This feature alone may save a large amount of his time by making necessary information more accessible, and by afi^ording information which may show leaks in his business that he would otherwise never know to exist. In a business of any size the cost of making one blue print each month from each original curve card is almost insignificant. The guide cards showing functions or account numbers remain useful year after year, and it is necessary only to discard a blue print for each card each month and to substitute the latest blue print made from the original curve card after a new point has been added. Having the original cards filed by departments and the blue prints filed by function or account number, the manager may instantly consider his business from whichever point of view he desires. He may study the whole operation of a given department, or he may study one function or expense account in its effect upon his business as a whole.

Practically every company which does an annual business of $1,000,000 or more would find it a paying proposition to have a room reserved in the office as a general record or information department regarding all the facts of the business. Though such a room might be combined with a technical library for books relating to the particular art or industry in which the company finds its field of operation, it is advisable to have the amount of furnishings in the room limited so that there may be no likelihood of valuable confidential papers being lost or misplaced. Such a room really needs to have no more furniture than filing cases like those shown in Fig. 217, a large table, and a drawing table or a flat desk for the man who plots curves.