THE COST STANDARD. 17 



his bias neutralized by the opposing tendencies of the other 

 observers. 



Now, efficiency being admitted, the excellence of an adminis- 

 tration is universally measured by its cost. 



This cost is composed of the sum of the costs of each of its 

 actions ; so that to properly value an administration we require 

 to know both what it has done and the cost of doing it. 



The greater the detail of this knowledge the greater its value ; for 

 the more exactly then can causes of past expenditure be traced 

 back from their effects, and the more certainly may estimates of 

 future cost be based on what is already known and established. 



Success in manufacturing depends almost entirely upon accu- 

 racy of estimate. 



The extent to which the analysis of cost and product may be 

 carried need only be limited by the expense of making it or by 

 the power of comprehending and comparing the results which 



it affords. 







To utilize such an examination two processes are necessary, 

 one inductive and the other deductive ; for the product and its 

 cost having been analyzed as far as convenience will permit, the 

 resulting items must be recombined into forms admitting of a 

 comparison from which may be deduced certain general rules 

 for the future conduct of affairs. 



Then will Experience take definite form and become indeed a 

 teacher ; thus Science be the handmaid of the art. 



It is the object of this book to show how the cost of adminis- 

 tration may be determined, both in gross and the remotest details, 

 by such impersonal, invariable means that their record may be 

 looked upon as being as nearly absolutely true as that of any 

 other similarly extended series of observations. 



Together with this comes a method of administration which 

 reduces its labors to a minimum and yet immensely increases its 

 scope, by recording, in whatever minuteness of detail may ever 

 be required, full information as to services performed and as to 

 material in all stages of manufacture, received, expended and 

 remaining on hand. 



