INTERNAL RELATIONS. 71 



Competition with his rivals may force the business man to 

 realize this ; but the public officer can only be reached by a 

 sense of pride leading him to compare his results with each other 

 and generally with those of like character about him. Its effi- 

 ciency being granted, his work is well done in proportion as it is 

 cheaply done. 



But how tell if it is cheaply done? Nothing seems more easy ; 

 nothing is really more difficult. How many are the worthless 

 devices whose only claim lies in their asserted economy ! How 

 many manufacturers have unwittingly sold goods below cost; 

 and how many have persevered in wasteful processes, saving their 

 pence while wasting their pounds, until they found themselves 

 insolvent ! 



True, the government officer is not so directly subject to out- 

 side competition. His troubles lie within, and are often born of 

 his own zeal ; his interest in the working of his own methods, often 

 as potent as any love of gain, may blind him to their remote but 

 certain consequences. 



What he needs is a constant, impartial monitor, which he may 

 consult as he would a clock ; telling him not only how much he 

 has spent, but how and where it has gone. 



The ordinary method of determining cost is elsewhere described. 

 Owing to the uncertainty of the result, when accounts are not bal- 

 anced, the subject does not seem to have received the attention 

 which it deserves. 



This determination can only be made valuable by being made 

 certain ; it can only become certain, by being made comprehen- 

 sive ; and this only by charging all expenses automatically to some 

 account, and making all of these accounts tell in the finished 

 product. 



Then we shall be on firm ground ; and knowing the special 

 causes of cost, may retrench or expand where it may seem most 

 advantageous, having a certainty that the effects of whatever 

 steps are taken will be conclusively brought to view. 



