Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1901 TO 1914 217the branches were not debarred from addressing the generalmanager at any time when they desired to do so. Shortlyafterwards the branches were instructed to supply the inspectorwith copies of their letters to the general manager; and viceof lettersversa, to supply the general manager with copiesto the inspector. For this purpose carbon copies made onthe typewriter were superior to those which could be madein any other way, and they were also obtained with a minimumof labour. Instructions were therefore given that the oldmethod of copying letters on dampened sheets by means of apress was to be done away with, and that carbon copieswere to be taken instead. The saving which resulted when thepress-copy letter-book succeeded the old system of laboriouslymaking handwritten copies of all correspondence has alreadybeen referred to. Now 1this labour-saving contrivance, aftera life of about fifty years, was made obsolete by the use ofcarbon paper. Somewhat later the branches were instructedto file the correspondence with head office about borrowingaccounts under the name of the customer with whose accountthe letter dealt. All communications regarding each customer,from the head office and from the branch, were to befiled in order of date in loose-leaf binders, the customers'names being arranged in strict alphabetical order. In thisway a consecutive history of each account is obtained, alwaysready for reference and needing no index.Another change in office methods about this time wassuggested by the discovery of a new development in thelimitless field of fraud. In April, 1901, both The CanadianBank of Commerce and the Imperial Bank of Canada werevictimized through paying savings bank receipts, the amountsof which had been increased after they had been marked bythe ledger-keeper. The first measure taken to combat thisform of fraud was the use of a safety paper that would makesuch alterations more difficult. Later on, as it was realizedthat safety paper afforded only a measure of protection, the'Vol. I, p. 220.