One man can add one more point monthly to several thousand difi^erent curves, and do also a certain amount of the clerical work involved in making up ratios, grand totals, etc. If a record file of curves like that shown in Fig. 217 is once made thoroughly up to date, for any business, it is easy to keep it up to date with only routine work such as any man of even ordinary mental caliber can do. Information cards 4-by-6-inch, such as are shown in Fig. 216, explain every step of the work required in plotting any curve, and even a new man just out of college would be able to follow the instructions well enough to take charge of a record system which some one else started. Thus, if it is desired after a j^ear or two to promote a man who has built up a record system of this kind, it would be quite easy to have him break

RECORDS FOR THE EXECUTIVE W5

in a successor so that there would be no change in the methods of collecting data and plotting curves. This possibility of taking on a new college graduate every few years permits having an excellent record department, even for a small-size business in which it would be thought undesirable to spend more than $3,000 or $4,000 a year to cover the total yearly departmental cost.

It should be a strict rule for a record department of the type described that no original papers shall be taken from the room. The record department should be in a quiet place to which the president or any other official may retreat to get completely away from the distractions which are common in his own office because of the telephone and constant visitors. In the record room the executive would be free to concentrate his whole attention on the records of what his business has been doing in the last weeks or months, so that he may be able to formulate plans for the future.