78 OBJECTIONS TO PRESENT METHODS. 



is a fair statement of the case between books and the cards, of 

 which an account will be given later on. 



OUTLINE OF THE NEEDS OF A GOOD SYSTEM OF BOOK-KEEPING. 



1. For fair competition with private workshops, whose responsi- 

 bilities are, so to speak, self-contained, the system must be as 

 easy and untrammeled as in the smallest shop in the land, in 

 which, if anything is wanted, the " boss " gets the money out of 

 the till and steps across the street and buys it. 



2. Yet it must be so arranged that the accounts shall always 

 bear the closest scrutiny ; that all expenditures may be distinctly 

 represented on them ; that all losses and wastings be charged to 

 some general account, which will enhance the cost of the special 

 products nearest connected with it, so that generally all expenses 

 under the appropriations of Congress by which they are allowed 

 may be certainly traced and surely accounted for. 



The responsibility for a correct use of the money and means 

 in the Commanding Officer's hands is not solely limited by his 

 discretion, but is a grave trust, concerning which the accounts 

 should be so simple and easily kept as to afford him at any 

 moment trustworthy information of the state of the work in prog- 

 ress and of the funds available for its continuance. Then he 

 and his subordinates may bend their energies to the more im- 

 portant portions of their duties, confident that the routine part of 

 the work is going on without default. 



3. In order that the system may not be burdensome to the 

 polity which it is intended to serve, it must be simple and easily 

 managed by a low grade of clerical labor, otherwise its cost would 

 be apt to outweigh the advantages which it proposes to afford. 



4. Yet it should' not be thought that the work of the clerks 

 can be done by foremen or workmen. 



The workman acts. 



The foreman regulates the workman's acts. 



The clerk records the acts of both. 



5. Although workmen and foremen should not act as clerks, 

 yet, from the nature of the case, they must give the first account 



