The Washington herald., 1908-01-02

may be roughly defined about as follows:
A system of cost is one by which the
man up at the top-in this case Mr. Charles
A. Stilings-may be able TO igure out
Just what each item of his product has
cost him. Such systems, so far as Is
known, endeavOr 20 figure such cost out
to the minutest detail
a system of audit in the accepted sense
OF the word, would no doubt mean a
system whereby the same man at the
top can tell just how he stands every
once in a while. or oftener.
An inventory system, roughly, would
enable the man in the clouds 10 see just
what he has in stock at all times of the
day or night
Now all these products or appurtenances
OF the installation Of this Audit System
call principally, il is safe to say, for
two thngs-intelligence and books Books
may mean many kinds OF bound paper
affairs, but should in this case mean
mainly those defined usually as book
keeping books,
The intelligence both Mr.. Stillngs and
The Audit System possess. Other in
telligence he has, too, all through his
vast Office. While many men say that
he hampers the intelligence OF his thou
AlttA' VI hb4 Atittll ny itlitcS va AStA &tS
has that pride of his heart his executive
force, to furnish the brains
But Mr.. SullIngs has not stopped Civ
| ing contracts 10 The Audit System with
books or intelligence.
Blanks, blanks, and Blanks.
He has signed contracts with The Audit
/ System for hundreds of dollars worth Of
blanks. The men are showed under with
blanks. until they are almost as badly of
as the famous Six Hundred were at Bala-
klava. blanks on all sides of them.
II a man up on the sixth floor needs
one piece Of paper he must make out a
requisiuon for It, send II swirling around
until it lands in the right place, and
/ then possibly some time later the same
/ day he gets that sheet OF paper he asked
/ for
But Mr. stllings has found other
| things besides books and blanks and
/ brains which The Audit System could
best furnish TO the government He
I has allowed them to bid on and contract
I for many other things.
Perhaps il you were working for The
| Audit System. Up in q nice Office in the
Government Printing Office. where you
Z AEA1 ilANlF N4AA4 nav ~ pay AE4its 4lfl
/ heat bills. nor light bills, nor for tele-
phone calls, nor for many little things,
/ YOU would be filled with q desire 10 see
around you a few desks. which your own
company could furnish-'it's losing
/ money" said one OF Mr. Stiliings'
/ friends.
/ Maybe it wasn't you, but some one else
who wanted the desks. No matter. prob
/ ably he's an executive and friend of
/ the system Somebody wants some
/ desks Somebody in the Government
/ Printing Once in the near past has
wanted desks and has got them
Through The Audit system.
The Washington Herald knows that
The Audit System has, under contract
signed by Charles a. Stllngs, the Pub
lie Printer, furnished the Government
| Printing Office with desks.
/ It's name is The Audit System. Il
might have been termed the odd Audit
| System"
/ Then. of course, after you got a nice
new Audit System desk, you would very
likely feel that you ought TO have a nice
new chair
Certainly The Audit System can fur
/ nish it"
step right this way, please; Mr.. Still
/ ings viii no doubt sign the contract The
Audit System viii get your chair for
you, and at last you will be comfort
/ able"
! What an exceedingly Odd Audit Sys-
! TEN"
/ Next of course, you ought TO have a
| cabinet to keep you busy filing reports
] Mi.
/ aren't busy sitting in your new Audit
| System-furnished chair. or aren't absorb
/ ed in writing on your new Audit System
/ furnished desk.
/ BY this time it's no doubt been found
/ very easy. Mr.. Suuings, your Public
! Printer. will furnish you with the cabi-
nets via the contract with the Audit
+System.
/ BY this time very likely YOU have so
many million blanks floating about
through the $500 employees that you ought
| 10 have a numbering machine 10 keep
track of them ALL
| Just like falling off that same log
/ from which the first joker fell AIr
/ StillIngs will sign d contract with The
Audit System for it.
But suppose that you were getting all
when it was nice, hot. dry weather. Here
/ comes winter on. Slush and an occa-
! sional speCk of dirt gets on the feet of
/ some Of the $500
an Alert Agent Downtown.
Small matter The Audit System is
| here to protect the interests of the tiled
floor Of the great Printing Office Per
haps it isn't The Audit System itself this
/ time but there is a pretty little Office
in one OF the downtown buildings where
the name of The Audit System is dis
| playing in nice, goid-lOoking letters.
! Possibly if there were some one in here
who represented The Audit System, and
/ who also represented the Boston Belt
| ing Company, you might be able to keep
| the dirt of the floors of the big printing
| office Anyway, Mr.. Stillings has signed
/ contracts with the agent Of the Boston
| Betting Company, who is also the agent
| for The Audit System for rubber mats.
OF course, there are other things which
might be mentioned but which won't be
at present, with the exception of one.
| Now in a big plant like the Government
Printing Office, where there are wheels
within wheels, literally speaking-not, of
course, positively-there must be some
friction.
Oil Supplied by System.
Ever since man has been running ma
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