Our method of handling correspondence is such that, to insure proper attention, all communications should be addressed to the company. We request that you observe this rule in the future. Yours truly, No more reason for the fear that the house will be injured by the personality of one of its correspondents can be seen, than that the personality of the salesman will have greater weight with customers than the reputation of the house. If the personality of an employe--be he a personal salesman or a correspondent--is worth anything in a business way, the benefit accrues to the house that employs him. There is one other objection to the use of the name of the writer of the letter, and it comes from the United States Statute making it a criminal offense to open mail addressed to another. But this objection can be easily overcome; any employe whose name is used will sign an order authorizing the opening of letters addressed in his name, unless marked _personal_. [Illustration: Fig. 22. Record of Sales Resulting from Form Letters] _Form Letter Records._ A copy of each form letter written should be kept permanently. The copies should be filed in a manner that will make it easy to refer to them. For this purpose an arch file or binder is most satisfactory. The letters themselves may be punched for the file, or the loose-leaf scrapbook idea can be adopted, pasting several letters on one leaf. Each letter should be given a number for the purpose of identification, whether or not it appears on the letter itself. The copies should be arranged in the file in numerical order, but where there are several departments or divisions using form letters, they should be divided by departmental indexes. It is also well to keep a second copy of the letter with a sample of the enclosures, as the enclosures may have an important bearing on the results. These copies may be preserved in the manner suggested for filing copies of ads and printed matter. When a form letter is written, a record form, as shown in Fig. 21, should be started. This may be on a card or loose leaf; the latter is preferred on account of the larger space for the record. The heading shows the No. of the letter, the subject, name of the writer, its No. in the series to which it belongs--first, second, or third--the enclosures, and the names of any special lists used. The body of the form provides for a record of letters mailed during the year, with a monthly record of total costs. The sheets are arranged in the order of letter Nos., in a card file or a loose-leaf binder. The reverse of this record form is ruled, as shown in Fig. 22, to provide a record of sales resulting from the use of the letter. Sales can be entered daily or weekly, but the daily record is recommended. The methods of obtaining the details for these records is described later.