2 BULLETIN 520^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTTJEE. 



can be recommended for the use of cotton warehouses, and to promote 

 the general use of uniform receipts are the aims of this bulletin. It 

 describes a simple system of accounts for the use of cotton ware- 

 houses, which will be found comprehensive enough to meet the 

 requirements of any organization which does only a cotton ware- 

 housing business.^ A complete set of forms is shown and their use 

 explained. More complex organizations, such as compresses which 

 conduct a warehouse business or warehouses that maintain various 

 other departments, of necessity will be compelled to enlarge upon a 

 system of this character, but an effort has been made to have the 

 primary ideas practicable even for such organizations. The best fea- 

 tures of the systems already in use have been combined into this 

 system, which has been tried out under commercial conditions. 



SimpHcity in any system of accounts is desirable, so that rapidity 

 in handling maybe attained without sacrijficing accuracy, and the 

 plan must be such that any data desired are quickly available. 

 Information may be needed in regard to a certain lot of cotton or a 

 certain outstanding receipt; about a specific bale in a remote corner 

 of the warehouse or the exact number of bales a certain patron may 

 have in storage. The records should be such that any one, or all, 

 of these inquiries may be answered immediately. All of the forms 

 used should be interlocking, so that if one fact is known fuU particu- 

 lars may be obtained by a reference to that fact. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM. 



As this bulletin is intended to be sufficiently complete to enable a 

 warehouseman to install the system, a detailed description of the 

 forms comprising it is essential. The complete system includes the 

 following twelve forms, which wiU be described in the order of their 

 use: 



(1) The tag; (2) the certificate of inspection; (3) A, B, C, D, or 

 E), the warehouse receipt; (4) the consecutive tag record; (5) the 

 individual account record; (6) the location book; (7) the outturn 

 order; (8) the daily report; (9) the cash journal; (10) the cash dis- 

 bursement ticket; (11) the cash receipt ticket; (12) the sale ticket. 



■' THE TAG. 



Various methods are in use in cotton warehouses for the identifi- 

 cation of the bales, but by far the most successful, and the one most 

 generally used, is. that of the numbered tag, supplemented by a record 

 of the owner's private mark. Form 1 (page 14) shows a form of tag 

 that is recommended. In every instance the tag should be made of 

 reasonably heavy waterproof paper or of linen. Double eyelets with 



' Many warehousemen doing a small business find it convenient and profitable to deal in various com- 

 modities durinf; the spring and summer, when there is little demand for storage. For this reason provi- 

 sion has been made for this class of business in the system of accoimts described herein. 



