The Prudential Employs 300 Clerks Reviewing 2,500,000 Insurance Policies with 24 Thomas de Colmar Arithmometers

In 1877 it took three hundred clerks working at The Prudential six months to review its 2,500,000 insurance policies, with the assistance of twenty-four Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar arithmometers. Considering that there was only one arithmometer per 15 people, most of the calculations were probably being done by hand.