36 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ing personal inefficiency, and is thus a constant incentive to foremen 
and superintendents to reduce costs. 
With this understanding of the functions which a system of convict 
labor accounts should perform, it is possible to formulate certain gen- 
eral principles to govern the character of the record forms and 
methods of procedure necessary to serve these functions. Their pre- 
cise character can be determined only for the particular conditions 
under which they are to be employed, and even under special con- 
ditions it is practically impossible to outline a system completely in 
advance, for the reason that details of the work to be accounted for 
are constantly changing. 
The inadequacy of the ordinary methods of double-entry book- 
keeping to accomplish the desired ends has already been mentioned. 
This becomes more clearly apparent when it is realized that those 
methods were designed primarily for the balancing of receipts and 
expenditures, whereas the conduct of convict labor work involves 
disbursements only; and of these disbursements it is desirable to 
know not only the total amount, but an analysis showing the purposes 
for which they were made and the costs of the various parts or units 
of the road work or other work which results in large measure in- 
directly from them. 
Specifically it is important to analyze all disbursements in such 
manner as to show: 
1. The daily and total itemized costs of maintaining the convicts. 
2. The unit and total costs of the work. 
With regard to the former, the elements of maintenance cost which should be recog- 
nized and segregated in a good system of accounts are those chargeable to (a) subsist- 
ence, (6) clothing, (c) quarters, (d) furniture and equipment, (e) kitchen and mess 
supplies, (/) fuel and light, (g) medicine and medical attention, (h) transportation 
of convicts and equipment, (i) wages of convicts (money, tobacco, discharge cloth- 
ing), (j) miscellaneous, (k) guarding or convict supervision. 
It is only by such a division of the cost of maintenance that it is 
possible to determine the exact cause of excessive total costs. 
The segregation of the elements is accomplished by opening accounts 
to each, then classifying and distributing all disbursements among 
these accounts. The latter should be so kept that at all times it may 
be possible to determine not only what expenditures have been made 
and for what purposes, but also the total amount of previous disburse- 
ments for each purpose, the amounts of materials received into and 
issued from the general store or commissary, and the number of indi- 
viduals (convicts, officers, and visitors) sharing in the use of mate- 
rials and services. In this way it is possible to determine at suitable 
intervals the amount of disbursements per individual for each pur- 
pose during the latest period, the comparison of these disbursements 
with those of other periods, and also to maintain a continuous inven- 
tory of the stock of material supplies on hand. 
