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 
ollowe 
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Referencing. 
Numerical 
System. 
Calan 
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