The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-09-27
NUMBER 25.
Count the Cost.
lMoore's Rural New Yorker.

In business circles, if it become:
known that person is careless about his
accounts, that he does not make a prac
tice of taking an inventory of his stock
on hand, his accounts due and debts
payable, and completely and accurately
balancing his books, his credit becomes
impaired and, as rule, his failure is in.
evitable.
If a manufacturer should commence
business and have in view only the fact
that he must sell his goods for a price as
low or lower than his neighbors receive
for similar wares, without estimating
their cost, his margin of profit would be
enormous to prevent his soon finding
himself with less money than he com
menced with.
At book trade in New York, a few
years ago, Appleton & Co. declined an
offer for five hundred thousand copies of
Webster's Spelling Book, which was
only one-eighth of cent below their
price. They knew what the book would
cost them to make and were not salts
fed with the profit that would be left
after the deduction of that small
amount.
The proprietor of one of the largest
bakeries in New York insisted on having
his accounts SO concisely kept that his
books were balanced daily at twelve
o'clock. The superintendent of every
department at that time rendered an ac-
count of what -four and other material
had come into his hands, what remained,
and what products he had delivered to
salesrOOm. The superintendent of the
salesroom accounted for everything re-
ceived; if sold, how and to whom; and
if ON hand, regular account of stock
was rendered The book-keeper was re-
quired to tabulate these reports and add
to them the estimate of the days ex-
pense for rent, labor, wear of machines,
interest on investments everything,
not even the sweepings were neglected,
and every night the proprietor was fur
nished with an abstract. The man ac-
quired a reputation for giving better
bakers products for the same money
than any other baker in New York. He
died about two years ago, and as might
be supposed, left large fortune, every
dollar of which he had made by indus
try, economy and strict attention to the
small details of business.
While the farmer cannot calculate
the cost of his productions so closely as
the manufacturer, that should be no
reason why he should not do so as we'll
as he can. But how many can tell
what it really costs him to raise ten
acres of corn, wheat or potatoes, and
how, if he does not know the relative
expense of the production, can he know
which is the most profitable for him to
raise?
A Collector of Internal Revenue for a
rural district comprising four or five
townships, told the writer that in all his
district he found but one farmer who
pretended to keep any account with his
farm, and he was physician, who had re-
tired from practice, and few were found
who had any idea of the amount of
farm product consumed by the family.
1t seems to us that a little more thought
and care in these matters would be of
great advantage, both by the way of
economizing and of directing labor to
those channels where it pays best.
And in this connection we beg to say
a word to wives and daughters. 1t used
to be an old saying in Yankee land that
it was the mans business to bring home
the money and the woman's to see that
it was used judiciously and economi-
cally. But there is a sad want of knOwl-
edge of domestic economy in the land
and no school is more needed than a
school for housekeepers. Who can tell
what it costs to make loaf of bread or
half a dozen pies-whether it is more
economical to use eggs for food or sell
them at the market rates-how much a
pound of beef will lose in roasting or
boiling? There are hundred of these
little conundrums that could be studied
to advantage. We doubt if there be
one who reads this can tell even the ap-
proximate value of the provisions he
consumes in a year. What difference
does it make if we know or not? Just
this: with a thought about it will nat
urally come the endeavor to get the best
results from expenditure of the least
money. 1t is the little things that
count. Two and two makes four. We
made that automatic expression to a
young lady few days ago, in reference
to certain minor expenditures.
know it," said she, "but it don't seem
as if it did" She took the idea at once.
Remembering the cost of every article,
we see the sum total in different light.
We might continue this subject by
looking at it in various aspects and may
take it up again some time. We had in
mind the cost of material things. The
cost of habits would give room for much
moralizing. The cost of smoking the
first cigar, for instance; who can calcu-
late it-whether considered pecuniarily
physically or morally?