FILING

343
It should also be a rule that each outward letter should
have the subject to which it relates set out at the head. Each
Jetter should only refer to one subject, but exceptions to this
rule may be provided for by increasing the number of loose
copies in accordance with the number of subjects dealt with
in the letter.

It will be seen from the preceding remarks that a proper
system of referencing is a fundamental factor in any method of
filing. Such references, by means of numbering,or alternative-
ly, subject headings, are suggested below; but success, or
otherwise, in the work of the filing office, largely depends on the
way in which the referencing is carried out. Every subject
should be separately indexed, but many, or perhaps most sub-
jects, in a large department require sub-dividing for conveni-
ence in the work of the department; and here, more than in any
other detail, care must be exercised. If, on the one hand, corre-
spondence is insufficiently sub-divided, it is difficult to trace
required correspondence, and time is wasted; while on the
other, unnecessary division of any principal subject is wasteful
in the use of filing material, and increases the risk of filing in
the wrong sub-division. No hard and fast rule can be laid
down regarding the question of references; each office has
circumstances peculiar to its own business, and elasticity is
essential. Briefly, it may be said that a conservative use of
sub-divisions will probably be found convenient in working.

Where the numerical reference system is employed, every
subject of correspondence, as stated in the preceding para-
graph, should bear a distinctive number, and every sub-
division of the same subject a further number. These may
conveniently be an integral number for the main subject and a
decimal fraction for each sub-division. The following
examples sufficiently indicate the suggested method: —

Rates and Taxes .. . .. 6
's Income Tax .. 6-1

In a department or office dealing with the business of
several companies, amplification of the system of reference
numbers will be needed in order to establish the identity of
documents and to guide the filing clerk. This may be done
in a simple manner by prefixing a number to the reference
suggested in 4 ~ foregoing paragraph, and is indicated as

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Referencing.

Numerical
System.

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