INTERNAL RELATIONS. 255 



4. The Quarterly Abstract of Purchases. 



This is a double abstract, see page 42, containing a serial 

 list of vouchers on which purchases have been made, with the 

 articles purchased on each voucher arranged under headings 

 furnished by the official nomenclature. 



This paper is not compiled, as might be imagined, from the cor- 

 responding monthly abstracts, but from the individual vouchers. 

 It affords the means of accounting for the purchases as receipts 

 on the property return. 



5. The Monthly Abstract of Disbursements. 



This is a purely cash paper, in the form of a double abstract, 

 containing a list of all vouchers paid during the month, both for 

 purchases and services, with the amounts paid on each voucher, 

 distributed under the heads of the appropriations to which they 

 belong. The agencies are the vouchers arranged serially and 

 accompanied by a synoptical statement of their contents. This 

 synopsis is only useful as a guide to the general correctness of 

 the distribution of the charges ; it can serve no connected pur- 

 pose. See Chap. XV. 



NOTE. It will be observed that each of the last three abstracts requires the over- 

 hauling of every individual voucher relating to purchases during the period to which 

 the abstract belongs. No means seem to have been provided for their progressive 

 consolidation, but the whole work has to be done over anew for every one of the 

 papers. 



