INTERNAL RELATIONS. 65 



1. The uncertainty and indefiniteness of the labor charges. 



2. The limited use made of these charges, owing to the diffi- 

 culty of collating them, of referring to them, and of interpreting 

 them. 



3. The improper amount of clerical labor required of foremen 

 in compiling these charges, both as to the effect on the useful- 

 ness of the foremen, and as to the uncertainty of such work when 

 done by unfamiliar hands. 



PROCURING AND ACCOUNTING FOR MATERIAL. 



There are many methods employed, alike in their general 

 aspects, but with such differences in practice as local and personal 

 peculiarities have developed. 



The following illustration may serve as a general example of 

 the evils attending the use of books as ordinarily employed : 



1. Let us take the simplest case first, and suppose the material 

 to be in store, and the foreman to know it. He makes an entry on 

 the "store book;" the Commanding Officer signs it; the book 

 goes to the Ordnance Storekeeper or one of his assistants, who 

 sends the material, and the book, when he can get it, to the fore- 

 man. The latter receipts for the material on the margin of the 

 original entry; the material is " expended " on the books of the 

 storekeeper, and the transaction is at an end. 



2. When there is nothing suitable in store, or the foreman 

 thinks there is not, he makes his wants known on the " purchase 

 book." As this book is kept in the office, he goes there, taking 

 a memorandum of his wants ; they are thus written twice (l, 2). 

 They are then approved by the Commanding Officer (3); 

 written on an order blank (4); copied on a duplicate stub (5) ; 

 signed again by the Commanding Officer (6), and sent to the dealer 

 (7). Meanwhile the margin of the purchase book is marked 

 with the name of the dealer (8). The supplies come back with 

 the bill, which is copied into the Inspector's book (9) and initialed 

 by him after inspection (10). 



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