S8 PROPOSED SYSTEM. 



5. Cards in blank are to be supplied to all requiring them, in such 

 abundance that no transaction need ever fail of immediate record 

 for want of a book to put it in. Entries are to be made in pencil. 

 By means of rubber type, the electric or cyclostilic pen, and 

 stamps of various kinds, it is intended to reduce the writing in 

 any one instance to no more than that required to make the 

 necessary entries in the usual books. It is as easy to write an 

 entry on a card as it is to write it in a book ; but once written on 

 a card it need never be written again, while with books every re- 

 handling implies transcription with increased chances of error. 



The cards, on the contrary, are to be passed from hand to 

 hand of those concerned, each one deriving from the card such 

 information as he requires, and then passing it on toward the 

 office, where they all finally converge for consolidation and record. 



The successive consolidation of the cards depends upon the 

 facility with which they may be assorted according to any one of 

 the various classifications which may be desired. By this sorting, 

 items of the same class are always found together, and their 

 several aggregates directly determined. Having answered one 

 question, the cards may then be resorted according to another 

 inquiry, and so on. 



The cards are carried where needed within the Arsenal by a 

 sort of local post-office. 



Sorting is done in racks or pigeon holes with temporary num- 

 bers ; signing is done by ticket punches ; and the final filing of 

 cards whose race is run is done in trays, all of patterns to be 

 hereafter described. 



6. By making the card, before it reaches the office, the medium 

 of exchange for local utilities, and by providing safe and simple 

 means of transit thither, it is practically never lost But since 

 this immunity cannot reasonably be supposed to continue indefi- 

 nitely, it is well to explain that even if lost, the consequences 

 are not more serious than if under the present system an entry 

 were forgotten. That this is never done, who shall say? 



