CHAPTER XVI. 



APPLICATION OF SYSTEM TO PRIVATE SHOPS. 



I have applied the principles proposed in the preceding pages 

 to the business with which I am most familiar in such a manner 

 as to test their fitness to the utmost of my power; but have 

 refrained from applying them specifically to other affairs, in which 

 conditions would probably vary too much for rules made for one 

 set to hold for them all. I shall be satisfied to have suggested 

 from my own necessities the means by which others may work 

 out their own accounts, knowing that if fairly done the result 

 must be true, for its foundations will be true. 



It is not to be expected that many private shops will fin$ it to 

 their advantage to carry out all the measures of accountability 

 related herein. I have consequently excerpted the following 

 portions of the book, so as to give a general idea of the principles 

 underlying the system for the use of administrations whose re- 

 sponsibilities are self-contained. The references to arsenal work 

 can be easily paralleled. 



The only point upon which it seems necessary to dwell dis- 

 tinctively relates to the determination of the miscellaneous, or 

 shop expenses. See pages 73, 142, 149, 166, 218. In addition 

 to the sources of expense to which government establishments 

 are subject, which might be called mechanical, there are others 

 which may be called civil, such as interest, taxes, insurance, legal 

 services, the cost of sale, etc., to which private shops have to 

 contribute. 



I can see no difficulty in apportioning these precisely as has 

 been done with the mechanical expenses. For example, interest, 

 taxes and insurance should be charged, as far as they can be dis- 

 criminated, against those portions of the establishment to which 

 they belong. Thus the load or extra rate charged for shop ex- 

 penses (column D, page 276) would be less for work in a stone 



