Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/383



HE experience of England and France early in the war clearly proved the importance of keeping a detailed and intelligently indexed record of every man in the army and navy and their auxiliary branches. It also showed the need of a system that would make the grouping of the men, according to certain qualifications, a simple, possibly automatic, process.

Such a system is offered by a file called the Findex, which promises to save the American government from the difficulties experienced by her allies. The device consists of a file case containing rectangular index cards. These cards have a space for the name of the soldier at the top, while in the lower part there is a system of round holes, arranged in horizontal and vertical rows. Each hole represents some particular information concerning the subject of

{{image missing|{{c|{{smaller block|This is a reproduction of an index card. Each hole represents a detail of information about some soldier}}}}

the card, which it may be desirable to put on record. The items represented by such holes include for instance the previous civilian occupation, military experience, knowledge of languages or expertness in some profession or trade. To indicate that the subject of the card possesses a certain qualification, the space between the holes corresponding with the respective index number is punched out, thus making an oblong slot.

Suppose that the Government wanted to select a corps of railroad engineers. A clerk inserts five rods through holes in the front of the case, numbered to correspond with the holes in the cards, indicating the particular qualifications desired. Then the whole file, case and all, is turned upside down on the table. All of the cards not having the slots to indicate the possession of the required qualification by the subject of the card will be held in place, while the slotted cards will drop down and can quickly be removed from the file. {{nop}} {{c|367}}