7 o PRESENT SYSTEM. 



freedom of action being the greater, so will the responsibility as 

 to the net result of his actions be. 



We have so far been occupied with the process of drawing- 

 material from store, and with all the checks preventing its im- 

 proper expenditure; but in spite of all this care, there is no 

 similar provision made for returning to store what is unsuitable 

 or surplus, except by going back over all the books and cancel- 

 ing or modifying the entries relating to the transaction. Should 

 a set of quarterly papers intervene, the chances are, that to avoid 

 the trouble and complication of accounts resulting from the 

 changes, the supplies will be kept " expended " in name, but 

 really awaiting some other application. 



Having facilitated the procurement of material by an improve- 

 ment on the means above described, it will still be necessary to 

 provide for its return ; in fine, to treat the supply in store like water, 

 considering the storehouses as tanks provided with the most 

 direct system of pipes, having the fewest turns and the simplest 

 valves, and so arranged that while any responsible person could 

 always draw what he wanted so easily that he would not be 

 tempted to take more than he required; yet that every such act 

 would of necessity be indelibly recorded and accounted for. 

 Also to arrange matters so that it would be so easy to drain the 

 overflow back into the tank from which it came, that one would 

 rather take that course than have it about the shop. 



DETERMINING COST OF PRODUCT. 

 General Considerations. 



Good administration, in our case, has been defined as the 

 doing of good work cheaply, and the test of a good product to 

 be its cost. 



Almost any establishment can do good work when supplied 

 with good workmen, tools and material, but it is not impos- 

 sible to do work too well, to make disproportionate efforts to 

 accomplish insignificant results. Experience shows this to be 

 often true, particularly as regards the manufacture " at home " of 

 articles made more cheaply as specialties elsewhere. 



