The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-13

the past decade, the tremendous busi ness activities developed and the for tunes made in mercantile and manu featuring pursuits, has shown wha intelligent industry can accomplish but mercantile reports have alst shown that success does not alway follow such enterprise unless attend ant conditions and the things tha make for success are considered. fol too sanguine views may result in fail ure. To this end>calculatiop Is re quired that profit and loss may bt readily determined, risk reduced to 2 minimum and the chances of gair proportionately advanced. Accurate systems of cost accounting, which is the barometer whereby unknown re suits can be studied and measured are held to be so necessary and are now so generally used that recent authority has stated that there are twenty or more of such methods available. devised by expert account ants to meet varying needs.
 s;.l This activity in the business world has been reflected in the rapid growth and expansion of government con- cerns. The vast expenditures requir- ed, require also thorough under standing how the public money can be handled to the best advantage, all dis coverable forms of waste and extra vagance eliminated and the govern ment profit by economic control. Such questions are always considered in estimates for appropriation and are expected to be carried out in admin istrative management
 The astonishing progress of the Post Office Department, which has not only kept pace with business eX- pansion, but outran it in it's prepara- ton to meet and anticipate coming needs, required that the increasingly vast appropriations made for the De- pertinent to do the business of the country, should be so managed and conducted that all possible benefit could be derived therefrom. An ac- curate system of cost accounting was as necessary here as in the business concerns outside, but whether from inattention or neglect in considering so vital a subject, the Department has had no such central system, no clear and intelligible method of determin- ing the profit and loss upon any given line of service or manufacturing en- terprise.
 Comprehensive System Needed.
 The need Of some comprehensive system was recognized. Sporadic eff forts were made from time to time to secure it and investigations set on foot but without any appreciable benefit. Nothing definite lowering the need was found or recommended and unsatisfactory conditions continued. So little attention had it seems been paid to the study of economy and eff ficiency in the Department in past years that it was stated in the pre- liminary report of the Joint Comrnis- sion of the Senate and House of Rep resentatites made in 1908, to inquire into the business methods of the De- partment t'that for more than one hundred years the great and stupen- dOus business of the Post Office De- partment had been operated without being overhauled or looked into from the standpoint of critical expert scru- tiny of it's business methods and that Congress had not been able at any time to secure from the Department officials an accurate statement of the source of profit and loss so as to show
 
 acted" An elaborate report upon this subject was subsequently, made to Congress by experts hired at consid- erab1e expense for this purpose, but no determined action was taken to put the plans or recommendations made into operation, whether because they were deemed impracticable, or were unsuited to the purpose, is not known
 Satisfactory Method Devised.
 This was the general condition when the present postal administra- ton came into control. An accurate and an intelhgfble method of deter mining the relative proportion of profit and loss upon any given sub ject of administration concern was absolutely necessary and expert at tention was at once directed to this matter with the result that a prac- tical and effective system was adopt ed whereby the >direct, the indirect and the apportionable charge or ex- pense in any manufacturing enterprise of the Department, or wherever such information was necessary, could be readily arrived at and any possible betterments put into operation. It was all simple enough when the ob- ject sought was clearly understood and the purpose of the Department to have such method made plain to those whom 1t concerned. A suitable sys- tenn is now in use, adapted to the various needs, satisfactory results have been secured, economies made possible and general advantage gain ed.
 The Department is now able to de- termine the relative cost connected with different articles of equipment and supplies, as we'll as bases for mo- netary allowance to postmasters for the upkeep of letter boxes, etc., etc. It has been successfully used to show the unit cost of directory service at many of the larger post offices. On January 1, 1915, the system was ex- tended to show the cost of mainten- ance and operation of government owned automobiles assigned to certain post offices and the cost of work on equipment in post offices where equip ment shops are maintained. It has also been used to show the unit cost in filling acquisitions from the various post offices of the country and has brought about a saving of $15,000 per annum in that particular alone. It has been found useful in many ways in computing cost and may be said to supply a long-felt want in Depart ment needs.
 Rules of Business Life Applied.
 Having secured this necessary basis for future progress in the way of care fr1 public exDenditure the nexf sfen