Evening journal., 1913-09-03

new AIM OF
WATER BOARD
City Department Adopts SyS-
TEN That Will Mean Gen.
eral BettermentS
WILL SHOW ACTUAL
COST OF BUREAU

Determined to bring the Water De-
partment to the highest degree of eni-
cheney the members of the Water Com
mission, Edgar NJ. Hoopes chief engi-
neer of the department and Mahlon
Belts registrar have made extensive
study OF the systems that exist in
other cities and are now installing new
system of accounting in the local de-
partment that will put it on scien-
tifc basis and when finally installed
will be simple enough for any citi-
zen TO understand after an examination
of the books of the department 1t is
the intention of the commissioners to
determine accurately the cost of pro-
ducing water and Just how much il
costs the department TO deliver water
TO the citizen. The cost will be based
upon all the actual costs of the depart
ment. including interest on the invest
ment. depreciation, etc, which have not
been figured before.
An addressing machine has been pur-
chased that is used 10 address the ex-
cess bills The machine does the work
in about two days. whereas under the
old system the 22OOO bills of the depart.
ment had To be made out and address sed
by hand When the new bookkeeping
system is actually installed il will be
one of the most scientic and best IN the
city Il is patterned along the lines
suggested by the Wisconsin Utilities
Commission. which is considered one of
the most scientic in the United States.
and is considered an authority in all
such matters
Already a system for checking up the
work of the men. their supplies and the
time consumed in outside work has been
installed under the direction of Mr.
Hopes which has resulted in the depart
ment accomplishing about twice as much
work as under the old system when
there was no check on the men. and
when $40 n week man with a helper
earning SD a week would he sent out 10
set a meter To do the work usually re-
quired fifteen minutes. vet sometimes
the men did not return TO the depart
ment for several hours. and there was
no way of telling what they were doing
except that they were not working on
the meter IL was said the department
was Inefficient for this reason, and
much time and money was lost, 20 say
nothing OF the little work accomplished
Under the new system If a man is
ordered 10 run p service IN some parl
of the city duplcaie orders are mace
and one given to the man when he
! starts on the job. one goes to the
chief engineer so that b can tell
where the man is at any time during
the day and the other order is pre-
served for fling purposes. The plum
I Der who does the work checks on the
! the slip the time OF himself and
helper. the material used in the
work. its cost and all particulars OF
the Job. II is then checked by The
general foreman. the store room OF
the department. the Office and finally
comes to the chief engineer who
checks IT, If il appears that the
plumber has taken too long to do the
work or that there are any other ir-
regularities in it he is called before
the chief engineer and asked 10 eX-
plain them. The system was adopted
from those in use by the govern
ment I'm Washington and the system
of the Wilmington Gas Company.
Several other changes will be made
from time to time and in shori
while il is hoped that the department
will have a modern and accurate wa,
of ascertaining all its costs.