Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-09-12
'AC0MPT' Of r78G
Yankee Blacksmith Was Exact II
His Bookkeeping.
Many Pages Of the Book Deal wiz.
the Setting Of Shoes, Mendlno
Axes and Tools, and the Trans.
portatIon Of Hay.

Jonn .. Cole OF West Springfield
Mass, is the possessor OF very in,e,
esting and very old book-the accom-,
book of Eleazer Loomis Of PartridyA
field. The book was begun by that men
son in 1856. or ten years after the sion.
ing OF the Declaration OF independent.
Loomis was blacksmith. and many !,
the pages of the book deal with IN.
setting Of shoes. lnending axes and
tools. and the transportation Of hay
All the "Scompts" Id the first p,rt
of the book are reckoned In pound, i
shillings and pence, but toward the
end the present system seems to h,v.
come into general use and the account
are then kept in dollars and cents.
The accounts. which are carried On
through = long period Of years that
were in themselves hazardous one,
show 4 painstaking care and an exact.
ness to business detail which might
well be followed today. That LOOMS
was 4 careful business man is shown
by the fact that he kept all bis n
'ceipts In the account book.
% The book 1t frequent intervals was
audited by LOOMS and an assistant
and Is 50 signed. Besides being Of biz
torical value ~ relic Of post reyolu.
tionary days. it affords an excellent
means Of comparing the cost Of living
and the price Of lator then and now.
SO much IL heard today OF the in, /
creased cost OF liviEg, Of the eYorbi.
tant prices demanded by manuiac.
turers and of the ever increasing de-
mands for better wages and less hours
by both skilled and unskilled labor,
that it would be interesting to note the
difference in the values OF LOOMS
time and the values Of today In the
beginning Of his "acompt" he values
his hired labor at 81 cents daily. This
suddenly jumps to Is cents daily To.
day, the laborer. with pick and shovel,
10 getting from Sc to $3.50 daily or
practically three times az much 10
Loomis paid his assistants in black.
smithing. This ID really comparison
between skilled and unskilled labor.
The difference in the price Of food.
stufIs 10 also very marked. Loomis
bought 4O3 pounds Of beef for an
amount slightly over S21. or at about
Ave cents 4 pound. To-day he would
have been obliged to pay several timed
that amount q pound for 1t. He got
butter at II cents q pound, now 1t is 80.
Potatoes came at 81 cents bushel or
less than one-third.of what they are to
day. Since the west opened up there
has been but little change in the price
of oats, for our blacksmith paid 50
cents a bushel for them. while they
are quoted at 46 cents today. ia
In the rental of his horse and teams
It looks % II Loomis used very poor
Judgment or else the ruling prices
were very low. for he took load Of
hay to Pittsheld for 50 cents, dis
lance of 40 miles each way. At m
other time he rented his "hoss" to a
man for . day for . chilling. or %
cents. A ton of hay cost him 81, about
one-fourth of what 1t Is today. 81
There are number Of amusing en-
tries IN the book. such as 5000 POUNDS
Tor coal for 81 and q days work for
bushel Of potatoes. He shoed
''hoss," mended a handel" made
ferrel and mendeda shovel, all for =.
cents. The spelling OF great many OF
the words is strange-for instance
horse. boss; sleigh. STAY; moving mo-
ing; full. fool; kettle, kettel. III
These are only instances from many
hundreds in the account and they 30
to show what remarkable change has
taken place since revolutionary DAYS
The book Ii in a remarkable state Of
preservation for sfch an old one. !.
is bound in calr The paper Is o.
good quality AM is we'll preserved
The ink has ye3lowed and In some
places almost faded away. but for tho
most mart one fsl able to read all the
items.
There are only p few persons TO-DAY
who would have the patience to KEEP
such an exact account Of receipts anu
expenditures as Lopmis did, espec'aE
through such q long period OF Sean'
Everything is set down. even u.
smallest OF items and the ]hole =
frequent intervals 10 balanced. Al .ns
bottom Of each balance Is the recep.
~ tho debtor or creditor, whichever