186 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ployee for the day, and the time and 
cost of each detail. The office help 
could do this in nearly every par- 
ticular as well as myself, but by 
doing it myself I get a bird’s-eye 
view of everything that has been 
done. I know of nothing that will 
put the superintendent in closer touch 
with his work. It takes less than 
twenty minutes a day. 
The daily sheet (exhibit No. 3) is 
the source of all other accounts and 
reports for labor, and from it is made 
up the payroll and the workmen’s ac- 
counts. (Exhibit No. 4) keeping 
tabs on appropriations, expenses, for 
each park, service, and functions. 
The monthly work sheet (exhibit 
No. 5) gives the total for the month 
of the time and cost charged against 
each detail of work. The summary 
of the monthly sheet is carried for- 
ward to the yearly sheet (exhibit No. 
6), this is ruled vertically with col- 
umns for each month and with hori- 
zontal divisions of three lines each 
— one for work, one for bills, and one 
for total of both. 
The summary of the yearly sheet 
is carried forward to decade sheet 
(exhibit No. 7) so that comparison 
can be made of the expenses for any 
park or detail of work year after 
year. So far I have no comparison 
to make, for I have only one year’s ac- 
counts. 
I fear my description of the work 
account does not make it appear as 
simple as it is, for it is not confus- 
ing when , learnt. It enables one to 
put his finger on any item of cost 
he is interested in, either the sum- 
mary or the detail of it. This sys- 
tem takes the least time of any I 
know. One girl can take care of the 
work account of 100 men. It costs 
about 2 per cent of the payroll, and 
saves five times that by increased 
efficiency, besides the clear cut knowl- 
edge one gets of his work. 
As to Articles Purchased. 
Foremen state their needs on re- 
quisition cards (exhibit No. 8), if ap- 
proved, a requisition is filled out (ex- 
hibit No. 9). Each article purchased 
is recorded on a purchase card (ex- 
hibit No. 10) and filed under the 
initial letter of the first noun in its 
name. These cards are ruled to al- 
low the same distribution as to ap- 
propriation, park and service, as the 
daily time sheet, and in addition tells 
from whom the purchase is made, 
cost, when delivered, how used, date, 
and detail as to quantity, quality, 
trade mark or other description. 
These cards have the same rela- 
tion to the purchase account that the 
daily time sheets have to the work 
account. From them the merchants’ 
accounts are made up. The mer- 
chants’ bills are used only for check- 
ing. They are paid by voucher (ex- 
hibit No. 11)- These cards, like the 
daily time sheet, take the place of the 
day-book or blotter in ordinary book- 
keeping, and the transferring of the 
accounts that of posting into the 
ledger, except that in this system we 
may post in five or more different 
ways, if it is desired to do full post- 
ing, if not we post so much of the 
account as we are interested in. 
Should it afterward be desired to post 
the other items it can be done with- 
out any more labor than if done at 
once. 
In addition to posting to the mer- 
chants’ vouchers it is necessary to 
post to the monthly purchase sheet 
(exhibit No. 12) so as to show the 
accounts with each appropriation, 
park and service. The summary of 
the monthly sheets is carried to the 
yearly sheet and written on the sec- 
ond line under the work account of 
the same title, the two accounts be- 
coming merged as one in the total. 
Every transfer between park and 
foreman is supposed to be accom- 
panied by a transfer card (exhibit No. 
13), approved by the superintendent, 
and receipted by the person who re- 
ceives the article, the card stating 
where from and to whom. In practice 
this is the most unsatisfactory part 
of what I do. The plan seems all 
right, but the result is largely a 
failure. The reason, I imagine is my- 
self, for I have not followed it up. 
Such transfer cards as come to the 
office are filed under the article trans- 
ferred. If it is a tool or article that 
will be in use the coming year a 
change in the inventory card is made. 
If it is an article to be used in the 
work it is charged against the work 
the same as if purchased and a place 
or store-room (it is most always 
from the store-room) credited and a 
credit or sales card made out. 
The sales card (exhibit No. 14) 
gives the same information as the 
purchase card, but is posted on the 
opposite side of the account. 
An inventory card (exhibit No. 15) 
is made out for each article on hand 
that will last over into the next year, 
giving detail description, how brand- 
ed or marked, cost, present value, 
where located, in whose care, where 
from and date. These are filed alpha- 
betically by the initial letter of the 
first noun in the name. Whenever 
a tool or article is scrapped a sales 
card is made out the same as if sold, 
but “scrapped” is written across it. 
The inventory card for that article 
is taken out of the inventory file and 
the word “dead” written across it 
and placed in the dead inventory box. 
Tools and articles placed in the in- 
ventory during the current year are 
transferred from the purchase card 
each month. 
The inventory is purely a memo- 
randum record; it does not enter in- 
to or affect any other account, ex- 
cept once a year the value repre- 
sented by the inventory is included 
in the statement of real and personal 
property under the care of the Park 
Commission. 
The employees’ records (exhibit 
No. 4), are taken from the daily time 
sheet and show where and what he 
did, time it took, and amount paid. 
This is a memorandum account and 
is not carried further. 
To obtain employment applicants 
fill out a blank (exhibit No. 16) to 
be approved by the Employment 
Committee of the Park Board, prefer- 
ence being given to citizens. 
Record of visitors to the parks or 
to the games has so far been made on 
memorandum cards (exhibit No. 17). 
These are not ruled or printed in any 
form because the same information 
is not continually called for. If a 
daily account was kept of everything 
done on the parks it would take a 
great deal of time and be very cost- 
ly, therefore, we take counts of cer- 
tain typical conditions for a week or 
more, at different periods of the year, 
and then work from averages. We al- 
so take counts of extraordinary 
events, special occasions, and make 
deductions from them. Experience in 
judging makes these records ap- 
proximately correct, especially as 
they have to fit in with other records. 
They have to balance up, as it were, 
with known facts, and the superin- 
tendent will not go far wrong in his 
estimate if he cares to take the 
trouble to work them out. 
In order to standardize the work 
and know how much a man ought to 
accomplish for a given period of 
time requires experience and judg- 
ment. I do not believe it can be 
worked out by any set of tables or 
record keeping. Such tables should 
follow what is done and not be made 
from presupposed ideas of what ought 
to be. A man has not the same ca- 
pacity for work any two hours in a 
day, or in two days in a week, or in 
two years of his life. True, there 
are periods in his life when the varia- 
tion is but slight, but if he lives long 
enough these variations are sure to 
