Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1921, Page 10

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE .19, 1921—PART times the office floor space of the en- tire State, War and Navy bullding. ‘World War Division. The world war division of tho ad- jutant general’s office has immediate custody of the records of the world war, exclusive of the draft records, and con- ducts all correspondence relative to these records. The records occupy 123,098 square feet. These records fill 12,420 four-drawer upright filing sec- tions, which, if extended end to end, would reach over ten miles. Their weight exceeds 1,867 tons. The soldiers’ records on one. floor of this building if jgPlaced in one row would reach nearly fifteen miles, and if placed flat on the £round edge to edge and end to end SENT TO WAR COLLEGE. Capt. Wat T. Cluverius, at the Naval Academy,- has been ordered to_the Naval War College at Newport, R. L COMMITTEE GOES TO N. Y. : Harding un their invited Eighteen members of* the House | 5nas Meveigh, ir., N rivers and harbors committee went|who directed and titled the picture, t New York yesterduy us guests of [was in charge of the presentation, | Mayor Hylan on_a harbor inspection | which ses a tour of the entire | trip. The committee, which will re- | Holy L th dramatic bibilical in- malin there till Monday night, will top | cidents at the scenes of their o off its work today at Coney Isiand. I currence. FILM AT WHITE HOUSE. “The Birthplace of Christianity,’ motion picture production in seven reels, was exhibited Friday evening for “the first, time in east room of the White House 1o Pregident and Mrs. RECORDS OF MILLIONS IN WAR FOR AMERICA NEARLY COMPLETE Adjutant General's Office, Under New Sys- -tem, Clearing Up Work Still Unfinished Score of Years After Civil War. When_a soldier discharged or otherwise separated from the service. his_service record Pearl Necklaces Of all Kinds Re-Strung 75c to $1 SEABRIDGE JEWELRY CO. 724 9th St. N.W. “MURCO” LIQUID PAINTS The Lifelong -Paint The work 'of assembling and filing| entire service. paints since the world began. of " those records of the world war That is to say ’ 100% Lead Pure Linseed Oil Pure Turpentine and Japan Drier R —We conceived the idéa of putting into cans “Murco” Liquid Paints, which contains the same formula that has been in use in making good ‘J For best result and satisfaction_ use “Murcb" Liquid Paints and employ: practical painters—it is the cheapest and best in'the long run.” |~ - - E. J. MURPHY (O0. 710 12th St. N.W. Washington, D. C. "Main 5280 The]PALAIS ROVAL A. Lisner—I11th & G Sts. SHOES * and its participants, which come un-] ! | der the supervision of the adjutant general of the Army, is fast approach- ing completion. If it were not for the specil -searches and additional efforts required by emergencies such as the preparation of the draft de- serters’ list, the work of the acjutant genernl's office—the largest single record office in the world—would be current. Aside from these emergen- cies and despite its constantly de- creasing clerical forcés, the office able to clean its desks from day te@ day and to handle the vast adminise trative affairs of the military estab- lishment expeditiously. The volume of business handled by the adjutant general's office surpasees that of any other administrative branch of the government. Its cor- respondence during the war was al- most 95 times as great as that han- dled in normal times, and although there has been some diminution in the work, it still is far in excess of any previous peace-time demands. The total number of pieces of mail of all classes received during the fiscal vear 1916 was 925,930. The total number during’ the fiscal year 1913 was 87,616,242, From a daily aver- age of approximately 80,000 pieces in July, 1918, the volume of correspond- ence rose until it reached a daily a; erage for the months in 1919 of 54 986. In 1920, besides the receipts of 12,140,000 medical cards received from the surgeon general of the Army which were classified, the of- fice ‘disposed of 35,621,103 pieces of mail. Requests Complied With Quickly. | One of the most gratifying results of the expeditious handling of the records has been the possibility of complying quickly+with requests for information from the bureau of war risk insurance, the federal board for vocational training, the American Red Cross and other relief agenci upon whom veterans of the war de- pend. It is also far more economical to keep the work current, if it is po: ble to do So, because when letters are not answered promptly the re- quests are repeated and a vast amount of duplication results. is closed and forwarded to the ad- jutant general of the Army for file[nearly 700 gcres. in the jacket containing his record as- kept by the War Department. While the service rccord and the War Department record are in a way duplicates, each contains certain in- formation not contained in the other. Improvement Over Old Method. Wepge it not for the rad impoytant changes in the syste sly referred to, tions in’ effect after Nearly thirty years after the clos of that war 800 clerks, as shown by statistics in the adjutant general’s office, were engaged in carding the muster rolls and in furnishing infor- mation that had not been readily ac- cessible up to that time. A comparison of the state of the records of the world war, many times mofe voluminous, yet nearly com- pleted, with the conditions thirty years after the close of the civil war, gives some idea of the work ac- complished by thé adjutant general's office. Today it is possible to obtain all esgential military information concerning almost' any partici in the world war in our Army within a very short time. y less than months after the signing of t stice, there were ;14,000 unan- swered communic all d: while the number of unans in one branch of the surge al's office in July, more wenty-four year: the civil war, exc The branch referr, became the record and which was than . o that office with the branch of the surgeon gen- al's of referred to here were but 9500 calls for information unan- red on June 30, inns- much the daily ¢ipts in that division averaged 6,000 output a little me it is evident [-ra'r.lu:klly current, and it tods The amount of floor by the files of the adjutant ge would cover 30,000,000 square feet, or . As the number of papers in the case of each enlisted man will average at least twelve, the total number of papers . this floor will casily reach the enormous figu 50,000,000, which, th the papers relating to commissioned officers and field clerks and to organi- zations, will make a grand total of fully .000,000 separate papers filed in this, building. | In_addition to the purely military records of the draft. The extent of those records can be understood when it is stated that a Yew months ago they occupied thirteen buildings at Washing- ton barrac) The following statistics are of interest as indicating the volumo of these record Number of drawers in file cabimets, 1154895 number of miscellaneous file ets, 4,156; weight of the records (in tons), 6,000; floor area occupied by records (in square feet), 158,576. If the selective draft records were placed in one row four drawers high, ady for search, they would reach er five miles. A “cover sheet” is a folder of p: Some cover sheets | look like s well filled. There| ,908.576 cover sheets on file. | over sheet when folded up is nine inches wide and twelve inches long. If all the cover sheets were laid flat upon the ground. touching, cording to the width of each cover sheet, there would be a line 3,396 les long, which is greater than the « the United States . and greater still ance from Washington | to the battle line of France. If placed cnd to end the line would be 4,528 miles long. The papers within the | cover sheets are sufficient to plaster six sections of 3,840 acres of land. e It was thought that economy had | hed its limit when the girls of | of the high ols in Detroi d to limit the cost of their grad- | on dresses to $3.50, bul the girls another school the same city went them one better by cuttin® the cost to $250. For this sum the rented cap and gown for the grad uation exercises. We Will Let You Know The winners in the U ited Cafeteria, Inc.. word con- test as sgon as we receive a report from the following well known gentlemen of Washington, who are act- ing as judges: MR. M. O. CHANCE, Postmaster, Washington. MR. B. W. MURCH, Principal, High School, Wash- ington. MR. R. L. HAYCOCK, Principal, Powell School, Washington. We Thank You For the interest taken in our word contest and hope to have the pleasure of serving you our delicious home- cooked food very often. United Cafeteria, Inc. Home Cooking 1010 F Street N.W. Pleasing Prices The ability of the office to handle | office just before the d such an enormous amount of work | this & was due to the fact that it foresaw | many the conditions that would confront it | while during the world war and adopted new systems of record making and record keeping to meet those condi- tions. From the time of the war of the revolution un’il 1589 the method of recording and_indexing correspond ence in the War Department under- went but little change. That method consisted in laboriously copying and indexing in longhand all incoming and outgoing communicatio was done in large and uwi um letters sent” books. tndex to each book. In 1889 the record card systom of recording correspondence was devised and adopted by the record and pension office. which was consolidated with Erhhe adjutant mnorlal's office in 1904, e svstem was a long step forward, - 2. and enabled the adjutant general's of- Your:Chsice,of Thia 43 Flsce ce to function so expeditiously that 3 5 et it was not only able to handle with- Dlnnerwa.re out delay all current work, but to d pose of A large number of accumu- With every purchgse of $100 or more, or the Set of Silver- ion by with Ger- & square 1920, the One-Strap Sports Pumps Tan and White and Black and White There was an Your Choice of This 28-Plece Set of WM. A. ROGERS Silverware |, With every purchase of 100 or ' more, or the Set of Dinner- ware. Dresser Specials Elegant 4-Piece Circassian Walnut-Finished Bedroom Suite, as Shown Thiz suite, as illustrated, con of a Chifforette, Wood Bed, triple- mirror Dressing Table and a Dresser with a large plate mirror. You cannot afford to buy bedroom furniture without first inspecting 5169.50 this big value.. i - $745 Formerly $9 and $10 There are a limited quantity of these. The combinations are white buck trimmed with tan calfskin and white reignskin cloth, trim- med with black calf. Sports Oxfords in a similar model may. be obtained in combination of white buck trim- - med with patent coltskin or tan calfskin. Price of these is $8.50. Palais Royal—Second Floor. 5. Bavn Hovso. ‘THE BUSY CORNER® PENNA.AVE.AT.8 TH.ST. Open 9:15 A.M. to 6 P.M. lated cises, many of which had re- mained in the office for over a year after their receipt. As a result of these changes the office operated sat- isfactorily through alil the years lead- ing up to the world war. Decimal File System. But while the record card system Wwas a vast improvement over the Sys- tem that it succeeded, and provided an accurate and satisfactory method of handling a limited amount of cor- i respondence, it was foreseen that it || was not sufficiently elastic to meet | 1} ¢ ;|| We are headquarters for\ Electric Fans the demands that would be made upon it by any great increase in the vol- We Are Ready to Supply You the Best Makes THE ELECTRIC SHOP The first change made was in dis- 607 14th St. carding the record card system of re- Phone Main 955 cording and filing correspondence and adopting the subjective decimal flat file system, which is based on the decimal system of library claseifica- tion. This system met ~every con- tingency that arose during the war, and it is believed by those familiar with the work that had this change not been made at the outbreak of the war the adjutant general's office would have failed to function. This system as modified and applied I| to the military records brings together in the file the complete correspondence on any given general subject, so that on call everything of record thereon can be readily obtained. The correspondence 2-inch Continu- v S $9 75 This 2-inch Continuous-post Bed is one of the greatest spe- cials we are offering. This bed is constructed entirely of steel and can be had.in any of the following finishes: Porce- lain white, golden oak. ma- hogany and walnut. Can be had in 4-foot 6 59.75 EEEEEHEEGE EULEUCECSNENQUEEEID R EEEEEERERRNERNNERER N o 5 = ‘Large Walnut Dresser, $16.75 Here is a sensational bar- gain. A High-grade Walnut Dresser. exactly as pictured above. Has large plate mir- ror and four roomy drawers. On sale Monday only. Terms, $1 a Week Bed pholstered Library Suite at The ideal suite, as it helps make the living room do double duty. Davenport can be used twenty-four hours—as it makes a full size bed at night. This suite saves the expense of another ° room in the home or apartment. , Terms, $1.50 Cash; $5 Monthly J Maxwell’s Special Extension Table and Chairs = 3 foot 6 L S AR T e Lo et e " Products relating to individual officers and en- listed men is filed in folders, a folder for are each individual The folders are ar- ranged in the files alphabetically, and Special when a call is made for the folder of an individual all correspondence relating to / Tomorrow that individual is secured. The great advantage of this system lies In the fact {hat 5o index is required In.its opera- tion. Prior to July 1, 1918, reports showing the duty and status of enlisted men were made to the War Department in the form of muster rolls, prepared bi- monthly. To obtain the complete mili- tary and-medical record of a man who had served an enlistment it was neces- sary to examine eighteen to thirty mus- ter rolls, depending upon whether his enlistment was for three or five years, each roll containing approximately sev- enty names, and to examine other rec- ords in various parts of the adjutant general's office. Muster Role Abolisked. The plan of preparation of such rec- —S$1.75 size. 5-Piece Dining Room Set, Exactly as Pictured —40c size. 29 C Special Carpet Clean BIZARD, Polish —$1.25 Qt. Can. Special b 9 8 C Wi2ARD Combination $150 Wizard Polish Mop 40 Bottle Polish 50 Dust Cloth 1— $1.29 Special .... Wizard Paste Wax 85c Can... *$1.70 Can. 50c Size. . 75c Size. - oo epennceces.39C VWizard Floor Polisher 1—=84.00 Floor Polisher .85 Can Wax $4.85 Value, $2.95 Kann’s—Third Floor, ords had undergone no material altera- tion since the reyolutionary war, though the experience of .the civil war had demonstrated that in order to make readily accessfble the records of.an in- dividual- whose military and medical history was to be found on various rolls and other records, it was necessary to card all of the records; that is, -to- copy each entry on a separate card or slip and to assemble all those pertaining to any particolar individual The long search that was necessary proved to be time-consuming, unsatisfactory and eco- nomically impracticable. On July 1, 1918, the muster roll was abolished, and on that date the new method of reporting changés in the duty and etation of officers and en- listed men was put into effect. These reports are made daily and are known as daily reports of changes. Upon re- ceipt in the adjutant general's office they are flled with the other records of the men.concerned, eliminating the expenses incurred in carding the mus. ter rolls-and also making the most current-‘information concerning the soldier immediately available. Prior to’May 1, 1917, when a soldier left an ‘organization, either tempora- rily or permanently,. his descriptive list, a record kept by his organization commander, was closed and filed with the records of the organization, a new one being opefed for him in the new organization. There were thus as many descriptive lists for one man as there were organizations in which he served either temporarily or through regular transfer, and to get a com- plete statement of the soldier's serv- ices from the organization records it was therefore necessary to assemble the descriptive lists kept in those or- ganizations as well as those kept in hospitals, if at any time he had been absent sick. With the modern system of re- placements and frequent transfers of soldiers from.one organization to an- other it would have been difficult, if not impossible, properly to perform the enormous amount.of paper work necessary to make the descriptive lists. Beginning May 1, 1917," the service. record. replaced the. descrip- tive: list.:-“This ‘Tecord is opened for the soldier at the time'of his enlist- ment and follows him throughout his Then It’s Genuine Aspifin is trade mark Bayer Manufac- ture Monoaceticacidester of Salicylicacid. Old-Fashioned Herb Remedies Bludt The Herb is a vegetable that has 8 bad effect upon the system. Constipation is the cause of most dis- eases. Bludtone eliminates this condition, purifying the blood and tending to relleve rheumatism, scrofula, eczema, _pimples, boils, eciatica, lumbagn, coughs and colds and 'disorder of the stomach, liver and M. ACLOUIS & SONS, 229 G Street N.W. ‘Treatment for Various Ailments. The Herb Spocialist. B 699 75 s no other style of refrig- er T e %o conventent and popuiar as the front-icer model. A Spacious food chamber, white en- amel lining and removable shelves, removable drain pipe and nx_m;ller compartments make this refrigera- tor the last word in usefulness and convenience. Ice capacity, 50 pounds. Terms, $1 a Week Burrough’s. . Card Table $1.98 Has imitation leather top. For Monday only, durab] $26.75 This beautiful set is in the populat golden oak finish, highly polished. The table extends full length and has extra Igaves, and has four strong and durable chairs with imitation leather pad seats, $26.75. Terms, $2.50 Cash and $1 Per Week Sold on Terms of $1 Weekly 4-Piece Fumed Oak Librag A complete room of furniture at this very low price, very o and beautiful, well made and constructed, includes a ker, Chair, Sofa and Library Table, which has a drawer. This set is covered in a good ust be seen to be appreciated. grade of brown imitation leather. Porcelain-Top Kitchen Cabinet $39.75 This beautiful Cabinet has large 4 table space with porcelain top, deep bine, spacious cupboard and roomy compartments, and includes glass for coffee. tea and all dif- . ferent spices, $49.75. Terms, $1 a Week * 2.Qt. Ice Cream Freezers 89¢ Regular $1.50 Value Not the ordinary tin, but galvanized irom.} Handy home size. Makes ice cream in & short time. Suite 39.75 $1.98. Oil Stoves We carry a full line of New Perfection and Puritan Qil Stoves and Ovens. foe... $18.75 start at. | MAXWEL - Furniture Co. STREET A.W. Gas Stoves We carry a full line of Gas Stoves, some 2-burner, 3-burner, 4-burner and table I' . $21.50 and E Sts. start at.