Mohave County miner., 1916-11-11
ADVANTAGES OF BUSINESS
 SYSTEM IN PUBLIC SERVICE

The great strides made in the com mercial world by the United States in the past decade, the tremendous busi- ness activities developed and the for tunes made in mercantile and manu featuring pursuits, has shown what in- teligent industry can accomplish, but mercantile reports have also shown that success does not always follow such enterprise unless attendant con ditions and the things that make for success are considered, for too san guine views may result in failure. To this end calculation is required that profit and loss may be readily deter mined, risk reduced to minimum and the chances of gain approximately advanced. Accurate systems of cost accounting, which is the barometer whereby unknown results can be stud jed and measured, are held to be so necessary and are now so generally used that a recent authority has stat ed that there are 20 or more of such methods available, devised by expert accountants to meet varying needs.
 This activity in the business world has been reflected in the rapid growth and expansion of government con- eerns. The vast expenditure required, require also a thorough understand ing how the public money can be han dled to the best advantage, all discov- erable forms of waste and extraVa- gence eliminated and the government profit by economic control. Such ques- tions are always considered in esti- mates for appropriation and are ex- pected to be carried out in administra- tive management.
 The astonishing progress of the postofice department, which has not only kept pace with business expan- sion, but outran it in its preparation to meet and anticipate coming needs, required that the increasingly vast ap- propriations made for the department to do the business of the country, should be so managed and conducted that all possible benefit could be de- rived therefrom. An accurate sys- tenn of cost accounting was as neces- sary 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 in- telligible method of determining the profit and loss upon any given line of service or manufacturing enterprise.
 Comprehensive System Needed
 The need of some comprehensive system was recognized. Sporadic eff l forts were made from time to time to | secure it and investigations set on foot but without any appreciable benefit. Nothing definite covering the need was found or recommended and unsatis- | factory conditions continued. So it- tie attention had it seems been paid i to the stud yof economy and efficiency in the department in past years that it was stated in the preliminary re- port of the joint commission of the senate and house of representatives made in 1908, to inquire into the busi- ness methods of the department ''that for more than 100 years the great and stupendous business of the postofice department had been operated with out being overhauled or looked into from the standpoint of critical expert scrutiny of it's business methods and that congress had not been able at any time to secure from the depart ment officials an accurate statement of the source of profit and loss so as to show what remedial legislation could be enacted" An elaborate report upon this subject was subsequently made to congress by experts hired at consid- erable 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 administration came into control. An accurate and an in telligible method of determining the relative proportion of profit and loss upon any given subject of administra- tive concern was absolutely necessary and expert attention was at once di- rected to this matter with the result that a practical and effective system was adopted whereby the direct, the indirect and the apportionable charge ar exDense in any nanufactI1r$noy en-