22 INTRODUCTION. 



Every transaction with material that could be imagined has 

 been traced to its conclusion by certain uniform rules, every 

 anomaly being considered due to some intrinsic defect in the 

 rules, which being eliminated, they were re-applied until further 

 exceptions seemed impossible. 



These rules were : 



1 . To reduce all writing to a minimum by the use for all pur- 

 poses of the same general kind of one comprehensive tabular 

 form, completed by a simple symbolic notation and certified by 

 characteristic punch marks. 



2. To make each card a representative unit, capable of com- 

 bination with others, according to any one or more of their 

 common features ; thereby attaining by the mechanical operation 

 of sorting, the results otherwise achieved only by the tardy and 

 laborious processes of book-keeping. 



3. To avoid transcription by providing that the same card shall 

 be dealt with by as many consecutive agents as require it, thereby 

 saving time and preventing errors in copying. 



4. For the preservation of the cards and their record to trust 

 rather to their equivalency with the units they represent, and with 

 which they are convertible, than to mere rules of conduct con- 

 cerning their employment ; and so, by depending upon the cards 

 for all the temporary purposes for which books are now employed, 

 to make books unnecessary except for final records. 



5. To disregard the number of cards consumed by using them 

 singly as an immediate record of all transactions deemed worthy 

 of note, in view of the ultimate saving in labor and the absolute 

 avoidance of confusion due to their unrestricted employment for 

 such purposes. 



6. To render entirely unnecessary the removal to the work- 

 shops or storehouses of any records or correspondence pertaining 

 to the external relations of the arsenal. 



7. To make the cards so full of meaning that no one under- 

 standing the principles on which they were based could ever go 

 amiss in using them ; that no special rules should be required for 

 special cases, but that the part of each user should be fixed by 



