Direct Service Guide 1939

7/29/2019 Direct Service Guide 1939

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DIRECT SERVICEGUIDE BOOK andTELEGRAPHICCIPHERDUN & BRADSTREET, Inc.

THE MERCANTILE AGENCY

March 1939

For Use of Subscribers and Employees

Exclusive Property ofDUN & BRADSTREET, Inc.Printed in U. S. A.

Copyrighted


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CONTENTSTHE TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER

INSTRUCTIONSPage

Forward Inquiries 5Illustrations 6Inquiries by Mail and Telegraph 8

CIPHER LETTERS, WORDS ANDILLUSTRATIONS

Cipher Letters for Dollars, Figures, Statis-tics, &c 11

Examples 12Cipher Words for Ratings 16

WIRING FOR REPORTS ANDINFORMATION

Introductory Words 19Additional Directions 20Foreign Reports , 21Special Form Reports 21Repeating Inquiries 21Insufficient and Unsatisfactory 22

WIRING FOR SPECIFICINFORMATION

(1) Heading 25(2) AntecedentsIndividual 25(3) HistoryIndividual or Firm 25(4) HistoryCorporation 25(5) Method of Operation 26


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHERPage

(6) Fire Record 26(7) Statement 27(8) Financial Information 27(9) Comments 27

(a) Banking Relations 27(b) Real Estate and Mortgages

Thereon 27(c) Chattel Mortgages or Liens 27(d) Cause of Slow Payments 28(e) Character, Habits, Ability 28(f) Trend and Outlook 28

(10) Trade Reports 28(11) Payments, Protests, &c 28(12) Summary (Credit) 28(13) Rating 29(14) Special Notices 29

(a) Compromises 29(b) Difficulties Rumored 29(c) Failures 30(d) Suits, Judgments, Executions, &c. 31

( 15) Additional Reports 31

COMMUNICATINGINFORMATION(1) General Information 35(2) Combination Reports 36

COMMUNICATING SPECIFICINFORMATION

(1) Heading 39(2) AntecedentsIndividual 40(3) HistoryIndividual or Firm 41(4) HistoryCorporation 42(5) Method of Operation 43


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHERPage

(6) Fire Hazard 44(7) Fire Record 45(8) Statement 46(9) Financial Information 48

( 10 ) Comments 51(a) Features of Statement or Finan-

cial Information 51(b) Banking Relations .... * 51(c) Real Estate and Mortgages

Thereon 51(d) Chattel Mortgages or Liens 52(e) Cause of Slow Payments 53(f) Character, Habits, Ability 54(g) Trend and Outlook 55

(11) Trade Reports 57(12) Payments 58(13) Summary (Credit) 60

(a) "Yes" Summary 60(b) "No" Summary 61(c) "In Doubt" Summary 62

(14) Rating 64(15) Special Notices 64

(a) Failures 64(b) Suits, Judgments, Executions, &c. 66(c) Difficulties Rumored 66(d) Compromises 67

(16) Additional Reports 68

SECURITY AND ENDORSEMENTSSecurityInquiring 73SecurityCommunicating 73

FINISDetailed Alphabetical Index 75


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER

FORWARD INQUIRIESto either

LOCAL REPORTING OFFICEor

CENTRALDUPLICATING OFFICE

To find the Local Reporting Office, look up thetown in the Reference Book. Above the town is thenumber of the office. At the top of the left-handpage, the Local Reporting Offices for that State arelisted in numerical order. (See over for illustra-tion.) Time is usually saved by going directly tothe Local Reporting Office when the name is notlisted.To find the nearest Central Duplicating Office,

look to the top of the right-hand Reference Bookpage. All the offices that carry duplicate recordsfor all of that particular State are listed there.(See over for illustration.) Select the one nearestin mail time.

Ordinarily a Central Duplicating Office shouldbe used only if the name is listed in the ReferenceBook.Always use the Local Reporting Office when itis within over-night mail, or, regardless of dis-

tance, is closer than the nearest Central Duplicat-ing Office.


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER

FORWARDING INQUIRIESFOR REPORTS BY MAILAND TELEGRAPHIt will speed service and lessen the possibility

of error if Subscribers will always use the regularInquiry Tickets in making requests for reportsby mail.

If space after "Remarks" on the ticket is in-sufficient, attach a memo, of what is wanted.Telegrams requesting reports should be in cipher,

and signed with the subscription number as wellas the name of the Subscriber in this manner:(a) Between points in United States

Smith Candy Co. 12-235IMPORTANT: Do not omit hyphen.

(b) Canadian messages, use letter cipher onPage 11, thus

Smith Candy Co. FGHXHJLYour subscription number is printed on the bot-

tom of your inquiry ticket.By quoting your subscription number you will

enable our office receiving your telegram to betterserve you.

See Reference Book for Alphabetical List of of-fices with local addresses.


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CIPHER LETTERS FOR DOLLARS.FIGURES, STATISTICS, &c.

EXAMPLESCIPHER FOR THE KEY TORATINGS


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER II

DOLLARS, FIGURES,STATISTICS, &c.

B


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12 TELEGRAPHIC CIPHERin writing dates, thus: 12:3:36; the - (hyphen)to separate office and subscriber numbers, thus:4-1236, and, as a prefix, to indicate that a numberby itself is a subscriber number without the officenumber, thus: -1325; and we have adopted the /(diagonal) to separate distinctive groups, that isdates from dollars, two or more dollar amounts,subscription numbers of different offices. (Ex-amples follow.) A : (colon), a - (hyphen), anda / (diagonal) are counted as numerals and do notbreak the sequence when used with figures. Onthe other hand, the $ (dollar) and ft (number) andany one or more letters interjected between num-bers, not only break the sequence but are countedas separate words; and they are also counted asseparate words when used as prefixes or suffixesto numerals.Wherever the : (colon), the - (hyphen), or the

/ (diagonal) appears in the text following a cipherword, it should be repeated in the message, coupledwith the figures used to fill in the blank spaces.Wherever the $ (dollar) appears in the text fol-lowing a cipher word, it should be omitted from

the message.

EXAMPLESShowing (a) use of numerals and(b) use of letter cipher for numerals.

(a) AMNIO George A Jones Dallas3:9:37 historyNOTE: The colons repeated exactly as inthe print.

(b) AMNIO George A Jones DallasEJXVXJR history(a) DACAT 3/15000NOTE: The $ (dollar) mark is omitted be-cause it would be counted as a separate wordand would also break the sequence, and nocomma is used to separate thousands fromhundreds. The year figure, the / (diagonal),and the dollar amount are written as a singlegroup of numerals, in sequence and withouta space break.

(b) DACAT JBGLWWW


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER 13EXAMPLES

(a) DAGLO half /1000NOTE: Fractional years,quarter, third,halfused in place of months to approximatetime, but where time is less than quarter ormore than half, it would be better to write,"one month," "eight months," etc. But if theterm is months instead of years, the Wordmonths must be included.

(b) DAGLO half BGWWW

(a) DEHIS grocery 1930/4500NOTE: Date and dollar amount written asa single group of figures with the / (diagonal)as a separator. The diagonal is counted as asingle figure and does not break the sequence.

(b) DEHIS grocery EGVJWBKLWWWNOTE: Date and dollar amount writtenwithout a break, the letter B serving as aseparator and to indicate that the letters fol-lowing represent dollars.

(a) DEOXY 125000/41500NOTE : Both amounts represent dollars, writ-ten without break by using / (diagonal) as aseparator.

(b) DEOXY BGHLWWWBKGLWW(a) DETAC 15/10:5:36 Abdul AbstaNOTE: Years and date written withoutbreak, using diagonal to separate the two, andusing the colon to separate the month, day,and year. Where the diagonal and colon ap-pear in the print they must be repeated in themessage when figures instead of letter ciphersare used.

(b) DETAC GLEGWXLXJP Abdul Absta


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14 TELEGRAPHIC CIPHEREXAMPLES

(a) DOGMA 9:13:35 Idaho 100000or, if only month and year given9:35 Idaho 100000or, if only year given1935 Idaho 100000

NOTE: The $ (dollar) mark and the commabetween thousands and hundreds are omitted.(b) DOGMA EVXGJXJL Idaho BGWWWWW(a) DOLPH 1000000/500000/125000NOTE : Three dollar amounts written as asingle group of figures by using diagonals asseparators. The $ (dollar) marks and thecommas setting off thousands are omitted.

(b) DOLPH BGWWWWWWBLWWWWWBGHLWWW(a) ECMAX 12:31:36/12273/5048/16392NOTE: All cents omitted. Quoting cents isa useless expense, serves no good purpose, andis an ever source of possible error.The date and dollar amounts written as asingle group, without break, by using colonsto separate the month, day, and year, and byusing diagonals to separate the dollar amounts.Where the colon and the diagonal appear inthe print, they must be repeated exactly in themessage if figures are used.

(b) ECMAX EGHXJGXJPBGHHRJBLWKSBGPJVH


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TELEGRAPHIC CIPHER 15

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Documents

Direct Service Guide 1939