Page:The web (1919).djvu/213

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  • tions of the work and the different ramifications of the

League's operative forces, one is pretty nearly ready to admit that without a perfect office system the whole thing would have been jolly well messed up inside of a week. This amateur organization sprang into being almost over night, a smooth-working, modern business machine, which rendered invaluable services at no cost at all. When you stop to think of it, this is one of the most wonderful phenomena of American business life.

The total membership of officers and operatives in the New York Division numbered over four thousand five hundred substantial business and professional men, chosen from every field of activity. They were classified and reclassified to such an extent that, from speaking any required language on earth to expert knowledge in any profession on earth, aid could be furnished on demand. Two significant facts stand out in comparing New York with other cities. The first, the rather smaller number of men; the second, the rather small amount of money spent in the work. It is due to the excellent business system of that division that the cost per case was kept so low, for New York runs more cases to the operative, and more to the member, than any other city in the country.