list of correspondents. The needs of such a business are readily met by the alphabetical arrangement of the name index. The cond ions existing in a wholesale business, however, are reversed. Here the correspondents are fewer, the volume of business done with each, larger. Moreover, the geographical extent of the wholesale market is practi cally unlimited, and efficient management may require that the territory covered be divided into districts. These divisions may be by countries, states, or cities, and the system of filing correspondence will usually follow the general plan of business organization. If the larger territorial divisions are by states, folders properly labeled may be assigned each city or town in which correspondents reside, and these may be arranged in alphabetical order in front of the guide card designating the state in which the respective cities and towns are located. Scattering letters from different points in the same state may be grouped under the head of "Miscellaneous," and assigned a compartment so labeled. When the correspondence of a single firm is sufficiently large it may be assigned an individual folder, but this must be kept in or next to the place compartment to which it relates. Figure 3 illustrates a classification on a geographical basis. The Numerical System.-When the number of correspondents runs into hundreds and thousands, and the number of letters received into tens and hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions, the capacity of the ordinary alphabetical system is no longer adequate, and the letter files must be numbered instead of lettered. Numbers are more flexible, more definite than names, and occupy less space. In giving to each permanent correspondent a "file number," that is, a number which designates the compartment in the cabinet which will contain all letters received from him and copies of all letters written to him, you are merely substituting a number for a name. The plan and system remain the same. The essential difference between the simplest alphabetical and the most complex numerical system is that the latter necessitates an index separate and distinct from the file itself. This is usually very like the card-index file that you have seen in public libraries. The letter file referred to in the preceding paragraphs, whether it is lettered or numbered, usually takes the form of a drawer, inside of which is a cardboard or manila paper case divided into pockets, or compartments. Some offices use shallow drawers so that the letters lie flat when filed, but it is usually more convenient for reference to have the letters filed vertically, and this plan calls for a deeper drawer, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. In the numerical system each drawer is assigned as many numbers as there are compartments. Projecting tabs, numbered at intervals of ten or more, indicate the location of any compartment. Figure 4 shows a drawer from a letter cabinet in which the pockets are numbered. When a sufficient number of letters have been received from a new correspondent to entitle him to be considered permanent, he is given a number, assigned a compartment in the letter file, and everything thereafter that concerns him is placed in that compartment. His number, name, and address are then recorded upon a card in the card-index file. The Card Index. - One of the most valuable features of the numerical system is found in the great capacity and varied usefulness of the separate card index. It is often convenient to index correspondence, not merely by the names of the writers, but also by the topics under discussion or by the states or localities in which correspondents reside. On a large scale this would be impracticable without the use of a separate index. An index card may contain any information necessary for a complete reference to the business which has been or is being transacted with any given individual. If the circumstances of a business call for indexing merely by names, each card in the index file will contain the name, address, and file number of the writer. If more than one correspondent is connected with the same firm, or contributes information upon the same subject, all such correspondents are given a common file number. Each correspondent will, of course, have his own separate card properly placed in the card-index file, upon which card some adequate reference will be made to all other cards containing the names of persons whose letters supplement in any way his own. Figures 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the system of cross reference by means of which the names of several correspondents serve as a medium of reaching a single subject. Name Bates Mfg. Co.___. See also Edw. L. Clemons See also Higgins & Bartwell. File Number 351 FIG. 5 Name Clemons, Edw. L..-- Address % Bates Mfg. Co., Newark, A. J. See also Bates Mfg. Co..... See also Higgins & Bartwell...--- File Number 351 |