demonstrates that nothing can be learned in one department that sooner or later will not be found useful in other branches of the service.

This is especially true in reference to railway accounts. The accounting officer and his staff and office force should possess an intimate knowledge of all returns, how they are made, by whom, when, what they embrace, their purpose, to whom sent, and so on.

When the general accountant does not possess this information, he lacks knowledge necessary to make him highly valuable to his employer, and he must not demur if others with greater skill outstrip him in the race.

The duties performed in different departments in connection with accounts are rarely, if ever, the same with any two companies. It follows that details observed in arranging the accounts preparatory to spreading them upon the general ledger also vary. The results arrived at are the same under all systems.

But all companies do not exercise the same degree of efficiency or economy in arriving at results. Lavish outlay is not necessary. It is possible to exercise great simplicity and economy without losing sight of any essential; without omitting a single detail. Practices, however, differ. Upon one road the accounts will be preserved upon loose pieces of paper and unfit books of record; upon another an elaborate system of bookkeeping will be observed in each department so as to record the accounts in every

stage of transition. Under the first named system not enough is attempted; under the last too much. Investigation would elicit the fact that the accountant who preserves his records on loose papers and unfit records is not well schooled in his business; in the other case the author of the system will be found to be a practical bookkeeper of exact and rigid cast, delighting in manipulation and harassed incessantly by doubts lest some trifling detail shall escape the vigilance of the accountant or the musty books of record.

No two companies keep their accounts in the same way or under the same supervision. Upon one line the accounts will be found concentrated in a particular department under one head; upon another the general books will be kept apart; upon another the passenger and freight accounts will be separated from the balance; upon one road a particular officer will have charge of traffic and disbursement accounts; upon another line three or four different officers will perform this work; upon one line the general books will be kept at the local headquarters of the company and a duplicate set, perhaps, in New York or London; in some cases the accounting officer is simply a general bookkeeper, in others an executive.

The combinations that attend the administration of railroads are as curious and unexplainable as the odd situation of men's lives. Corporations, like men, drift along natural lines. They are the

5 Vol. 10

creatures of environment and their organizations are greatly affected, and very properly, by the talent and experience of those in charge. A system that would be efficient upon one road would be inefficient upon another.

The differences I point out are merely by way of illustration. To recount them all would fill a volume. If we succeed in finding outwardly the same conjunction of affairs upon two roads so far as accounts are concerned, we should discover on further inquiry that, while seemingly the same, an intelligent system of checks and balances was observed in one case and perhaps disregarded in the other; that in one case the accounting officer was clothed with the authority required by his office and was respected therein, while in the other he was denied power and in consequence lacked efficiency.

It is not necessary to a clear understanding of railway accounts that details of local organization should be uniform or should be known. Whatever the situation, it is colored by the character of the men in charge, the nature of the business they look after, and the affairs of the corporation they work for.

The important thing in connection with the accounts of railroads is that they should be impersonal and that they should be definite. Such a system may be analyzed and defects discovered and corrected.

No attempt should be made to secure perfection in petty details where cost will not warrant, yet

the necessity of enforcing proper safeguards must never be lost sight of.

The returns of station agents and others along a line should, so far as practicable (and good may be attained thereby), be sent to headquarters through local officials, so that the latter may keep themselves informed in regard to details promptly and at the minimum cost. Thus labor may be utilized to the utmost and accounts minimized, the work that is performed being used throughout without the necessity for its duplication arising. The following brief summarization outlines the channels through which returns may be sent to the accounting officer. It is very

simple.

Reports of passenger business, including tickets. collected by conductors, may be transmitted to an officer called the ticket auditor, who audits the same and reports results.

Returns, statements and way bills affecting freight traffic may be forwarded to an officer called the freight auditor. It is his business to examine and audit the same and report results to the accounting officer.

Reports of cars may be sent to the car accountant, who causes the necessary audit to be made, and the results forwarded to the accounting officer for entry on the general books.

Disbursements for labor, material and other purposes may be reported by storekeepers, time clerks and others to the auditor of such accounts,

He examines the returns and transmits the results to the accounting officer.*

Passenger, freight, car mileage, miscellaneous and other traffic accounts, also statements of disbursements, should be ready to be posted upon the general books in the month following that for which they are made.

In addition to the records already referred to, there is a register for entering vouchers due by a company, and a register for entering bills due to a company for material sold, labor performed, and so on. All bills should be entered on one or the other of these registers, as the case requires. When the accounts for the month are ready to be closed the registers are summed up and the results certified to the accounting officer for entry on the general books.

Such, in a word, is a brief account of the method observed in summing up the accounts of railroads.

While details of bookkeeping are variable, there are certain fundamental things about which railway corporations do not differ practically, or should not at least. One is that the accounts shall not be audited any oftener than is required to secure necessary information in regard to the property and due accountability upon the part of everyone. Receipts shall be collected daily as they

*These returns are very voluminous and great in the interests involved. They are described in the book "Disbursements of Railways."

+ See Forms Nos. 3 and 4, Appendix B.