INTERNAL RELATIONS. 175 



should be avoided if possible. Material unnecessarily drawn from 

 store may be returned to it, but a purchase is generally irrevo- 

 cable. See page 28. 



STORES IN CHARGE. 



Could the material transferred to current service be locked 

 up in some convenient portion of the shop, and only drawn as 

 wanted for the particular purpose to which it is to be charged, 

 this would be the end of the matter ; but the advantage in ex- 

 actness so gained would be more than offset by the inflexibility 

 of such a method. We should be only one step beyond the plan 

 of going to the Ordnance Storekeeper for everything in detail. 

 See page 29. 



In Chapter VIII, page 83, we have seen that the Executive Offi- 

 cer and his assistants, the foremen, are responsible both for units 

 of property and for their values, and that these responsibilities are 

 independently accounted for. From whatever source material 

 may come, both responsibilities are simultaneously assumed when 

 it is " received " on the card, but they may be separately dis- 

 charged. 



For example, since material in current service is subject to waste 

 and to the omission of the records specifying its actual consump- 

 tion, it is required that no material shall be transferred to current 

 service, unless its value is charged to some shop-order, and this 

 order is that on which the material will be most probably ex- 

 pended. 



The charge in the cost section disposes of the responsibility for 

 the value of the material, but leaves that for the units of prop- 

 erty unimpaired. 



As to this responsibility, two courses are open to the foreman : 

 1st, to immediately discharge it by punching "issued" on the 

 same card on which the receipt of the material has been acknowl- 

 edged ; 2d, by only punching " received " to continue responsible 

 for the units of property in question, which are then said to be 

 held in charge. 



The former alternative should be followed when the purpose 

 of the issue is definitely known, as in prospective expendi- 



