Take a lesson from the machine shop. Standardize the working tools.

What articles do I find absolutely essential? A rigorous answer to this question insures the worker his full kit of tools, but rids him of a number of articles which now clutter his desk drawers and desk top.

What size and quality of these articles are best? Do not leave to chance the kind of letter paper or ink or pencils that

Figure 9. The Center Desk Drawer Partitioned

When compartments have been installed, the contents are not thrown into confusion with every opening and shutting of this drawer, and the reaching for articles needed becomes a matter of second nature.

you use, or keep changing the size of your memo paper. Their proper selection in the first place, by which is meant their standardization, solves the matter.

A Piace for Each Desk Tool

Where shall these articles be kept? "A place for everything and everything in its place," the old motto taught us by our grandmothers, applies forcibly here for this reason: Not only can tools be secured more conveniently if stored according to some definite plan but, when they are kept regularly in their respective places, the process of reaching them. when desired is rendered automatic. This results in a decided saving of the mental forces and business time of the executive.

The wide, shallow middle drawer affords a convenient location for the majority of desk tools. Special compartments in this drawer should be arranged for the things most frequently used, the partitions being made either of wood or cardboard. (See Figure 9.) It is also possible to secure from office supply houses a separate wooden tray, with numerous cups hollowed out like a money till, which slips into the shallow drawer. Until the location assigned to the various tools becomes second nature, 1 is well to label each compartment.

The Glass Desk Top as an Extra File

The filing system puts papers out of sight, where they will not distract the attention from the work at hand. Certain data, however, are so frequently consulted that they ought, if possible, to be kept in full view. The glass desk top affords a solution.

Or a small glass plate can be inserted in the arm rest of a chair, or the slide on a desk, and thus a place, perhaps even more convenient than the glass desk top and possessing some privacy, may be arranged for price schedules, cost figures, today's plans, or other data to which frequent reference is made.

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An Architect's Office System

An architect uses the large sheet kept under this glass top as the basis of his entire system. Each job as undertaken is entered in order on the schedule sheet, receiving automatically as its number the number of the line it occupies thereon. (See Figure 10.) This number then becomes the key to everything pertaining to the particular job. Sketches and drawings, specifications, records of every kind are filed by this number, filling as many folders as may be needed, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, etc. The schedule sheet as used in this office deserves its prominent place under the glass desk top.

This is the schedule sheet on which an architect keeps track of jobs ahead. (Reproduced through courtesy of System.)

No doubt in every office certain material can be filed with profit under the glass top-production graphs for works managers, season schedules for sporting page editors, tables of stocks on hand for merchandise men, and fundamental statistics for purchasing agents. But this space is too limited and too prominent a flag to the attention to permit its indiscriminate assignment.

The Executive's Devices for Communication

The executive requires some appropriate system for communication, and his desk to serve him well must bring this system close at hand.

Five devices are worth mentioning in this connection: the buzzer, the telephone, the interphone or house phone, the dictograph, and the telautograph. The simplest to install is the buzzer; practically all electrical supply houses carry it and any person who understands the most simple electric wiring can install it. The location of the button should be within easy reach. If it is desired a signal code can be adopted.

The Telephone, Its Use and Abuse

The telephone is widely used-and abused too, although the quality of telephone habits is steadily rising. In managing calls in the private office, there still exists room for improvement; too much time is lost in the maneuvers of secretaries who try to get the outside executive on the wire before their own employers are called.

The telephone proves so convenient a means of communication for house men that after a time its use for outside business is seriously interfered with. The interphone overcomes this difficulty since it is independent of the public telephone system. There are several types of these interphones on the market; with practically all of these the necessary connections may be made without requiring the services of an operator.

Dictograph and Telautograph

The dictograph affords some distinct advantages in bringing business men into communication. Through its use an executive located at a central station may call several department heads into a conference over the wire.

The telautograph is a mechanical device by means of which a message written on one instrument is duplicated upon the receiving board of a second instrument located elsewhere within the organization but connected with the first instrument by electricity. Since the messages are recorded at both ends of the line, it furnishes a check upon the accuracy of intercommunications.

Still other means of communication are the pneumatic tubes, the overhead carrier, and the dumb-waiter. Information concerning all these devices may be secured from their respective manufacturers whose advertisements appear in office equipment journals. It may be well in passing to emphasize the value of a well-planned office memo blank and a smoothly working messenger service.

The Importance of Office Layout

It may seem now that the business man has his private office fully equipped. This is not yet true, for all equipment is merely a means to an end-does it get results easily and quickly?

Much depends upon the way the equipment has been arranged within the office. Are the filing cabinets over near the door, requiring several steps to reach them? Does the telephone placed by the window necessitate more walking? Does one in consulting the dictionary or the trade catalogue step around the desk? Is the most frequently used desk tool kept at the rear, not the front, of the middle desk drawer?

A Real Estate Dealer's Office Problem

This problem was met and solved ingeniously by a real estate dealer. This dealer's office was conveniently connected with that of an insurance company with which he co-operated, and which permitted him at slight expense to make use of its reception room for his callers. He had one assistant, a young