EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 47 



invoices and receipts ; these, to save the multiplication of papers, 

 are generally given in bulk, in the form of certain quarterly 

 abstracts signed by the Commanding Officer. 



Vouchers belonging to the abstract of expenditures (5), and 

 to all the single abstracts, belong to the internal economy of the 

 arsenal, and are explained in full only by such records as the 

 Commanding Officer may choose to keep. These are generally 

 as follows : Abstract B is based on the monthly reports of fabri- 

 cation and other work done ; and the other abstracts are compiled 

 from the remarks on various requisition books, store books and 

 vouchers, showing the purpose or nature of the transactions they 

 record. 



COMPILATION OF ABSTRACTS. 



1. The single abstracts are consolidated from the individual 

 vouchers by any convenient arrangement that the clerk may 

 devise ; generally a rough list of names arranged by interpola- 

 tion in approximately alphabetical order is made from the 

 vouchers, and the corresponding quantities entered opposite the 

 names from the vouchers in turn. The names and the total 

 quantities, when fairly copied, form the abstract required. 



2. The double abstracts are generally made up from the 

 vouchers whose serial numbers appear in the column next to that 

 containing the agencies. 



The preparation of a double abstract is a comparatively easy 

 matter if the vouchers on which it is based have their items 

 arranged in the regular sequence of names. 



It is first required to compile from the different vouchers a 

 classified list of all the names of material which they contain. 

 This is the most difficult and important part of the task, for on its 

 accuracy and completeness all the rest depends. After transcrib- 

 ing this list on the head line of the abstract which is reserved for 

 names, the insertion of the quantities under each name by trans- 

 fer from the vouchers follows. 



But if the names on the vouchers have not been classified, great 

 trouble results, for in transcribing the names from the vouchers 



