GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND PROTECTION. 41 



Carbons to Secure Approval of Recommended Action. 



When a request is made by the District Forester for the approval of contem- 

 plated action by the Forester or the Secretary, an approval space as follows 

 should be provided in the lower lett-hand corner of the letter : 



(Date) - , 19. 



Approved : 



Secretary (or Forester). 



Two carbons should be made one to accompany the original letter to Wash- 

 ington and one to be retained in the waiting file in the district office until the 

 return of the carbon showing the action of the approving officer. 



Every Document. Must Be Dated and Initialed or Signed. 



Absolutely, without exception, every statement, memorandum, map, or docu- 

 ment of any kind will be initialed or signed for authorship, and dated. 



Washing-ton and District Offices. 



When a letter is of more than one page, all initialing will be on the first page 

 of the file carbon. Carbons should never be filed unless they bear the stamped 

 signature or the written initials of the chief of the branch or office in which filed. 



Signatures will not be stamped on carbons until letters are ready for mailing. 

 The stamping of the signature will be a certificate that the letter has actually 

 been mailed. 



Letters will not be initialed on the original, except that letters for the sig- 

 nature of the Secretary will be initialed by the Forester in the upper left-hand 

 corner of the first page. The carbons of letters written for the signature of the 

 Forester will be initialed by the author in the lower left-hand corner. Above 

 the initials of the author will appear the initials of the chief of the office in 

 which the letter was prepared and of the chief of branch or District Forester, 

 in the order given. Initialing for authorship will be omitted if the signer has 

 dictated the letter himself. 



Letters Affecting More than One Branch. 



When a letter or document prepared in one branch is of interest to another 

 branch it should be initialed by the chief of the latter to signify his concurrence 

 or to fix his responsibility for carrying out proposed work which falls to him. 



Stenographer's Initials Initialing for Inclosures or Promised Action. 



The stenographer will stamp his initials in the lower right-hand corner of 

 each carbon. If the letter contains iuclosures, or if future action is promised, 

 the stenographer will stamp his initials twice, as a guaranty that the inclosures 

 have been prepared, or that the action promised has been noted. When the 

 action can not be taken immediately, a promise card will be prepared, to be 

 retained by the stenographer, or given to any other person responsible for taking 

 the action promised. When a letter entails typewriting by one stenographer and 

 the preparation of inclosures or other action by another, the initials of both 

 stenographers will be stamped in the lower right-hand corner of the carbon. 



When the signer makes any changes with the pen, in a letter of which he is 

 not the author, he will return the letter to the author in order that the changes 

 may be noted and entered on the carbon, before the letter is sent to the mail 

 clerk for mailing. 



Carbon copies of signed letters sent as instructions or merely for information 

 will bear no initialing, but will be exact duplicates of the original letters and 

 not of the file carbons. 



In approving memorandums, requisitions, and other office papers only initials 

 will be affixed. 



Letters prepared in the supervisor's office will follow the came routine in re- 

 gard to preparation, form, inclosures, initialing, and dating as prescribed for 

 the district office. 



TELEGRAMS. 



The procedure for correspondence applies equally to telegrams. The following 

 general rules should be carefully observed : The telegraph should be used only 

 when the delay in using the mail would be injurious to the public interests. 

 Omit all unnecessary words. In a message from one official or employee to 



