15. Value of printed records.—Routine, however developed, should at once be put on paper. The rapid progress of civilization since the introduction of printing, as compared with that of the centuries be fore, shows the efficacy of the printed record. The record of business routine operations is known as a manual, and it is surprising to see how universally ap plicable its regulations are. In the office, the cor respondence manual contains a series of carefully worked out paragraphs covering routine questions, by the use of which the correspondent can greatly re duce the time necessary to handle his mail. The man ual of the Long Island Railroad contains 773 rules covering the duties of different employes, how to make up trains, the rights of trains, how to signal, etc. Similar codes are in force on all the other railroad systems. Most department stores have their "Book of Rules." The "Standard Book" of the Westing house drafting room .contains twenty-four drafting dictionaries which specify : lines to be used ; letters and figures; methods of sectioning; mechanical fea tures, such as size of sheet, position of title ; element charts ; illustrations of the elements of their various machines ; illustrated index of terms used ; digest of the 400 pages of circular instructions issued from time to time ; and sample drawings and abbreviations.
16. Advantages of loose-leaf manual.—While the material in the manual, and not its form, is the im portant thing, nevertheless it is convenient, where the firm is large, to publish the manual as a loose-leaf book, small enough to slip into the pocket. Changes can be made from time to time without republishing the whole book ; and because of its convenient form it can be carried around and can be readily referred to. It should be fully indexed to facilitate its use. In small companies it is convenient to type, mimeo graph or blue-print the manual. An even simpler form is a scrapbook in which are pasted copies of each specification for material and of each letter of instruc tion which the office issues. This kind of manual is not so convenient as the others, because the material is not properly classified, and duplicates cannot be issued without considerable trouble.