NEEDS OF A GOOD SYSTEM. 77 



Many proprietors consider it an economy to make a foreman 

 keep his own books, combining the functions of hammer and claw 

 in one man. In some jobbing and repair shops I have known 

 of this taking half the foreman's time. Now, considering what 

 he is there for, would it not be better to simplify the accounts so 

 that a clever boy could keep them, and let the foreman, who is 

 the head of all the men, the acknowledged brains ruling the, 

 motion of a hundred hands, have full power to direct their move- 

 ments and co-ordinate their energies most profitably? 



A good foreman is rare enough, but one who is also a good 

 clerk is rarer still. Is it the fault of the supply or of the demand ? 



Passing now to inanimate instruments, to most people the 

 word " accounts " suggests at once books. But looking at it with- 

 out prejudice, is not an account book a combination tool? Does 

 it not contain a mass of unnecessary information for the sake of 

 having the little which is really required ; and if from a mistaken 

 sense of economy it is to be used for entry and record by several 

 sets of people, is it not carrying the combination idea still further 

 and in the wrong direction still ? Then when accounts lap into dif- 

 ferent books, is it not like having several tack hammers and claws 

 with only one handle for the lot? and is not confusion going to 

 follow their use by the different men waiting to work with them ? 



On the other hand, see how much of the most important busi- 

 ness of the world is done without books : checks of draft and 

 deposit, negotiable bills of lading, warehouse receipts, notes and' 

 even baggage checks and railroad tickets, which have superseded 

 the former process of "booking" for a journey; these things 

 are not kept in books, but are loose and pass from hand to hand, 

 suiting every one's convenience and to no one's harm. 



" But they are loose and fugitive, mere evidences of wealth, 

 likely to be lost," says the Mexican, trudging behind his silver- 

 laden mule. " They may be," says the financier, " but it is every 

 holder's interest to keep them until he can exchange them for 

 something at'least as good ; it is to this we trust for their preser- 

 vation, but even granting their occasional loss, far better in the 

 end is that than to be fettered as you are by your fears." This 



