Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-07-01


4zssE&Es8 how much he has received,
how much he has spent. how
much he has on hand, and begins to
figure on getting rid of that billion
dollars congress gave him for pin
money at its last session. He has
found out that during the past year he
has spent more than he has made
many millions more. But as he had
rather large pile which he was able
to save from his income of past years,
he has not felt the pinch of poverty.
During the coming fiscal year he will
have more money to spend than ever
before. And If the sudden impulse for
economy does not die, the sum spent in
the coming fiscal year will represent
ture in a single twelYemonth. and
from this time on high water mark will
not soon be reached again.
Uncle Sam opens a new set of books
today. Wherever there is a dollar Of
his money spent or received there is a
new account opened. The old set will
be closed and balanced just as soon as
the reports from the ends of the earth
get in. 1t win be after the first of
August when the last account is
closed and the final loss and gain ac-
count is made out. In the meantime,
every government official from south
ernmost Florida to northernmost Alas
ka viii be gathering together all the
data which will disclose the operations
for the year in his jurisdiction. Every
postmaster, every rural carrier every
court official, will add to the volume Of
reports that come In All of which
means lots of work for the bookkeep-
ers. Each one Of tens of thousands of
reports must be received, digested, tab
ulated and properly placed in the gen.
eral reckoning.
The number Of accounts that appear
in the governments ledgers Is almost
beyond belief. The Statistical Abstract,
a volume of nearly 5000 pages, Is a
collection OF the fOotings of all these
general accounts for each fiscal year
of governmental history. To cover
them all it has to be filled with figures
from title page to finis Each entry
represents a separate general account,
and each general account may repre-
sent many thousand special accounts.
If one wants to know. how many farms
were irrigated and how many acres
were in them, together with the cost
of construction and operation, there Is
an account which tells him all about
that. If he wants to know how many
children of school age how many en-
rolled, how many daily attending
school, how many are boys and how
many are girls, together with the sala-
ries of teachers, there is general ac-
count that will give him all this infor-
nation. If he wants to know great
many things about the wages and oc-
equations of the people there are ac-
counts which satisfy his curiosity. Ac-
counts are kept showing railroad acci-
dents, the number of kilograms sent,
the number Of failures in business and
thousands of others of like nature.
During the present month these will be
made up and closed to cover the year
that ended at midnight last night.
This Statistical Abstract is a most
remarkable volume. After every bu-
reau, division and department of the
government has closed it's accounts for
the year o. p. Austin, a former news
paper correspondent, and his staff Of
clerks come along and gather together
the footings, When the whole task il
done they have material for 272 tables,
each one of which shows from one TO
a dozen different things. The abstract
makes its appearance many months
after the fiscal year closes, but If there
is anything the government has done
that may be expressed in figures and
is overlooked that item has not been
discovered. And not only does 1t show
what the government has done, but
what the people here and throughout
the world are doing, the prices they are
paying for the things they eat, wear
and use. how much money they pos
sess and thousands of other things
about which figures are supposed not
to lie.
The present fiscal year promises to be
of more than ordinary interest 1t
will be a record of the first full year
of the Taft administration. When the
books are closed at it's end the country
will have a set of figures which, COR
rectly interpreted will tell whether
Mr. Taft has made good. The past
year has closed with a deficit; will the