The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
UNIFORM ACCOUNT BOOKS WOULD SAVE STATE THOUSANDS Examiner German Says No Two Counties Have the
 Same System CITES UNCLE SAM
 AS GOOD EXAMPLE Between S50,0OO and $1O0,000 a Year Could Be Saved for Alabama by
 Adoption of Some Uni
 form System

Maj J. T. German, the veteran state examiner of public accounts, urges the legislature in it's next session to adopt a common system of bookkeeping in Ala bama.
 He declares that if the officials of the several counties used the same system payers would be saved annually a sum between s5o.OOO and s1oo,ooo and the service of the state would be rendered more &C., ceptabe
 In this connection Major German says:
 Tn addition to the abolition of the fee system in Alabama, a reformation that Is badly needed is the adoption of a uni- form system of bookkeeping in all the counties of the state.
 At present nearly every county in the state has a different system in some of the offices, and there are almost as many different systems of bookkeeping as there are counties.
 Examiners have no authority to pre- scribe how books and accounts shall be kept, or regulate the mode of conduct ing business in any public office.
 "Al they can do is to examine the books, as they are kept but they can not suggest any innovation or recommen- datfon that is for the good of the pub lie service.
 Tn the United States government ser vice there is a uniform system of book keeping For instance, there are between 75, 600 and 5000 postofflces in the United States divided into the first second, third and fourth classes, and in each class throughout the United States the post masters use the same kind of books.
 This systematic method of bookkeeping greatly facilitates and capacities the ex- animation of postoffice inspectors.
 "The adoption of a uniform system of bookkeeping for the county officials in Alabama would not only greatly facli- tate and expedite examinations, avoid many clerical errors in bookkeeping. but it would save the taxpayers of the diff ferept counties from s50.OO0 to sto0.ooo an nhafiy
 "Under the present system most of the officials select and purchase their own books, and the books used in most of the offices are quite expensive, costing from s15 to $50 per volume, such as deed and mortgage records in probate offices dockets In the different courts, sherlffs books, while the assessors books cost much more.
 "As a rule the officials purchase these books directly from the agents or rep resentatives of the houses that make them, and new officials frequently pur- chase books that are unnecessary.
 In number of counties in the state many books have been purchased in which an entry is never made.
 '"rhe stationery accounts of the differ ent counties are among the largest items of expense, and in a number of counties there has been much extravaganee in these expenditures.
 'If a uniform system of bookkeeping was adopted in Alabama, and the con tract let out to the lowest bidder to fur nlsh the books for the officials of the 67 counties in the state, not only would it save the taxpayers from s50,000 to sl00,- O00 annually, but 1t would result in a decided improvement in the public ser vice of the state.
 This Is a matter that should receive the careful consideration of the next leg sature"