An entry in brief is made on the card every time Mr. Oxbow is heard from so that the card itself will show at all times an outline of the status of the case. Suppose that a number of letters pass, and Mr. Oxbow finally decides to come to Chicago to see the doctor. The card will then show entries like these: No. 6346—Hiram Oxbow, Valparaiso, Ind. Rating A 4. 1907 Aug. 10. First enquiry. Answered with No. 3. Aug. 15. Wants more particulars. Asked him to come to Chicago. Aug. 21. Enquires about fees. Told him it was impossible to fix amount in advance of seeing patient. Aug. 26. Will be in Chicago Aug. 30th, 9 a.m. Every letter received from Mr. Oxbow and a copy of every reply is filed in the same manila pocket so that 106when wanted they are all together, and can be taken out in a minute. Suppose Mr. Oxbow is not rated in Dun or Bradstreet? It is the correspondence chief’s business to ascertain his financial standing if it is possible to do so. Frequently this is done through the doctor’s bank, or the doctor may be a subscriber to some commercial agency. In either event a confidential enquiry is made as to the responsibility of Mr. Oxbow. The answer may say: “Good for $10,000;” or “credit good, pays bills promptly;” or “credit poor.” In the great majority of cases information of some kind will be secured which can be entered on the cards for future reference. How are enquiries from prospective patients secured? Some of them are made voluntarily, being induced by the enquirer having read in some city paper about the doctor’s success in certain lines of practice—one of those articles which the clever press agent, who is usually the correspondence chief, has had inserted in the guise of news. Generally, however, enquiries are drawn out by a systematic campaign through the mails, or by resort to publication in the country papers. No wide-awake, progressive correspondence chief will wait for voluntary enquiries. He will make an arrangement with a clipping bureau by which for $5 a hundred he will be supplied with clippings from all the papers, large and small, in his territory announcing the illness of citizens. When the Beeville Bugle publishes the news that “Abner Skeets, a prominent resident of Beeville, has become a victim of chronic arthritis,” the paper is not in the office of the clipping bureau over a few hours before 107the correspondence chief has received the paragraph. In this manner he comes into possession of hundreds of similar news items every week. All the various publicity articles which the city papers have published about Dr. Wilkinson and his wonderful success have been reproduced by the zinc-etching process and thousands of slips printed in a manner which makes them bear the appearance of having been torn out of the original publications.